Tax Man

[p-freak]

I can't believe John is singing a Beatles song, when he's voiced such strong opinions against U2. Maybe that's his age showing.

Nice version, but way too slow.

[sue d.]

It's appropriate for tax season.... that's why he's doing it.... for Sekulow's radio show.

[brent]

There is nothing anti-Christian about singing covers, especially when the covers have truth relative to life. It is a harmless song. What's the big deal?

U2 has Bono as it's primary voice. U2 was marketed as a Christian band initially in the USA, when they were not. U2 was on CCM radio rotations and charted. The band distanced themselves from CCM. Bono is on record that he is a believer, but thinks CCM is a joke and he has no place for it. He has made fun of bands like Petra. He thinks U2 is about ministry more than CCM is. He might be right, I don't know. It all depends on how he meant it. But, Bono, as a believer, has had a stage to REALLY lay out the Truth, but has stopped short, and has cloaked his version of a relationship with God in vague artistry. Some friends of mine were involved in making a movie about CCM and interviewed Bono. I don't know what happened to the movie. I will look for some clips and post links if I can find them.

There are tons of interviews and books on this subject:

"U2 guitarist Dave Evans testified that he chose rock & roll over holiness:

“It was reconciling two things that seemed for us at that moment to be mutually exclusive. We never did resolve the contradictions. That’s the truth. … Because we were getting a lot of people in our ear saying, ‘This is impossible, you guys are Christians, you can’t be in a band. It’s a contradiction and you have to go one way or the other.’ They said a lot worse things than that as well. So I just wanted to find out. I was sick of people not really knowing and me not knowing whether this was right for me. So I took two weeks. Within a day or two I just knew that all this stuff [separating from the world] is ——- [vulgarity]. We were the band. Okay, it’s a contradiction for some, but it’s a contradiction that I’m able to live with. I just decided that I was going to live with it. I wasn’t going to try to explain it because I can’t” (Bill Flanagan, U2 at the End of the World, 1996, pp. 47, 48)."

"Chris Row of Shalom Fellowship, Bono’s former pastor in Ireland, said that Bono, Evans, and Mullen chose rock & roll over the Bible. He said that when Bono flew him to Los Angeles to perform his marriage, he wasn’t allowed to go backstage at a U2 concert because they didn’t want him to see the things that went on there (Schimmel, The Submerging Church, 2012, DVD)."

The book Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas (Hodder & Stoughton, 2005) contains a wide-ranging interview with a music reporter that extended over a long period of time. Nowhere in this 337-page book does Bono give a scriptural testimony of having been born again, without which Jesus said no man can see the kingdom of heaven.

Bono says that he believes Jesus is the Messiah and that He died on the cross for his sins and that “he is holding out for grace,” but Bono’s “grace” is a grace that does not result in radical conversion and a new way of life; it is a grace without repentance; it is a grace that does not produce holiness. Nowhere does he warn his myriads of listeners to turn to Christ before it is too late and before they pass out of this life into eternal hell.

In fact, the only thing he says about heaven or hell is that both are on earth. “I think, rather like Hell, Heaven is on Earth. That’s my prayer … that’s where Heaven for me is…” (Bono on Bono, p. 254). It sounds like Bono has been listening more to John Lennon than the Bible, and in fact, he says that when he was 11 years old he listened to Lennon’s album Imagine and it “really got under my skin, the blood of it” (p. 246). On this album Lennon sang, “Imagine there is no heaven above and no hell below.”

The members of U2 do not believe Christianity should have rules and regulations. “I’m really interested in and influenced by the spiritual side of Christianity, rather than the legislative side, the rules and regulations” (Edge, U2: The Rolling Stone Files, p. 21). The Lord Jesus Christ said those who love Him would keep His commandments (John 14:15, 23, 15:10). The apostle John said, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). There are more than 80 specific commandments for Christians in the book of Ephesians alone, the same book that says we are saved by grace without works. Though salvation is by grace, it always produces a zeal for holiness and obedience to God’s commands, for we are “saved unto good works” (Ephesians 2:8-10). According to Titus 2, the grace of God teaches the believer to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

Bono says that the older he gets the more comfort he finds in Roman Catholicism. “Let’s not get too hard on the Holy Roman Church here. The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there … murmuring prayers, stories told in stained-glass windows, the colors of Catholicism–purple mauve, yellow, red–the burning incense. My friend Gavin Friday says Catholicism is the glam-rock of religion” (Bono on Bono, p. 201).

My pastor loves U2's music. He just likes the whole thing for the entertainment that it is. My pastor does not listen to any CCM, so he does not know any Petra or Stryper tunes (he is about 46, 47 years old so you would think he would). He was never attracted to it. He grew up well within the reaches of it too, near Tulsa, OK and was raised in church all of his life. He went to secular colleges, multiple seminaries, was a youth director, etc and still never was exposed to it or influenced by the content to listen to it.

Personally, U2 sucks. Same old crap. If it were not for hundreds of floor delay pedals and straight chords, there would be no U2. Heck, if there were no U2, we would not have the modern P&W music. It all sounds like U2 to me. I hate it.

[sue d.]

good explanation, Brent. Thanks for clearing things on U2.

I never paid much attention to U2 or Bono but I knew enough that his 'Christianity' was very much in question.

[brent]

I don't know the guy, nor do I know if he was, is and shall be saved. Making a profession of faith is meaningless if there is no continued submission and obedience behind it. This is a tuff one. We have to judge fruit. But there is more to fruit than humanitarian aid and publishing you believe Jesus is Jesus. Heck, the World can provide aid, and the devil and fallen demons know Jesus is Jesus. Bono may be the saint some people make him out to be privately. All I know is what has been published.

Emergent churches look to Bono as a leader for humanitarian aid. Even Rick Warren and other main-line denominational churches have had him in to discuss world issues. I get that. Ministries partner up with other people doing good works all of the time. No matter what movement or church you belong to, there is likely some conference or event where people come together and learn, try to improve, and grow. Everyone is looking for ideas to advance their operations. Nothing wrong with that. God has to be the center of it.

What is spooky is the emergent church movement, which is kind of the anti-church movement, puts Bono in a position that he himself probably would not be comfortable with, a source of doctrine. CCM artists are buying in to it too. But then again, we have homersectuals, alcoholics, drug addicts, thieves, adulterers, etc singing songs written and performed by like kind that are not even Christians. Pick your poison.

[rexreed]

I can't believe John is singing a Beatles song, when he's voiced such strong opinions against U2. Maybe that's his age showing.

Nice version, but way too slow.

?? I don't see any connection between the Beatles and U2. If I said that I do not like The Rolling Stones I would hope that someone would not interpret that as me not liking Peter Frampton as well.

[cvs2kids]

Personally, U2 sucks. Same old crap. If it were not for hundreds of floor delay pedals and straight chords, there would be no U2. Heck, if there were no U2, we would not have the modern P&W music. It all sounds like U2 to me. I hate it.

Preaching to the choir here brotha.

Back when Joshua Tree came out, went on a team trip with 12 other guys. Listened to that album all the way up and all the way back. I don't know if the older kids really liked it or just like tormenting us. To this day, I get flashbacks if I hear any U2 song.

That was 5 hours EACH WAY. There must have been some kind of Geneva convention on torture at that time!

[brent]

That was 5 hours EACH WAY. There must have been some kind of Geneva convention on torture at that time!

haaaaahahahaha.

[curt]

I've never heard John Schlitt voice any oppinion on or against U2 but would be very interested to hear it.

Wasn't able to find much by doing some google-searches.

[Shell]

I like some of U2's early stuff, but I'm not a big fan and haven't paid a whole lot of attention to Bono or done a lot of research into what he might believe. I would say more often than not rock bands don't claim to have strong Biblical beliefs (and that is my opinion and a very general statement from someone who doesn't know these individuals).

Of course if they are claiming to be believers they should be living that way, but I think at least part of the problem is the public's tendency to put these guys (bands or whoever) up on pedestals they don't belong on. They are imperfect human beings, not spiritual giants with all the answers. You have to be discerning and check out what they might be claiming to believe to see if it matches up with the Bible, which I think is something along the lines of the point Brent was making. You can't assume everything you might hear or read about them is 100% accurate either; even if there is some truth to it, you're probably only getting part of the story.

[r_karlsson22]

My opinion is that John Schlitt have one of the greatest rock voices through history. I always enjoy hear him sing! Like this version of Taxman.

[executioner]

My opinion is that John Schlitt have one of the greatest rock voices through history. I always enjoy hear him sing! Like this version of Taxman.

Right on!!!

[executioner]

There is nothing anti-Christian about singing covers, especially when the covers have truth relative to life. It is a harmless song. What's the big deal?

U2 has Bono as it's primary voice. U2 was marketed as a Christian band initially in the USA, when they were not. U2 was on CCM radio rotations and charted. The band distanced themselves from CCM. Bono is on record that he is a believer, but thinks CCM is a joke and he has no place for it. He has made fun of bands like Petra. He thinks U2 is about ministry more than CCM is. He might be right, I don't know. It all depends on how he meant it. But, Bono, as a believer, has had a stage to REALLY lay out the Truth, but has stopped short, and has cloaked his version of a relationship with God in vague artistry. Some friends of mine were involved in making a movie about CCM and interviewed Bono. I don't know what happened to the movie. I will look for some clips and post links if I can find them.

There are tons of interviews and books on this subject:

"U2 guitarist Dave Evans testified that he chose rock & roll over holiness:

“It was reconciling two things that seemed for us at that moment to be mutually exclusive. We never did resolve the contradictions. That’s the truth. … Because we were getting a lot of people in our ear saying, ‘This is impossible, you guys are Christians, you can’t be in a band. It’s a contradiction and you have to go one way or the other.’ They said a lot worse things than that as well. So I just wanted to find out. I was sick of people not really knowing and me not knowing whether this was right for me. So I took two weeks. Within a day or two I just knew that all this stuff [separating from the world] is ——- [vulgarity]. We were the band. Okay, it’s a contradiction for some, but it’s a contradiction that I’m able to live with. I just decided that I was going to live with it. I wasn’t going to try to explain it because I can’t” (Bill Flanagan, U2 at the End of the World, 1996, pp. 47, 48)."

"Chris Row of Shalom Fellowship, Bono’s former pastor in Ireland, said that Bono, Evans, and Mullen chose rock & roll over the Bible. He said that when Bono flew him to Los Angeles to perform his marriage, he wasn’t allowed to go backstage at a U2 concert because they didn’t want him to see the things that went on there (Schimmel, The Submerging Church, 2012, DVD)."

The book Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas (Hodder & Stoughton, 2005) contains a wide-ranging interview with a music reporter that extended over a long period of time. Nowhere in this 337-page book does Bono give a scriptural testimony of having been born again, without which Jesus said no man can see the kingdom of heaven.

Bono says that he believes Jesus is the Messiah and that He died on the cross for his sins and that “he is holding out for grace,” but Bono’s “grace” is a grace that does not result in radical conversion and a new way of life; it is a grace without repentance; it is a grace that does not produce holiness. Nowhere does he warn his myriads of listeners to turn to Christ before it is too late and before they pass out of this life into eternal hell.

In fact, the only thing he says about heaven or hell is that both are on earth. “I think, rather like Hell, Heaven is on Earth. That’s my prayer … that’s where Heaven for me is…” (Bono on Bono, p. 254). It sounds like Bono has been listening more to John Lennon than the Bible, and in fact, he says that when he was 11 years old he listened to Lennon’s album Imagine and it “really got under my skin, the blood of it” (p. 246). On this album Lennon sang, “Imagine there is no heaven above and no hell below.”

The members of U2 do not believe Christianity should have rules and regulations. “I’m really interested in and influenced by the spiritual side of Christianity, rather than the legislative side, the rules and regulations” (Edge, U2: The Rolling Stone Files, p. 21). The Lord Jesus Christ said those who love Him would keep His commandments (John 14:15, 23, 15:10). The apostle John said, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). There are more than 80 specific commandments for Christians in the book of Ephesians alone, the same book that says we are saved by grace without works. Though salvation is by grace, it always produces a zeal for holiness and obedience to God’s commands, for we are “saved unto good works” (Ephesians 2:8-10). According to Titus 2, the grace of God teaches the believer to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

Bono says that the older he gets the more comfort he finds in Roman Catholicism. “Let’s not get too hard on the Holy Roman Church here. The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there … murmuring prayers, stories told in stained-glass windows, the colors of Catholicism–purple mauve, yellow, red–the burning incense. My friend Gavin Friday says Catholicism is the glam-rock of religion” (Bono on Bono, p. 201).

My pastor loves U2's music. He just likes the whole thing for the entertainment that it is. My pastor does not listen to any CCM, so he does not know any Petra or Stryper tunes (he is about 46, 47 years old so you would think he would). He was never attracted to it. He grew up well within the reaches of it too, near Tulsa, OK and was raised in church all of his life. He went to secular colleges, multiple seminaries, was a youth director, etc and still never was exposed to it or influenced by the content to listen to it.

Personally, U2 sucks. Same old crap. If it were not for hundreds of floor delay pedals and straight chords, there would be no U2. Heck, if there were no U2, we would not have the modern P&W music. It all sounds like U2 to me. I hate it.

I am somewhat on the fence with U2, not with the spiritual side of things but with the musical side. It is hit or miss with me on them, their stuff in the 80's was/is really great, and some offerings since 2000 has been good, but anything they did in the 90's was horrible. I read their book on their history a couple of years ago and too be honest you can't help but root for them; they all came from low class factory worker families and with no guidance at all they taught themselves on how to play their instruments. Until when the Joshua Tree came out everything was either paid for out of their own pockets or they had financial help from local shop owners in the Dublin area. It really is a feel good story and would probably make a good movie on how to do it the right way.
The spiritual side of things is its obvious they are strict Roman Catholics and just like most Catholics they believe they are Heaven bound mostly based on their works; now I personally know of a lot of Catholics that have professed Jesus as their Savior and are strong devout Christians despite their Catholic background, so who is to say if they are Christians or not. My long time pastor has always said "we all are going to be totally surprised who is/is not in Heaven"

[rexreed]

My long time pastor has always said "we all are going to be totally surprised who is/is not in Heaven"

Best line in a post for a long while.