Recently in Christian music and gay issues Category

Much has been made over the last few days about the surprise upset on season 8 of American Idol, when the aw, shucks guy next door Kris Allen beat out glam rocker Adam Lambert for the title of American Idol.

It was a surprise only if you weren't reading this blog.

I called Kris Allen the winner back in April, before anyone even thought he'd make it to the top 5. But it wasn't the faith angle - or homophobia, or gays voting against Christians and not having enough power to push their contestant to a win - that propelled him to a win. It was musical preference.

Don't get me wrong. I think Adam Lambert is wildly talented, and I noticed his big voice way back in Hollywood week. Kris Allen? Not so much, probably because he was rarely featured in the audition clips. (Was he even featured at all?)

And it was clear that the judges were gunning for an Adam Lambert win, Simon Cowell even going so far as to tell viewers to vote for Lambert.

But I'm a girl who knows a good radio hit; I grew up on bubble gum pop, from Donny Osmond to Shaun Cassidy to - well, think every hit pop song of the 70s. And while my musical tastes have grown ... a bit ... it doesn't take a masters' degree in music to recognize which of those two final contestants was likely to put out more radio friendly music.

The Abilene Reporter News reports that on April 5th CCM artist Ray Boltz will perform at the second annual "Palm Sunday at the Paramount," sponsored by Exodus Metropolitan Church. The concert is at 4 PM, and Boltz is inviting singers to join him on stage in the community choir.

At 10:30 that morning, Boltz will also perform a mini-concert before the screening of the Lifetime movie "Prayers For Bobby." The film tells the story of a "1970s religious suburban housewife and mother who struggles to accept her young son Bobby being gay." The film is based on a true story about a young gay man who commited suicide.

Brian Bates, who kindly shared some thoughts with us recently about how Christians should respond to Ray Boltz and gays, is offering fans a download of his new song, "Under."

You can listen to the song on his website, and if you like it, Brian asks that you send the link to three friends and also sign up for his mailing list. You can get the download without doing that, but he's hoping that if you like the song, you'll take a minute to tell other people about it.

Bates grew up in a Christian home, accepted Jesus as his Saviour, and then in college, walked away from God to lead a partying, gay lifestyle. Thanks to a Christian friend who loved him like Jesus, he eventually returned to the faith of his youth. You can read more about his thoughts on the how Christians should respond to the gay issue in this post.

For more about Brian Bates, visit his website.

RELATED POST
Christian artist Brian Bates shares his thoughts on how to respond to Ray Boltz, Clay Aiken coming out of the closet

I'm reading a lot lately about Ray Boltz's new song, "Don't Tell Me Who To Love" and it's gay agenda. Because I like to check things out for myself, I went to Ray's blog to read what he had to say about the song, and to listen to it myself.

OK, so the song is about gay marriage, LOL. Ray explains that the inspiration for the song was taken from the story of Mildred Jeter (a woman of color) and Richard Loving (a white male) who met during the fifties, fell in love and were married in Washington DC. When they returned to Virginia they were arrested and faced spending a year in prison, because interracial marriage was illegal in that state. In the end, though, he draws a lightly veiled comparision to gay marriage:

The Christian community was shocked recently when Christian recording artist Ray Boltz come out of the closet and announced that he was gay. The world was much less shocked when recording star Clay Aiken made the same announcement, but was puzzled by his assertion that he's a Christian.

Christian recording artist Brian Bates has something to say about both announcements.

Bates grew up in a Christian home, accepted Jesus as his Saviour, and then in college, walked away from God to lead a partying, gay lifestyle.

Brian says it was a friend named Julie who helped him turn his life around. "Julie loved like Jesus. We did not agree on the gay issue, but her kindness and compassion really affected me. The Bible says it's God's kindness that leads to repentance. That's so important to remember, and is the proper response to this issue I believe. I didn't forsake a gay identity because I was afraid of going to hell. I did so because I fell in love with a God that I could trust. That is absolutely my story."

Brian recently penned an essay with his thoughts on Christianity, homosexuality, and God's love. I wanted to share it with you because readers have been sharing their thoughts on Ray Boltz, in particular. (Note: this is not exclusive to Beliefnet, but it was so important I wanted to share it in its entirety.)