For those of you, like me, who despair of ever finding current music that's doctrinal and treats Biblical subjects appropriately, here is a new musical group I can recommend. Kings Kaleidoscope is a faith-based alternative band based in Seattle, Washington. As their Wiki says, they style themselves as a band "sporting a variety of influences from math rock and hip-hop to the dense sound of Canadian indie outfit Broken Social Scene". They have released 8 EPs since 2011. You can find them on all the usual places such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and also Spotify, iTunes, SoundCloud, Pandora, etc. My favorite songs are Grace Alone, and their How Deep cover. The album graphics are terrific, too.I can't recommend them any more. In their new album released July 1, they used the F-word several times in their song "A Prayer".
Their decision to use the most base vulgarity has split their fans, and has sparked debate and arguments from Youtube to Reddit. The immature defend the band's use of profanity, saying the song in context 'speaks to them' and that 'they can relate.'
However the more biblical fans rejoin that Ephesians 4:29 commands us,
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
It's hard to defend the F-word as a word that gives grace. In addition, Matthew 15:18 says,
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
Who can stand to listen to profanity of this sort in the same song that lauds Jesus? Who can sing along to such a song? Who wants to expose the younger children in the car or in the room who will hear it? Who would ever want to sing this song in church or at a church-oriented event? Why do they think this is OK?
In researching the band for the previous blog essay, I had seen that the band was formed in 2010 by singer/songwriter Chad Gardner, in a Mars Hill Church plant on the campus of the University of Washington, where Gardner was a worship leader. Uh-oh. Bells went off but I'd hoped for the best. Their music up to now has been stunning and doctrinal.
However, the Young, Restless, Reformed movement shepherded by immature hipster bad boy pastors has had a devastating influence on not just the congregations within its walls, but all modes of church culture, and the generations that have come after. Music has suffered, too. It's a shame that Kings Kaleidoscope made the decision that they did. One would not expect to see the following warning on a Christian band's page:
Here is an article about it:
The Use of the "F" Word Has Raised Concerns Over Kings Kaleidoscope's New Album
We just want purity, holiness, and something, anything, to enjoy that's undefiled in this polluted world. Kings Kaleidoscope, you disappoint.
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Further Reading
Beer, Bohemianism, and True Christian Liberty
'Gimmicks over gospel': Group draws flak for using tattoos, booze to raise funds for planting new church
Perry Noble and Highway to Hell
