Is It Wrong For A Christian To Wear An AC/DC T-Shirt?

gekko has asked the right question.

peace to youraise:

 

Lets see here are some AC/DC songs that thousands of people know or think about when they see this shirt.

Have a drink on me.
Hells bells
Highway to Hell


Here is a little sample from Hells Bells: "You got me ringin hell's bell's
Satan is calling to you, Hell's bells, there is no way to fight it , you got me ringing hell's bells."

How about a little taste of the song "Shoot to thrill": "Shoot to thrill play to kill, got my gun and I'm ready gonna fire at will, cause I shoot to thrill and I'm ready to kill I can't get enough and I can't get my fill cause I shoot to thrill, play to kill" then comes a guitar riff. etc..

I could post other lyrics but they are not fit for the BB. You say how do you know these? Well cause I used to think they were the ultimate rock and roll band. I suppose by the standards of rock and roll success they are.
Yet I'm not going to sit here and say ACDC worships satan but friend I've been high enough times back in the day. (Which would be the 80's) to tell you that whether you mix drugs with ACDC or not you can definitely get the "vibe" that "someone" besides them are behind the band's powerful beat and songs. I have even read stuff from ACDC's own commentary that attest to that.

I still know every lyric to alot of their songs because as a teen and during my early twenties I was doing my best to live a rock and roller's lifestyle.

Do what you wish. It is between you and God. IT won't offend me. It won't make a difference to those who don't know your a christian. For those that do know you are it could be a stumbling block.

As a man that is going to become the spiritual leader of a home in the near future It would say alot more to your fiance about your maturity level as a christian man if you refused the shirt and explained why. It could be used as a moment to possibly build her up in the faith.

Friend one thing you will learn about ethics is this? If you have to question it then you probably don't need to mess with it.

Does it edify?

Regardless of what some pinhead says about music there are some bands and songs that have no place in a christian's life. ACDC is one of those bands. I can promise you it hasn't been Jesus that has inspired their lyrics through the years.

Do as you wish though. I just think once you grow more in the Lord you will look back on the days where you thought you could have your rock and roll because of your "christian liberty" You'll look back and say dude I was so immature back then spritually and in other ways.
The deeper you grow in the Lord the less and less you "identify" with the likes of ACDC etc...
BTW dude I'm not some little choir boy who don't know what rock and roll is all about. I've seen em all Metallica, Ozzy, ACDC, Motley Crue, Guns and Roses, you name em and back in the day I saw em live.
The band members are just lost souls but friend besides that that kind of music is straight from the pit of hell make no bones about it.

 

It was recently reported in the media that the plaque in the Fremantle cemetary where Bon Scotts ashed were spread was stolen, the theft coincided with what would have been his 60th birthday which made me realise that they have been around for a while and they seem perpetually popular. There music style reset the stage for that level of sound when they came out. Yet they are also quite talented, I had not heard of a Heavy Metal band doing a guitar - Bagpipes duet before!

With AC~DC and others like them, you have to consider where you draw lines, and what puts something on one side of the line or the other.

Is Amy Grant any better to listen to when she has been into Adultery? How many of "The Highwaymen" have been faithfull to their wifes? Is the line their lyrics or their lifestyle or both? How many books are offered for sale in Christian bookstores from people who have turned away from God into sinful lifestyles, yet the books are still being sold because the owners of the store believe the content of the book is what matters?

Evanescance have a Christian guitarist but play really dark music, is that o.k to listen to? Bono from U2 proclaims his Christianity, does that give U2 the all clear for the Christian to go out and get all their albums?

As for that ACDC T Shirt, the best thing you could do is go and tell the truth and apologise, then both of you figure out what to do!

 

Ben,

You make some good points Amy Grant and those of her ilk could be more damaging to some because she blurrs the lines alot of times.

Ultimately all any of us can do is offer advice. Each individual has to make their own choices regarding what they think is edifying and is a plus to the growth of their walk with God along with the growth of others.

Most if not all Heavy Metal Bands do nothing to edify a christian period.
The beat is mesmerizing, the lyrics are always about sex or drugs or defiance or even about suicide or just dark, evil types of things.

Ronnie James Dio was a big heavy metal head banger in the 80's one of his most popular videos was "Last in Line". IN it this kid gets on a elevator that doesn't stop until the door opens up in hell. I will let your imagination do the rest.

Motley Crue's "Wild Side" song goes like this in one verse:

"Our father who ain't in heaven, be thy name on the wild side.
No escape, murder, rape, thats how it is doin time on the wild side.

Ben, What are you saying because people like Amy Grant and others are often hypocrites then that makes all kinds of music okay because "Hey nobody is perfect anyway"?

At least ACDC and the likes are who they say they are.
I get really turned of by these country music singers who put out song after song about drinkin and cheatin etc... Then all of a sudden they put out gospel record. I think that is pathetic.

My sister just bought me a Alan Jackson "precious memories" CD with Alan doing a bunch of traditional hymns with a country flare.
I can't get a blessing out of that for anything. All I can picture in my head is Alan Jackson singing with Jimmie Buffet "Its 5 o clock somewhere". WHich is a song about it being okay to get to drinking and get drunk before noon because HEY its 5:00 somewhere.
So I says to myself. Self is AJ a believer is he true blue or is he just making a buck? Why sing about getting drunk on one album then get all folksy with a gospel album?
That kind of thing right there is the kind of thing that is sending alot of folk to hell just like Heavy Metal. Because alot of people in certain parts of this country think that if they have somekind of quasi christian,patriotic, good ole boy kind of belief in the man upstairs then they are gonna make it.
Country Music along with alot of it's stars help foster this false notion.
Whether the devil can lull you to sleep with a softer, less in your face kind of a sound or whether he takes you to hell because you bought into the whole "in your face" rebel against authority kind of music it makes no difference as long as what he used to blind you is successful. He knows what our weaknesses are and he is the master exploiter. Hell is going to be hell no matter what it was that the ole serpent used to blind your eyes to the truth. Music just happens to be one of his most effective tools.

 

Hi Shannon,

Like yourself, I too was heavilly into pretty much any Black Metal band going around. My favourite was Iron Maiden, yet I would listen to any that was popular back in the 1980's.

I dont however listen to that anymore. I am alot more carefull about what I listen to and watch on tv. The Brethren denomination although I dont agree with all that they teach do focus on satan being the "prince of the power of the air" and they link that with T.V and Radio airwaves. Although extreme, I do feel that they have a point and that satan uses those things to advance his kingdom.

It suits me to listen to the local Christian radio station who do at times play some secular music, yet do a reasonably good job of filtering it first. I am looking into getting sattelite TV so that I can get some good Christian channels to watch rather than the usual than the Public TV we get here in Australia. I work on the principle that we live our live to worship God and that what we fill our lives with should be pleasing and an act of worship to God.

 

Shannon is right on :thumbs: Absolutely nothing about the band or their songs glorifies god. They were my favorite band from age 8-18. I am now 34

Who would have guessed that over 25 years later our own teenagers would come home wearing AC/DC shirts? What do you say?
Son, you can't wear that shirt because Daddy and I went to one of their concerts where mommy, who was too drunk, flashed Angus Young. No that's not it...Daddy and I went to his concerts and saw girls flashing the band members, and we never went back. Their songs ARE also a form of devil worship according to the bible, and does nothing to glorify god. Yes, that's it...Lord please prevent further questions, as I can hold my own on this one. raying:

 

Thank you for showing us all why we should stick with true Gospel music and turn from the worldly.raise: :Fish: raise:

 

evanescance was quite angry when a magazine labelled them as somewhat christian...

 

shannonL said:

You make some good points Amy Grant and those of her ilk could be more damaging to some because she blurrs the lines alot of times.

I love it when people make inept moral equivalence arguments.

Amy Grant is a singer of wholesome pop and gospel music, who in recent years has made a few questionable moral choices regarding divorce and remarriage.

AC/DC is a hedonistic heavy metal band that has sold millions of albums glorifying drinking, kinky sex, and crime, whose original lead singer died as the result of living consistently with the lyrics he sang.

To even try to compare one to the other is laughably, wrist-cuttingly bad.

 

It's simple. Explain to your girlfriend that you were kidding and both of you take the t-shirt back and exchange it for one that you don't mind wearing.

 

Same can be said about men :smilewinkgrin::tongue3::laugh::flower:

 

Do your wives read this? :laugh:

Yes I do have a memory of an elephant :tongue3:

For the topic at hand - I do not think you should wear the T-Shirt. Perception is reality to some:Fish:

 

AC/DC??? you mean they are still alive? I thought they would be dead and gone by now.

 

What is the difference between singing about Adultery and actually going out and doing it? Which is worse, assuming that it is believed that there are varying levels of sin.

Amy Grant is in a position to directly influence Christian youth and young adults and does do by commiting in Adultery and being totally unrepentant over it, suggesting that God wants her to be happy and that is what matters. What does the Scripture say about encouraging people to sin and millstones?

 

Ben W asked:

What is the difference between singing about Adultery and actually going out and doing it?

Last I heard, music fans weren't going out and buying truckloads of CDs of Amy Grant committing adultery.

Amy Grant is in a position to directly influence Christian youth and young adults and does do by commiting in Adultery and being totally unrepentant over it, suggesting that God wants her to be happy and that is what matters.

And as a result of her affair and divorce, her Christian fan base has been diminished and she is viewed by secular listeners as somewhat hypocritical. Yeah, she's in a position to influence her audience all right . . . they've been influenced to boycott her.

In any case, you failed to defend the fallacious moral equivalence argument that I was responding to.

 

What does God see as moral? Which sin is worse to Him?

 

If you have to ask us this question, don't do it.