A church I used to attend once plastered pictures of Bono in their fellowship hall while promoting a food drive. My heart sank in dismay. It was discouraging because I knew the following information. Please read:
THE ROCK GROUP U2
by David Cloud
The following is from the latest edition of the 400-page Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, which is available in print as well as a free eBook from the Way of Life web site — http://www.wayoflife.org.
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U2 was formed in 1978 and has been hugely successful. The band was selected as Rolling Stone magazine’s Band of the Eighties and was still called “the biggest band in the world” in Rolling Stone’s December 2004 issue. U2 front man Bono was Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2006.
But U2 is much more than a popular rock band. U2 has a great influence in the emerging church and the contemporary worship movement. U2’s lead singer Bono is praised almost universally among contemporary and emerging Christians. Phil Johnson observes that “Bono seems to be the chief theologian of the Emerging Church Movement” (Absolutely Not! Exposing the Post-modern Errors of the Emerging Church, p. 9).
“Bono played a far more significant role on the formative years on those who became emergent than anyone else, from a human standpoint. Bono, in the 1980s, was, if not worshipped, then absolutely adored by millions of Christian youth who were hanging on his every word. They saw his cool kind of Christianity. He helped lead people into what eventually became the emerging church. Bono has led people into a version of Christianity that is so slippery, so undefinable, so liberal, yet he is considered the main icon of the emerging church” (Joseph Schimmel, The Submerging Church, DVD, 2012).
Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, says U2 has a prophetic voice to the world and says Bono is a prophet like John the Baptist (foreword to Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog).
Brian Walsh believes that U2’s lyrics should be used for seminary training and as commentaries alongside the Bible, and that U2’s concerts should be studied to see “how worship really happens in a postmodern world” (Get Up Off Your Knees).
Mark Mulder has taught a U2 course at Calvin College and he observes that the school shares Bono’s view that the world will not be destroyed but will be renewed (“Calvin College on U2,” Christianity Today, Feb. 2005).
Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo say that Bono is moving the world toward the kingdom of God and increasing the kingdom of God in the here and now (McLaren and Campolo, Adventures in Missing the Point, 2003, pp. 50, 51).
Bill Hybels interviewed Bono at Willowcreek Community Church’s Leadership Summit in 2006 and that interview has been shown in thousands of churches all over the world.
Rick Warren invited Bono to Saddleback Church to help launch his P.E.A.C.E. program.
Rob Bell testifies that the first time he really experienced God was at a U2 concert (Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, p. 72).
Emerging leader Steven Taylor calls Bono “a worship leader” and on his blog promotes “Seven Things I Learned from Bono about Worship Leading.”
Christianity Today almost worships U2. When Episcopalian ministers Raewynne Whiteley and Beth Maynard published “Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog,” Christianity Today responded with a review entitled “The Legend of Bono Vox: Lessons Learned in the Church of U2.”
In fact, U2 is no church and is destitute of spiritual truth when judged biblically. That U2 is wildly popular with contemporary Christians is a fulfillment of the apostasy described in 2 Timothy:
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
U2’s Early Christian Experience
In their teenage years, Paul Hewson (“Bono”), Dave Evans (“Edge”), and Larry Mullen visited a charismatic house church called Shalom and made a profession of faith in Christ, but they have long since renounced any formal church affiliation.
U2 member Adam Clayton does not make any type of Christian profession, and in my opinion, he is the most honest of the four band members. At least he does not pretend to have faith in Christ while living a rock & roll lifestyle and denying the Bible’s clear teachings.
Bono, Evans, and Mullen admit that they wrestled with quitting rock & roll when they began studying the Bible. They chose to stay with rock & roll and have been moving farther and farther away from the Bible ever since.
Of that early struggle Bono told a Rolling Stones magazine senior editor: “We were getting involved in reading books, the Big Book. Meeting people who were more interested in things spiritual, superspiritual characters that I can see now were possibly far too removed from reality. But we were wrapped up in that.”
This idea of spiritually-minded Christians being “too far removed from reality” is a common smokescreen used by rebels to excuse their worldliness. The Bible says:
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).
Bono mocks as “superspiritual” those who reject the things of this world to set their minds on heavenly things, but that is precisely what God wants His people to do.
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).
Note that Evans did not base his decision upon the Word of God. Contrary to Proverbs 3:5-6, he leans on his own understanding, and in accordance with 2 Timothy 4:3-4 he follows his own lusts.
In an interview with Joseph Schimmel, 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).
There is no evidence in U2’s lives, music, or performances that they honor the Word of God. They have been at the heart and soul of the wicked rock & roll scene for over three decades. They are one of the most popular rock & roll bands alive today and this certainly would not be the case if they were striving to obey the Bible and live holy lives to the glory of Jesus Christ and if they were preaching absolute truth, the reality of heaven and hell, and salvation only through Christ’s atonement.
To the contrary, their lives have been anything but holy and their message anything but Scriptural.
U2’s Christianity
The members of U2 don’t support any denomination or church. In fact, they rarely attend church, “preferring to meet together in private prayer sessions” (U2: The Rolling Stone Files, p. 21). Sundays find them in a pub rather than in a pew. They are “not rabid Bible thumpers” (Ibid., p. 14). In the song “Acrobat,” Bono sings, “I’d join the movement/ If there was one I could believe in … I’d break bread and wine/ If there was a church I could receive in.”
One church Bono does attend from time to time is Glide Memorial United Methodist in San Francisco. “When he’s in the area Bono is a frequent worshipper at Glide…” (Flanagan, U2 at the End of the World, p. 99). Bono attended Glide Memorial during a special service to honor Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential election. Speaking at a meeting connected with the 1972 United Methodist Church Quadrennial Conference, Cecil Williams, pastor of the Glide Memorial Methodist Church, said, “I don’t want to go to no heaven … I don’t believe in that stuff. I think it’s a lot of – – – – [vulgarity].” A Jewish rabbi is on William’s staff. Williams was the Grand Marshall of the San Francisco Gay Pride parade and the chairman of his board was a homosexual. He has been “marrying” homosexuals since 1965 and says, “I have not married a single couple at Glide who weren’t already living together” (Williams, speaking at the Centenary United Methodist Church, St. Louis, quoted in Blu-Print, April 25, 1972). Long ago William’s church replaced the choir with a rock band, and its “celebrations” have included immoral dancing and even complete nudity. After attending a service at Glide Memorial, a newspaper editor wrote, “The service, in my opinion, was an insult to every Christian attending and was the most disgusting display of vulgarity and sensuousness I have ever seen anywhere.”
This is U2’s type of Christianity.
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).
Though he speaks positively of Romanism, Bono has nothing good to say about “fundamentalism,” falsely claiming that it is a denial that God is love (Bono on Bono, p. 167) and calling it vile names (p. 147).
The problem is that Bono defines love by the rock & roll dictionary rather than by the Bible, which says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).
U2’s Lifestyle
The members of U2 live in blatant contradiction to the reality of biblical grace. They are described in the following passages:
“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16).
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5).
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4).
The lives of the U2 rock stars exemplify their no-rules philosophy.
In 1992 “Bono was named premier male sexpot” (U2: The Rolling Stone Files, p. xxxvi).
Of sexual activity, Bono says: “You know, if you tell people that the best place to have [sexual activity -ed] is in the safe hands of a loving relationship, you may be telling a lie! There may be other places” (Flanagan, U2 at the End of the World, p. 83).
Bill Flanagan, a U2 friend who has traveled extensively with the group, in his authorized biography describes them as heavy drinkers and constant visitors to bars, brothels, and nightclubs. He says, “If I wanted to I could fill up hundreds of pages with this sort of three-sheets-to-the-wind [drunken], navel-gazing dialogue between U2 and me” (Flanagan, U2 at the End of the World, p. 145). Bono admits that he lives “a fairly decadent kind of selfish-art-oriented lifestyle” (Flanagan, p. 79). Their language is interspersed with the vilest vulgarities and even with profanity. Of basketball star Magic Johnson’s widely publicized sexual escapades, Bono flippantly and foolishly says: “Be a [sexual] machine, but for Christ’s sake use a condom” (Flanagan, p. 105).
Many of Bono’s statements cannot be printed in a Christian publication. The cover and lyric sheet to their Achtung Baby album contained photos of the band in homosexual drag (men cross-dressing like women), a picture of Bono in front of a topless woman, and a frontal photo of Adam Clayton completely nude. Bono said the band enjoyed dressing like homosexual drag queens. “Nobody wanted to take their clothes off for about a week! And I have to say, some people have been doing it ever since!” (Bono, cited by Flanagan, p. 58). Bono told the media that he and his bandmates planned to spend New Year’s Eve 2000 in Dublin, because “Dublin knows how to drink” (Bono, USA Today, Oct. 15, 1999, p. E1). Bono has simulated [sexual activity] with women during his concerts. Their concerts have included video clips portraying nudity and cursing. The band members have had serious marital problems and Dave Evans is divorced.
People magazine described Bono’s “nine-hour binge which left him brainless.” “The U2 star … got struck into beer, wine, cocktails and bubbly celebrating the American release of the band’s Rattle And Hum film. ‘He was slobbering, shouting and showing off,’ said a bartender at the Santa Monica niterie that hosted the bash. ‘Even the rest of the band told him to calm down. They should have been kicked out but because of who they are we let them stay…’” (People, Oct. 23, 1988, p. 15).
When asked about his position on homosexuality, Bono said: “My bottom line on any sexuality is that love is the most important thing. That love is it. Any way people want to love each other is OK by me” (Bono, Mother Jones magazine, May/June 1989).
At Wheaton College in 2002, Bono said, “It’s a remarkable thing, the idea that there’s some sort of hierarchy to sin. It’s something I can never figure out, the idea that sexual immorality is somehow much worse than, say, institutional greed. Somewhere in the back of the religious mind is this idea that we reap what we sow is missing the entire New Testament and the concept of grace completely” (“Backstage with Bono,” Christianitytoday.com music interviews, Dec. 9, 2002).
The Christianity Today reporter understood that Bono was saying that reaping what we sow is not a biblical teaching and is contrary to grace. In fact, the Bible plainly says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7), and that was stated in the very context of Paul’s teaching about grace. God’s grace through Christ is offered to all men, but its reception requires repentance and faith (Acts 20:21). Nowhere in the New Testament do we find Christ or the apostles fretting about “institutional greed” or rebuking the Roman government for its institutional sins, but the New Testament says a LOT about PERSONAL sin and sexual immorality! Most of the New Testament epistles warn about sexual immorality.
Appearing on the Golden Globe Awards broadcast by NBC television in 2003, Bono shouted a vile curse word. The incident was investigated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which deemed his language “profane” but decided not to fine the stations. Imagine an alleged Christian shouting such vile things on the public airwaves that he is investigated by the FCC!
In 2006 Bono said: “I recently read in one of St. Paul’s letters where it describes all of the fruits of the spirit, and I had none of them” (“Enough Rope with Andrew Denton,” March 13, 2006).
In October 2008, Fox News reported that Bono and rocker friend Simon Carmody partied with teenage girls on a yacht in St. Tropez. The report, which was accompanied by a photo of Bono holding two bikini-clad teenagers on his lap at a bar, said, “Bono, Carmody and the girls partied into the night on the yacht” (“Facebook Pictures Show Married U2 Singer Bono’s Rendezvous with Sexy Teens,” Fox News, Oct. 27, 2008).
U2’s Message
U2’s Christian supporters tout the band’s “biblical” lyrics as evidence of the reality of their Christianity. But U2’s ambiguous lyrics do not present a clear Christian message, and the few songs that do mention Christ typically do so in a strange, unscriptural manner. “The listener senses something religious is being dealt with but can’t be quite sure what” (Steve Turner, Hungry for Heaven, p. 172). They never preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in a plain manner so that their listeners could be born again. They pose moral questions in some of their songs, but they give no Bible answers. “U2 don’t pretend to have the answers to the world’s troubles. Instead, they devote their energies to letting us know that they are concerned and to creating an awareness about those problems” (U2: The Rolling Stone Files, p. 10). What a pitiful testimony for professing Christian musicians who COULD be preaching the light of the Word of God to a dark and hell-bound world.
Consider, for example, the lyrics to “When Love Comes to Town”:
“I was there when they crucified my lord/ I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword/ I threw the dice when they pierced his side/ But I’ve seen love conquer the great divide. When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that train/ When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that flame/ Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down/ But I did what I did before love came to town.”
This is typical of U2 songs. It intermingles thoughts about a girl at the beginning with thoughts possibly about the cross at the end, but nothing is clear. Listeners can interpret the ambiguous lyrics in a multitude of ways.
Consider the song “All Because of You” from U2’s 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. “I’m alive/ I’m being born/ I just arrived, I’m at the door/ Of the place that I started out from/ And I want back inside.” That’s a confusing, really meaningless message.
One of U2’s most popular songs even proclaims that they haven’t found what they are looking for. “You broke the bonds/ You loosed the chains/ You carried the cross/ And my shame/ You know I believe it/ But I still haven’t found/ What I’m looking for” (“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”).
This is a strange message for an alleged Christian rock band to broadcast to a needy world! They sing about Christ and the cross and then state that they haven’t found what they are looking for.
A Social Gospel
The group is active in political causes, but they are liberal, humanistic ones. For example, in 1992 they played a benefit concert for the environmentalist/pacifist group Greenpeace and joined Greenpeace in protesting against a nuclear power plant. One of their hits, “Pride,” is a tribute to the civil rights leader Martin Luther King; and in 1994, U2 received the Martin Luther King Freedom Award. King was an adulterous, theological modernist who taught a false social gospel. U2 supported the adulterous, abortion- and homosexual-supporting Bill Clinton in his 1992 run for president. Clinton conversed with them on a national radio talk show during the election campaign and met them in a hotel room in Chicago. At the same time they mocked George Bush during their USA concerts that year. They featured a video clip depicting Bush chanting the words to “We Will Rock You” by the homosexual rock group Queen. Members of U2 performed at Bill Clinton’s televised inaugural ball on MTV. Bono said he was glad that Clinton’s election was a victory for homosexuals (Flanagan, p. 100).
Bono’s passion in recent years has been AIDS and poverty in Africa. He has petitioned Western governments to cancel the debts of African nations and to increase foreign aid. While Bono does call upon African leaders to “practice democracy, accountability, and transparency,” he does not tie this in with foreign aid and does not put the blame of Africa’s AIDS and poverty problem where it truly belongs, which is government corruption, pagan religion, and its corollary, the lack of moral character and immorality. If the entire wealth of America, the United Kingdom, and Europe were transferred to Africa tomorrow, it would not result in significant and lasting change unless these factors were first addressed, and Bono’s plan does not significantly address them nor require any such radical systemic change. Instead, Bono puts the largest part of the blame for Africa’s ills upon the unfair trade practices of and lack of aid by Western nations and an alleged lack of compassion on the part of Christians.
Speaking before Wheaton College in December 2002, Bono said, “Christ talks about the poor [and says] ‘whatever you have done to least of these brothers of mine, you’ve done to me.’ In Africa right now, the least of my brethren are dying in shiploads and we are not responding. We’re here to sound the alarm” (Christianity Today, Dec. 9, 2002). Bono thus grossly misapplies Christ’s statement in Matthew 25:40, applying it to the unsaved in general rather than to the nation Israel. This is the Fatherhood of God heresy that Mother Teresa also held, that all men are the children of God regardless of whether they have faith in Christ. Further, if Matthew 25:40 is a reference to the unsaved in general, the apostles and early Christians failed miserably, for there is no record that they attempted to relieve the social ills of the Roman Empire in general. In fact, the context of Matthew 25:32-46 is immediately following the return of Christ at the end of the Tribulation, and it describes how Christ will judge the nations on the basis of how they treated His people the Jews, which will be so viciously persecuted during that period. Compare Revelation 7:4-14.
Universalism and a False Christ
Bono’s christ is a false one. He says he is “attracted to people like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Christ, to pacifism” (U2: The Rolling Stone Files, p. xxviii). The Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible is not a pacifist. He is not anything like the adulterous Martin Luther King or the Hindu Gandhi. Christ did instruct His people not to resist evil in the sense of taking up arms for religious causes. When persecuted, we are to endure it (1 Cor. 4:12); but Christ did not teach pacifism. Christ’s forerunner, John the Baptist, warned soldiers to be content with their wages, but he did not rebuke them for carrying arms as soldiers (Lk. 3:14). Before his death, Christ instructed his followers to provide swords for themselves (Lk. 22:32-38). Christ said he came not to send peace but a sword (Mt. 10:34). In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ will return on a white horse to make war with his enemies (Rev. 19:11-16). The Christ of the Bible is no pacifist and He did not establish a pacifist movement.
When asked by Mother Jones magazine if he believed that Jesus is the only way and if that excludes other people from heaven, Bono replied: “I don’t accept that. I don’t accept that fundamentalist concept. I believe–what is it? ‘The way is as narrow as the eye of the needle,’ and all that–But I think that’s just to keep the fundamentalists out. I never really accepted the whole ‘born again’ tag” (“Bono Bites Back,” Mother Jones magazine, May 1989).
For their Vertigo Tour in 2005, U2 promoted “Coexist” as an icon for world peace. Bono wore a “coexist” headband that featured the cross of Christianity, the crescent moon of Islam, and the star of David of Judaism and he led the crowds in shouting, “Jesus, Jew, Muhammad, it’s true; all sons of Abraham.”
Anti-Christ
Bono has repeatedly worn upside down crosses in his concerts, which are satanic anti-christ emblems. He has displayed the inverted cross while singing the Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter.” He has worn it while singing the Rolling Stones’ vile song “Sympathy for the Devil” (Joseph Schimmel, The Submerging Church, DVD, 2012).
Bono has aggressively promoted the movies of the occultist Kenneth Anger. When Bono was considering establishing ZooTV to rival MTV, he envisioned it “as a window for the world to see the films of Kenneth Anger” (Bill Flanagan, U2: At the End of the World, 1996, p. 477). Bono told Details magazine, “Part of America’s dilemma is its TV because as a mirror it’s a pretty distorted one. I mean, where can you see Kenneth Anger films in the United States?” (“Turning Money into Light, Details magazine, Feb. 1, 1994). Anger, a homosexual who has “Lucifer” tattooed into his chest, wrote the foreword to Anton LaVey’s books The Devil’s Notebook and Satan Speaks. Anger exalts the occultist and moral pervert Aleister Crowley in the movie Lucifer Rising: Invokation of My Demon Brother. He promotes Crowley’s vision of a New Age world order called the age of Horus. Anger’s movie Invocation of My Demon Brother starred LaVey and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Anger joined Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page guitarist in trying to exorcise Crowley’s former residence in Scotland of what they believed to be “a headless man’s ghost.”
No Christ-loving, Bible-believing man would promote the work of Kenneth Anger, and I’m sure he would agree with that statement.
Bono even transformed himself into the devil in the ZooTV tour during the early 1990s. The devil, which he called MacPhisto, was an aging rocker who had sold his soul for fame. That certainly sounds like Bono.
Other quotations demonstrate that U2’s “spirituality” is not based on the Bible:
“Bono dislikes the label ‘born-again Christian’–and he doesn’t go to church either. [He says,] ‘I’m a very, very bad advertisement for God…’” (U2: The Rolling Stone Files).
“A U2 concert aims to raise people’s sense of their own worth. ‘It’s a celebration of me being me and you being you,’ as Bono once put it. The music soars and swirls but never bludgeons. … ‘I want people to leave our concerts feeling positive, a bit more free,’ says Bono” (Steve Turner, Hungry for Heaven, p. 28). A celebration of me is exactly what rock & roll is at its most fundamental level, and it is a fulfillment of 2 Timothy 3:2. “For men shall be lovers of their own selves…”
“I believe that it’s a woman’s right to choose [an abortion]. Absolutely” (Bono, Mother Jones magazine, May/June 1989).
Beware When the World Loves You
U2 is exalted as “the biggest band in the world,” and they are praised by everyone from Christianity Today to Rolling Stone. The world loves U2, and that brings some Scriptures to mind.
“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).
“I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14).
“They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:5).
“And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19).
The world loves U2 because U2 is of the world, and the world recognizes its own. The love that Bono sings about is the world’s love. U2’s philosophy is the world’s philosophy. U2’s lifestyle is the world’s lifestyle.
Consider this line from the song “Vertigo” — “A feeling is so much stronger than a thought.”
Bono quoted this in an interview with the wicked Rolling Stone magazine, and it summarizes the rock & roll philosophy and its blind mysticism, which is to do what feels right regardless of what the Bible or some other authority says about it. The Bible says we are to live by God’s Word, but rock & roll says, “Live by your feelings.” The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, but rock & roll says, “Just follow your heart.” The Bible says we can only know God through the sound doctrine of His revelation in the Bible, through right thinking that comes by the right understanding of God’s Word, but rock & roll says, “Feelings are more important than thoughts.”
This is why the world loves U2, and this is why apostate Christianity loves U2.
DiscernIt 
22 comments
August 19, 2012 at 1:59 am
granadacoder
You asked to keep comments short and to the point.
//Bono has repeatedly worn upside down crosses in his concerts, which are satanic anti-christ emblems.//
In other countries, the upside down cross isn’t a sign for the devil. Most of us Americans have seen a lot of (too many?) vampire movies, and thus our natural inclination is to think “the devil”.
In other countries, it is known as the “St Peter’s Cross”.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_St._Peter
Quote from article
//The distinction between a Cross of Peter and upturned Crucifix is sometimes obscured, leading to confusion about the acceptability of each symbol.//
August 19, 2012 at 2:23 am
granadacoder
//(“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”).
This is a strange message for an alleged Christian rock band to broadcast to a needy world! They sing about Christ and the cross and then state that they haven’t found what they are looking for.//
I’m here to say that as a Christian, I have not found what I’m really looking for.
I have a lot more to look forward to. Perhaps Paul Hewson is looking forward…to a time when we will no longer see things imperfectly? (1 Corthinians 13:12)
Here are the future things I am looking for.
1. To be in the presence of Christ. (Philippians 1:23)
2. To have the good work finished when Christ returns. (Philippians 1:6)
3. To not have this perishable physical body that is slowly decaying. (1 Corinthians 15:50)
4. To have a perfect resurrected and glorfied body. (1 Corinthians 15:51)
5. To know things completely and to see everything with perfect clarity. Because now I see things imperfectly. (1 Corthinians 13:12)
Philippians 1:6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work ***until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns***.
Philippians 1:21-23
21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.
1 Corinthians 15
50 Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – 52 in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
1 Corinthians 13
12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
August 19, 2012 at 2:51 am
granadacoder
//and he led the crowds in shouting, “Jesus, Jew, Muhammad, it’s true; all sons of Abraham.”//
Did he say anything inaccurate here?
Genesis 16:15
(15) So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, whom Abram named Ishmael.
Matthew 1:1
(1) This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Do you live in an area with any muslims? (like I do and many other Christians around the world do). Do you want them coming in the middle of the night and cutting your throat because you (like me) are an infidel?
Or do you want to live in a way that you can live (where the muslim does not come to kill you in the middle of the night) … and you do not go and kill the muslim? ***
You see, if you (and I) want to find some way for people to not kill each other because of their religious beliefs, I submit to you that we believe in a form of “co-exist”. Co-exist as in “exist without killing each other”…. not “equality of the religions”.
As an American (I am assuming, I’m not sure)….do you believe in the freedom of religion in this country? Or do you believe in the freedom of religion (in this country) … just as long as it is Christianity?
As far as the quote itself………
Paul Hewson is making an attempt to get people to stop killing each other in the name of YAHWEH.
He grew up where “christians” (protestants and catholics) bombed each other and shot each other in the middle of the night. He didn’t grow up in the States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles
………….
Now to some verses…and to the Greek and how Jesus and Paul ask us to live at peace with one another. Again, to be very clear.. I am not saying “equality of all religions”.
I think we are calle to be the salt of the earth and a light to the word (for Him)….but we’re also called to live at peace with others…up unto the point we violate other commands (think “acknowledging Caesar as a god”).
Vengeance belongs to Yahweh. Not us (as NT believers).
Let me add some commentary to this verse to make the point.
Rom 12:20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head.
Does that not include our islamic “enemies” (of the cross)?
————–
Mat 5:9
(9) Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
The greek word for peacemakers is eire¯nopoios.
Here is the greek usage:
G1518
eire¯nopoios
peace, 3
Mar_9:50, 2Co_13:11, 1Th_5:13
peaceably, 1
Rom_12:18
peacemakers, 1
Mat_5:9
And a few more: (same greek word, maybe not the same family of the command).
Mark 9:50
50 Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
2 Corinthians 13:11
11 Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
1 Thessalonians 5:13
13 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.
Same greek word in Rom 12:18
Rom 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people.
Rom 12:19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
Rom 12:20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head.
Rom 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
(Foot Notes)
***
I marked this because the response I’ve encountered is that “Christians don’t kill muslims”.
Huh. Interesting theory.
Here is a book from a class I took in bible college.
The Story of Christianity: The early church to the dawn of the Reformation
By Justo L. González
http://www.amazon.com/Story-Christianity-Early-Church-Reformation/dp/0060633158
Here are a few quotes from the above book.
//Start Quote//
“and an eyewitness boasting of the holiness of the Christian army says: ‘We did nothing evil to them, but simply speared them through.'”
“the crusaders swept into the city that was the goal of their long campaign. It was July 15, 1099.
There followed a horrible bloodbath. “All the (Muslim) defenders were killed, as well as many civilians. Women were raped, and infants thrown against walls. Many of the city’s Jews whad taken refuge in the synagogue, and the crusaders set fire to the building with them inside.”
//End Quote//
This was the First Crusade … “In the Name of Jesus”.
By the “Christian” Crusaders.
You might argue the crusaders were not truly Christian. I’d argue the same. But to the Muslims and Jews who were killed, they saw flags with the Christian Cross on it, and all of it was done in the name of Jesus.
August 19, 2012 at 5:50 am
granadacoder
//Their language is interspersed with the vilest vulgarities and even with profanity. //
//”and even profanity”//
You mean like the Apostle Paul did?
http://bible.org/article/brief-word-study-skuvbalon
(by Daniel B Wallace, NT Greek Professor )
and
http://kblog.kevinjbowman.com/2007/03/great-post-on-skubula.cfm
(or google it…there are many referneces to it)
And to show that some will traslate it accurately into their own language…. here are the references for how Martin Luther accurately translated the word into the German.
http://bibeltext.com/philippians/3-8.htm
Luther Bibel (1545)
Denn ich achte es alles für Schaden gegen die überschwengliche Erkenntnis Christi Jesu, meines HERRN, um welches willen ich alles habe für Schaden gerechnet und achte es für Dreck, auf daß ich Christum gewinne
(der) “Dreck” is the operative word..
http://www.interglot.com/dictionary/de/en/translate/Dreck
http://www.interglot.com/dictionary/de/en/search?q=Kot&m=
( I think the 1912 revision changed it to der Kot, which is the same thing)
August 19, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Kim
I will respond in order of the comments.
I do not think for a moment that Bono was honoring Peter’s method of execution by wearing the upside-down cross.
Indeed we are to look forward to the day we will be with Christ, but until that we are die to self and live for Him. We are to store up treasures in heaven and not on earth.
Of course we are to try to live in peace with each other….a given…But we have to beware of universalism. To be accurate one has to say that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. That there is no other name given to man on earth There have been many who have died for the testimony of Jesus, and many who would rather be beheaded than to deny this truth. The co-exist movement does not teach this…it is a “we can all get along” ecumenism. Indeed the crusades were a bloodbath instigated by the RCC done in the name of their false jesus. A Jesus they did not know.
They created a Jesus to satisfy their lusts. Bono and U2 have also created their own Jesus…one they can follow and still satisfy their lusts. They are deceiving themselves and others who do not want to live a holy life unto the Lord.
It is best to go the Greek to see the original word used on the vulgarity issue.
Strong’s G4657 – skybalon
1) any refuse, as the excrement of animals, offscourings, rubbish, dregs
a) of things worthless and detestable
The same explanation is in the Lexicon which helps narrow the meaning as it is used in the passage as something worthless and detestable. The Greek word has two meanings. Paul wrote this while in prison for preaching Christ. He had suffered loss of all things but considered what he had lost for Christ worthless, rubbish, like excrement, the things of the world are even offensive.
Evans said, “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).”
Their message is the OPPOSITE of Paul’s. Paul is saying the things of the world is dung, while the band believes separating from the world is dung. This is a huge difference.
I see much self-deceit in the lives of U2. They are dragging many along with them.
August 20, 2012 at 10:08 pm
eternityisforeverer
There is a great website by EX Ministries called GoodFight Theatre. If you type in a band that you like, for example Metallica, it gives you a run down on their beliefs and where they get their ‘inspiration’ from. I was shocked as Metallica used to be a favourite of mine, as did AC/DC, which are also on there.
http://theater.goodfight.org/
August 20, 2012 at 10:13 pm
eternityisforeverer
I didn’t realise, but you can also type in things like Scientology etc.
http://www.goodfight.org/help_theater.html
August 21, 2012 at 5:10 pm
granadacoder
So are you saying that Paul Hewson (Bono) is definitely not a Christian?
August 21, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Kim
I was born into a Christian family and went to Sunday school till I was 16. Then I left the faith…I still called myself a Christian though…Went through 20 years of drinking, drugs and promiscuity….Then something happened. God called me back to Him. I came. My life changed suddenly and I began to hate sin in my life. Was I a saved Christian when I was younger? Not sure. I would say no.
Here is an article from Got Questions that I like.
“A true born again Christian will strive to bring glory and honor to Christ by living a life that is pleasing to God (1 Peter 1:15-16, 4:1-4). True saving faith will indeed produce works or “fruit” in the life of the believer (James 2:17, 26). Thus, if there are no works of love in one’s life, a careful self-examination is certainly called for. The apostle Paul instructed those in Corinth to do this very thing: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Indeed, any profession of faith that does not result in a changed life and good works is a false profession and such a person is not a Christian.
“Now, even though the lifestyle of true Christians does reflect the presence of Christ in their hearts, we know we are not perfect. Christians do sin and the apostle John makes it clear that we deceive ourselves if we think otherwise (1 John 1:8). And when Christians do sin, rest assured there are multitudes just lying in wait to use their “slip-up” to further denigrate the true body of believers. That is why Paul admonished the church in Thessalonica to abstain from even the appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22), and to live in such a way as to “win the respect of outsiders” (1Thessalonians 4:12).
“What Christians will not do, however, is engage in repeated or habitual sin (1 John 3:6). One who engages in deliberate and habitual sin is simply proving that he does not know Christ and therefore cannot be abiding in Him even though he may live his life under the vast umbrella of religion and is thought, therefore, by many to be a Christian.
“As believers mature in their faith, they will exhibit more and more evidence of their true Christian nature, such as their love for God, repentance from sin, separation from the world, spiritual growth, and obedient living. As Paul told the Romans, the genuine child of God has been set free from sin and has become a slave to God, and the result is eternal life (Romans 6:22).”
August 22, 2012 at 4:56 am
granadacoder
The previous post is a great testimony.
And if the name of your article had been “My Testimony and My Thoughts on Being a Christian”…I wouldn’t be asking this question.
The name of your article is “Is U2′s Bono a Christian?”
(I realize I am repeating myself)
Based on the name of the article:
So are you saying that Paul Hewson (Bono) is definitely not a Christian?
August 22, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Kim
The article is written and was titled by David Cloud of Way of Life you can find it here. http://wayoflife.org/database/rockgroupu2.html. It was excerpted from his weekly Friday morning postings which I guess i don’t have anymore. I see that on his website it is just titled Rock Group U2.
We are told that when someone professes Christ we should respect their profession. But there are a lot of people who call themselves Christians who simply are not.
The parable of the 10 virgins gives some insight. All ten came out to meet Jesus but, five were foolish, they had not oil, (the Holy Spirit), when Jesus came, He said of the five, He “didn’t know them”. He shut the door on them.
When Jesus was teaching the sermon on the mount, He said “Many on that day, will say, ‘Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles.’ Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers.” Matthew 7:21
Just because one says they know about Jesus doesn’t mean they are a true believer.
Consider Lot who could not take his eyes off the green plains and pitched his tent near Sodom and Gomorrah. Next thing we read he is living in Sodom and Gomorrah. God did pull him and three of his family out before He rained down sulfur and destroyed the cities. He did believe but what did his testimony produce? Did he convert anyone? Did his testimony bear fruit? His own future sons-in-law laughed at him. No…he barely escaped as one through the flames. Reminds me of 1 Corinthians 3:15
It is an interesting question. It is a thinking question. Instead of trying to determine if Bono is a true Christian and will barely escape through the flames or if God will say, “I never knew you”, is not as important as examining ourselves, to make sure that we are truly in the faith.
Not saying I know the answer. What do you think?
August 23, 2012 at 8:58 pm
granadacoder
I think if someone video taped my life from the day I became a Christian until now and then went back and found some of my quotes…they could make a video tape to demonstrate I was not a Christian, and it would be pretty convincing.
I think humans sometimes place judgments on sin that are not exactly as God sees them.
Matthew 23:23
(23) “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law — justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others.
//what is more important in the law — justice, mercy, and faithfulness//
I think Paul Hewson is very concerned about justice and mercy. Alot more than I am.
“I went to speak to Christian fundamentalist groups in America to convince them to give money to fight AIDS in Africa. It was like getting blood from a stone. I told them about a hospice in Uganda where so many people were dying they had to sleep three to a bed. Sister Anne, who I mention in the song, works at that hospice. Her office is a sewer.” – Bono, Q 2004
I think Romans 14 is the most under-taught of all Christian concepts.
Romans 14:4
(4) Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
I think Christians violate this command when they spend so much time analyzing and protesting those outside the church.
1 Corinthians 5:12
(12) For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside?
1Co 5:13(a) But God will judge those outside.
Paul Hewson and Dave Evans screw up, I have no doubt. Probably every day, just like I do.
But they acknowledge the Deity of Christ. And admit they are sinners that need to be saved by grace.
I think if Mother Teresa looked at my life (maybe yours?) she could come up with a list of her own.
Luke 18:21-22
(21) The man replied, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws since my youth.”
(22) When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Have you sold everything you have and given it to the poor? I haven’t.
Or are we able to ignore that verse?
(My point is that you list actions by the band members and verses that they are violating…but do we do that for ourselves?)
I think Jesus gave his hardest warnings against religious leaders who put weight on the people. (Matt 23).
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
(9) Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals,
(10) thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God.
I think “greedy” is mentioned and “verbally abusive” is mentioned. Yet we don’t pass “amendments” about these. We “pick on” homosexuality. I’m not disagreeing with what 1 Cor 6 teaches. I’m pointing out we seem to get upset about one category of sin and kinda gloss over others.
Matthew 7:12
(12) In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets.
I think I violate that every day. And again, if somebody video taped me every day or just recorded what I said every day, over the course of 25 years (like the amount of years that Achtung Baby has been out)….someone could create a video and prove I was not a Christian, and it would be pretty convincing.
Romans 14:12-14
(12) Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
(13) Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister.
(14) I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean.
I think a better title of your blog post would be “thoughts on u2’s Bono”….and not “Is U2’s Bono a Christian?” But that’s just my opinion.
August 23, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Kim
Thank you for your response. Leaving out of town in the morning and will address when we return.
August 24, 2012 at 5:46 pm
granadacoder
Have a safe trip.
A little more food for thought:
Romans 14 (One of my favorites) Partial Commentary
ON TRYING TO CHANGE OTHERS
by Ray C. Stedman
We are back in the fourteenth chapter of Romans this morning, and we are going to be discussing the favorite indoor sport of Christians, that is, trying to change each other. As this passage indicates, this has been a major problem in the church for centuries. All through the history of the church, the problem arises from the attitude that most of us share, I am sure, that God is clearly pleased with the way we live — but there are those others around. They drink beer and play cards; they go to movies; they smoke cigars; they work on Sundays; they wear lipstick; they dance; they play musical instruments; they use zippers instead of buttons. There is an endless list of things that can be included, debatable matters that the church has never been able to settle because of a misunderstanding of the principles that are set forth here in this very passage.
We are dealing, of course, with the problem of Christian taboos, all the no-no’s of the Christian life that we encounter from place to place, and from time to time. We are facing the question of how much fellowship you can have with somebody who lives in a different way than you do, who does things that you do not approve of as a Christian.
This is the problem of Christian ethics, the problem of so-called legalistic behavior, and this passage is a rather extensive one, which indicates the extent of the problem. The passage runs all the way through Chapter 14, and through the first fourteen verses of Chapter 15. But we are not going to try to cover all that this morning. I want to look at just the introduction to it and to see the principle that will lead us to a solution of this problem. I think it is very important to note that this whole section dealing with this problem is part of an extended commentary of the Apostle Paul on the command of Jesus to love one another. This is part of how you love one another, and this has been the subject ever since the apostle turned to the practical part of this letter, from Chapter 12 on. In fact, in Chapter 12 he tells us two things about love:
First, love must be serving. That is its nature; love serves. That is why we are given spiritual gifts, so that we might serve one another.
Paul emphasizes that in Chapter 12. Second, he tells us that love must be genuine. It cannot be phony or sham; it cannot be “put-on” love. It has to be real. Then, in Chapter 13, we learn that love must be submissive, especially to the authorities, to the state, and the powers that be, because they are put there by God. And in the latter part of Chapter 13, Paul tells us that love must be universal; we owe love to everyone without exception. “Owe no man anything, but to love one another,” (Rom_13:8a KJV). That is a universal debt which we must continually be paying to everyone we meet. Now, in Chapter 14, we learn that love must be patient and tolerant of other people’s views. It begins with our actions towards someone whom we regard as less enlightened than ourselves.
August 24, 2012 at 5:47 pm
granadacoder
641. Intolerance; Pharisaism
In fundamental circles a generation ago we had a hierarchy that was just as powerful and just as tough as the hierarchy that controls the Roman Catholic Church. Of course, they never had been elected; they just appointed themselves. And if you said anything that didn’t jive with the notes of the Scofield Bible you were out on your ear, skidding across to the other curb.
Everybody had to believe exactly the same thing about everything, including the second coming and the antichrist and all the rest. Everybody had to believe exactly what everybody else believed. I grew up in that kind of an atmosphere and I was one of the first ones to rebel against it and fight it.
Matthew 23:23-24; Luke 18:9-14; Romans 14:5
Success and the Christian, 93.
Tozer Topical Reader – The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One.
…………………………………..
“Christian history, alas, shows numerous examples of
people utterly earnest about nonessentials, who have felt at
liberty to break the unity of the Church for the sake of their
particular fetish.”467 (Hunter, A. M. The Epistle to the Romans)
August 26, 2012 at 6:06 pm
Kim
Eternity is forever..i just watched the video from
http://www.goodfight.org/help_theater.html
and it is very revealing. Some very interesting quotes from Bono.
“It’s all a con. A way of putting people off from the fact that it is a heavy mother..”
“I lie alll the time. I only always tell the truth in my songs.”
“We are very clear, and it is very clear in our music that we don’t have all the answers. I still haven’t found what I am looking for. How much more clear can you make it.”
When asked if Jesus is they way he replied…
“I dont’ accept that. I don’t accept that fundamentalists concept. I believe the way is as narrow as the eye of the needle and all that. But I think that’s just to keep the fundamentalists out.”
This means that Bono is not a Christian.
Also in the video are the lyrics..
“I stand with the sons of Cain.” Well Cain murdered Abel.
The Bible says, “Cain was of the evil one.”…”Woe judgment unto them for they have gone the way of Cain, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
August 26, 2012 at 6:08 pm
Kim
Go the link, and scroll to the link about U2 on the left.
August 26, 2012 at 6:44 pm
granadacoder
IMHO, The “good fight” website has the discernment skills of a third grader. The line “sons of cain” is about the SONS of cain, not cain himself. The song ‘God’s Country’ is about Irish immigrants coming to America for the first time and seeing the statue of Liberty. “She is liberty, she comes to rescue me.” Bono is talking about Irish immigrants….being “outcasts” and he compares them to the sons of cain. The sons of cain did not murder Abel. Cain did. The sons (and daughters) of Cain had to pay for their father’s mistake and live as outcasts. That is what Bono is talking about there. He brings a simple metaphor of the childen of cain being outcasts from their homeland, and these irish immigrants being outcasts from their homeland.
Bono equates extreme fundamentalists with modern day pharis33s. Matthew 25 discusses Jesus’ extreme anger with Pharis33s. Pharis33s (1) had perfect doctrine (2) knew the law forward and backwards (3) but where loveless and didn’t lift a finger to help people.
Do you not think modern day Pharis33s exist?
Let’s see. Oh yeah.
Pat Robertson and his quotes about adoption in the past 2 weeks.
Is he going to hell because he pretty much gave advice which goes against this verse?
James 1:27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
I mean. Pat was not helping the adoption cause. James 1:27 is pretty clear about what God thinks about adoption.
Speaking of “Grace”. I learned in Sunday School (way back when) that Grace thinks the best about people, not the worst.
In this simple case of “sons of cain”, the good fight website figures out the worst possible way to interpret the lyrics without taking the entire song into account. They (IMHO) are nit-picking the song to support their already predetermined conclusion.
I’d go over a list of logical fallacies. The good-fight website has many of them.
http://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/
“Strawman” comes to mind in regards to the good-fight website about the song “In God’s Country”.
……………
//Quote//This means that Bono is not a Christian. //End Quote//
Wow. You just said Bono is going to Hell (gehenna) for eternity.
How are you not in violation of these verses?
(If you believe he is a christian, which you obviously don’t)
Romans 14:4
(4) Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
(If you don’t believe he’s a christian. as seems to be the case based on your quote above)
1 Corinthians 5:12
(12) For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside?
1Co 5:13(a) But God will judge those outside.
Good luck at the BEMA seat. And I don’t believe in luck, I believe in Grace.
What corporate body do you attend?
Post it, and I’ll watch their sermons online (if available) and I’ll begin the nit-picking the sermons to find flaws in the doctrine. Just like the Pharis33s did way back.
I love sound doctrine! And I love pointing out things to super fundamentalists and hyper calvinists that they cannot answer.
Here’s one for you.
Do you like the christmas song “Hark the Herald Angels Sing?”
Do you sing it at christmas? Do you look forward to singing it this christmas?
Let me know the answer to that question. Then we can talk about things besides Bono.
August 26, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Kim
Yes I am famiiar with the Romans passages. It does ask ,”You then, why do you do you judge your brother?” If Bono does not believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to Father, then he is not a brother.
You also mention Mother Teresa. This is probably the worst/best example you could of given. Let me explain… Here are a few of her quotes.
” I love all religions – there are many way to God.”
” If people become better Hindus, better Muslims, better Buddhists, by our acts of love, then there is something growing here.”
How sad to be with a dying person and never tell them the truth of Christianity, that Jesus is the only way to salvation. John 14:6
How many on their deathbeds never heard, “There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Act 4:12
Love is telling people the truth that will save their souls for eternity…
A study of the Pharisees shows that they did not recognize the Messiah and they themselves could not keep the law. So they made their own laws and oppressed the people with them. For instance the Jewish historians, say they taught the people that they could not carry a piece of clothing on the Sabbath, so they had to wear a piece of clothing to move it. If someone spit on a rock and it bounced…not work. But if the spit hit the sand and made a burrow..that was work….
I believe that some passages can be interpreted differently and there should be grace here. But outright sin and denial of Christian doctrine is a completely different matter altogther..
In fact the sinning Christian such as sexual immortality…he is to be expelled from the church. 1 Corinthians 5. He should feel shame. verses 9-11 says,
“I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or the greedy or the swindlers or idolators…..you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral…With such a man do not even eat.”
Obedience to God’s Word is not being a pharisee…..pointing out sin or one who is misleading others is not either.
Ephesians 5:11 “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
August 26, 2012 at 7:18 pm
Kim
I already know that the angels don’t sing. Luke 2:13 says, “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and SAYING…” emphasis mine.
August 26, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Kim
I have no such authority of who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. It is the plumbline of scripture that we measure by. BTW i think Pat Robertson is a freemason and a false teacher based on some of his teachings, but I am not going there on this thread.
I have also been moderating my blog for some time now. I know that you were baiting me to say that I didn’t think Bono was a Christian…. It is time to move on.
February 9, 2015 at 6:55 am
How Bono And The Emergent Church Are Leading Millions Away From Biblical Christianity - Now The End Begins : Now The End Begins
[…] “Bono played a far more significant role on the formative years on those who became emergent than anyone else, from a human standpoint. Bono, in the 1980s, was, if not worshipped, then absolutely adored by millions of Christian youth who were hanging on his every word. They saw his cool kind of Christianity. He helped lead people into what eventually became the emerging church. Bono has led people into a version of Christianity that is so slippery, so undefinable, so liberal, yet he is considered the main icon of the emerging church” (Joseph Schimmel, The Submerging Church, DVD, 2012).” [1] – source […]