In today’s episode, we answer a question from a listener about Hillsong worship songs. Now if you’ve been listening to us for some time, you might remember Brian saying that their lyrics are violent, abusive, and pretty terrible. The listener goes on to ask if it’s a “general feature of this branch of Christianity/evangelicalism?” Tune in to hear our answer.
We also queer the text from Matthew that talks about the Pharisees and how they planned on trapping Jesus with his words. They failed miserably at it. We share in this episode how disingenuous the Pharisees were with their question. How their ultimate goal was to use Jesus’ words against him. We also share how this passage relates to LGBTQ Christians (of course!)
Key takeaways:
- Life and fall updates from Brian and Fr. Shay [0:40]
- Listener question from Tumblr: on Hillsong’s music with violent and abusive lyrics [6:13]
- Brian’s super short answer… [6:48]
- A small caveat [8:22]
- What this worship music reminds us [9:44]
- If a regular human father does what we think God does, what would we think? [10:50]
- 3 problems in these worship songs [12:17]
- Queering the Bible: Matthew 22:15-22 [14:39]
- On trapping Jesus with his words [15:51]
- Jesus is not a dummy [16:51]
- How this passage is used to justify paying taxes and government propaganda [18:14]
- Relevance to the queer Christians [19:09]
Links mentioned:
Atonement webinar: queertheology.com/whydidjesusdie
Name That Tune: Christian Music Edition
LGBTQ Christian Worship Music:
- The Many Are Here
- Jess Grace Garcia posts originals and reimagined covers on her Instagram stores – https://www.instagram.com/jessgracegarcia/
- Grace Semler Balbridge describes her music as “creepy queer folk.” She has a Christian background and posts queer Christian music TikToks: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebaldridges
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Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees met together to find a way to trap Jesus in his words. They sent their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are genuine and that you teach God’s way as it really is. We know that you are not swayed by people’s opinions, because you don’t show favoritism. So tell us what you think: Does the Law allow people to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
Knowing their evil motives, Jesus replied, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used to pay the tax.” And they brought him a denarion. “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked.
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” When they heard this they were astonished, and they departed.
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