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CURRENTLY IN CULTURE
Teens, hostile music and “the pain factor”

Bob Waliszewski

Why do young people active in their churches choose to listen to music that mocks and ridicules Jesus Christ? Why would a Christian teen crank up the volume on tunes that glamorize knifing a parent or strangling a girlfriend (Korn’s “Kill You” and “My Gift to You”), attacking someone with a chainsaw (“Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit), murdering a baby for the “thrill of the kill” (Rob Zombie’s “Meet the Creeper”) or committing suicide with a handgun (Nine Inch Nails’ “The Downward Spiral”)? You might say, “They wouldn’t.” I only wish that were true. But, judging from the Christian teens and preteens I’ve spoken with and received mail from, a substantial number feast on lyrics full of hatred and hopelessness. Why? Rather than answer that question myself, I’d like you to read the following excerpts from teens’ letters.

“(Dark) music speaks to me. . . . You need to look at music with an open mind and understand that not only I, but millions of depressed teens and kids turn to music that understands them.” “Korn’s songs help people every day get through all the tough stuff in life. People who have problems know they aren’t the only ones going through it.” “How can you say (Korn’s) music is bad? (It) has really helped me through some times when I was thinking about suicide. I go to church and I prayed to God and God did help me. But the music made me feel better.”

While there are other factors that can make a Christian young person gravitate toward dark entertainment (rebellion, peer pressure, spiritual immaturity), my experience points to a common denominator I call “the pain factor”. No one – teen or adult – wants to suffer, especially alone. For many teens who feel nobody cares, a hate-spewing rock or rap CD lets them identify with someone they believe can relate. While it doesn’t heal the wound, it temporarily relieves feelings of anguish.

Why these teens experience suffering to the degree they do is another subject. Suffice it to say that many teens, Christians included, have been severely rejected, betrayed and wounded. But Jesus can relate – far better than Trent Reznor, Jonathan Davis or Rob Zombie. Isaiah 53:3 tells us He was “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering”.

Don’t Christian teens already know this? Not necessarily. Some, I’m certain, believe in the wrong Jesus (see Galatians 1:6-9). Their Jesus is an uncaring, untouchable, cosmic force who can’t be bothered with their problems. Even His crucifixion seems sterile and unreal. We need to come alongside angst-ridden adolescents and build a bridge to Truth, pointing out that no one understands the reality of suffering more deeply than the One who was whipped, beaten, mocked, spit upon and crucified and who eventually became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). He beckons, “Cast all your cares upon Me for I care for you” (See 1 Peter 5:7).

For the barely-surviving Christian teen who feels life isn’t worth living, this bridge can lead to spiritual freedom. Instead of aimlessly trudging through life, these teens can identify with Jesus as their best friend and realize their potential in Him.

This article is reprinted from Plugged In magazine, January 2000. Copyright 2000. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used with permission of Focus on the Family. Plugged In is published monthly to help parents and youth leaders guide teens through the world of popular youth culture. To request Plugged In, call (800) 661-9800, or look on the Internet at www.family.org/pluggedin.

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Last modified May 4, 2000.

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