One of the TV shows that I have taken to watching lately is Nashville Star on the USA Network. If you’ve never seen it, it is your typical talent show deal (think American Idol) with contestants singing each week and the field being whittled down by audience vote.
Anyway, on Tuesday’s show Jayron Weaver sang another good song, and one of the “Celebrity Judges”, Anastasia Brown, made this comment to Jayron:
I’d sign you to a Christian contract before I’d sign you to a country contract.
(emphasis mine)
Now why would she say that? I mean Jayron has been very upfront about his faith, but he hasn’t been ‘preachy’ or any kind of arrogant about it. He hasn’t sung any “Christian” songs (have ya ever wondered how those songs get borned again, anyhow?). But this woman would relegate him to the Christian market, with the obvious inference that the Christian market is on a lower level than the country market. (And even though it probably is, that’s a discussion for another day)
I happen to think that Jayron’s voice and talent are equal to, if not better, than just about everyone on the show. So why shouldn’t he be judged as such? On an equal level…
Well, he’s one of those Christians, so we’ll sign him to a Christian label and he can still be a star with his own kind, and we can concentrate our real singers.
Excuse me, but being a Christian does not relegate a person to some other, lower, level of the playing field. And as Christians, we need to stop accepting this type of thinking.
Christianity is not something to be stashed away on some other level while real life takes place in the real world. This sort of dichotomy has been accepted for too long and it’s just not so.
A true and complete Christian worldview encompasses all of life - in every area. I know this can be articulated much more eloquently, and in fact it is, in Nancy Pearcey’s book, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity.
This was just something that really caught my attention and rang my bell, so to speak. Being a Christian should NOT eliminate Jayron from being in this contest.
Posted on March 30th, 2005 by Paul
Filed under: Follow The Path Of Jesus, Music, What I'm Thinking
Amen. All Christians should rally and vote for Jayron.
Well, not being a fan of Nashville Star, I wouldn’t know, but your point is well-taken!
Hey, how did you like Nancy Pearcey’s book? I considered buying it recently. Is it worth it?
I liked the book alot, highly recommend it. There were a few chapters that I struggled with understanding, but in all honesty, alot of that was due to a lifetime of reading ‘fluff’.