I think you are correct when you say that all Christian musicians do not explicitly express the Christian themes in their music, and that they chose to “put forward messages without seeming preachy.”
This got me thinking about non-Christian musicians. There are those who simply choose to not include any Christian themes in their music, and there are those that go to the extreme in being against Christianity, and thus present themselves as anti-Christ's. An example of this is the gothic, controversial, and highly knowledgeable Marilyn Manson. He very strongly preaches his anti-Christ message through his music, performances, and music videos, and I cannot help but think that he does this for the sole purpose of turning his fans in to his cult followers. He plays up the image and acts of his beliefs against Christ. His most controversial act, in terms of Christianity, was when he burned the Bible in concert during his song “Anti-Christ Superstar.”
 |
| *the angel has spread its wings the time has come for bitter things the time has come it is quite clear our anti-christ is almost here... it is done http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCPSnaf3XSg&feature=related |
But why does he have the desire to strongly communicate this with his fans? How is he the "ANTI-CHRIST SUPERSTAR" ?
**Manson gave a speech during one of his concerts that supports my argument that he is pulling this act for the sake of cult followers. He claims that he cares more for his fans than the Christians do, and encourages his audience to say: "*UCK YOU!" to support him in his belief that Christianity is a farce. He reads two passages that expose the violence in the Bible, claiming that those who disrespect their parents or God should be "put to death." He then proceeds to ask the audience a question: "Who is a worst influence, God or Marilyn Manson? And if that is not the best *ucking example, God himself killed his own mother *ucking son."
It is interesting to see the extreme measures that Marilyn Manson goes through to use his super-stardom to missionize his anti-Christ message. He makes himself into a symbol that projects the exact opposite beliefs in which God and Christianity does.
*Full lyrics to "Anti-Christ Superstar": http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/marilynmanson/antichristsuperstar.html
**Manson's concert Bible speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZhVktnesEA&feature=related
What an amazing album! Thank you for posting the picture as it was the best resolution for my Itunes album covers. Speaking for myself I am closer to what Yeshua actually was than most Christians. Christians sometimes miss the point and forget that Jesus said to be like him and not worship him as a person. We are all Sons (and daughters) of God. That was the main message. The Bible has been manipulated over the years to control people and keep them blind. The ferocity and anger that Marilyn Manson expresses is for the hypocrisy and blind faith that people show. Jesus himself lost it at the temple as you very well know. That was because he was just a man, a very enlightened one and probably one of the few that really embodied being God in a physical form, but still just a man capable of missing the 'target'. Look up the definition of Sin and where it came from. It means missing the target. Sin does not exist. Again its just something thought up to control us. Your condemnation of him is not the unconditional love that is the true essence of what God is. This is not the end times, this is a new age of awakening. The second coming is not Jesus coming back to make everything peaches and cream, it is humanity awaking to the fact that we can all be just like Jesus. He even said we would go on to do things greater than him. The translations are a bit off.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of amazing to me just how little thought, effort and research has obviously gone into this post. You probably watched 2 or 3 youtube videos and said "Okay, time to start writing".
ReplyDeleteOkay, geez, where to begin?
Well, first off, it's been almost 20 years since this happened, so it's not like you're saying anything anyone else hasn't. And a lot of stuff has happened since then. Let me clue you in.
Marilyn Manson's music isn't anti-christian in the way you're trying to say it is. The "Christ" in this case, is simply a metaphor for "the establishment" or "those in charge". Because, for the most part, our cultural ideologies are at least partially controlled by Christian ideas. At least, in North America anyway.
"You built me up with your wishing hell. I didn't have to sell you. You pay your money in the pissing well, you'll do just what they tell you." - Antichrist Superstar
Now, Manson does not believe that there is anything in Christianity itself that is wrong, but the way Christians tend to use it for their own agendas is what he finds reprehensible.
"I never really hated the one true God, but the God of the people I hated" - Disposable Teens
So being "The Antichrist", simply means not following what you're told simply because you were told it by someone in authority. It's more than anything, a message of individuality and self-preservation. Which, I guess in the most abstract of terms, that is against Christianity; Christianity is about dying to self after all. But that's a very narrow way to look at it.
"I can't believe in the things, that don't believe in me. And now it's your turn, to see what I hate about me. Anti-people, now you've gone too far. Antichrist Superstar." - 1996
He does not, as such, believe that Christianity is a farce. In fact, one of the themes in his 2001 album "Holy Wood" is actually about how great of a person Jesus was and how he would probably be ashamed of most Christians today. Including you.
"It took three days for him to die. The born again could buy the serial rights. Lamb of god have mercy on us." - Lamb of God
One last thing you're also missing is that Antichrist Superstar, the album, is a story. It's a parable, a work of fiction. And everything he did and said during that period of time should be looked at as a kind of performance art. Even the live shows and interviews. When he ripped up the bible and wiped his ass on the American flag, it was in service of this idea of nonconformity. The Bible and the flag are symbols. And what he did was take these symbols and show us that that's all they are. We don't have to be controlled by something if we don't want to.
I really do recommend listening to Holy Wood for a better understanding of how he feels about Christianity, Antichrist Superstar was very much of a product of it's time and is easy to misunderstand without taking that history in consideration.
And also, it's a damn good album.
Thanks for the album cover. Where'd you find in such high resolution?
ReplyDelete