Should I wear an AC/DC t-shirt?

What music is it appropriate for Christians to listen to...?

A couple of weeks ago, someone asked me a question on one of my videos. It wasn’t to do with the particular video itself, but about my choice of clothing:

It’s a fair question, and it’s a very common one for Christians. What music is it appropriate for Christians to listen to? Are there any red lines, and how can we tell the difference?

Nowhere does the Bible say, “thou shalt not wear an AC/DC t-shirt,” which says to me that we need to look for godly wisdom as to what is right and wrong. What I am going to do in this post is outline a couple of principles, before explaining my thoughts on wearing an AC/DC t-shirt.

Principle #1: To the pure, everything is pure

The first principle is that purity is a matter of our hearts rather than things outside of us. You can’t be made impure simply by looking at or listening to something which is impure.

This is the point that Jesus was making when he said:

“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” Matthew 15:17-20

Jesus made the point that we are not defiled by anything on a physical level. The problem with us is far deeper than that — the problem is with our hearts. We can’t fix it simply by cutting ourselves off from things outside us, rather, we need God to give us new, transformed hearts (Ezekiel 36:26).

In fact, uncleanness is to do with our hearts regardless of what we are looking at:

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. Titus 1:15

To the pure, all things are pure. That means that those who ARE pure do not need to fear anything impure in the world.

Think about Jesus: he must have witnessed all sorts of things, yet he never sinned. How could that be the case? Because he was pure.

Principle #2: Everything is permissible, BUT…

The second principle also comes from Paul:

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 1 Corinthians 10:23

Paul distinguishes here between what is permissible as a Christian, and what is beneficial. Just because something is not against the law, doesn’t mean that it’s a good thing for us to do! It might not be against the law to juggle with chainsaws, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing for me to do.

He also says:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

We should focus on things which are true, noble and right. There are many things in this world which are not noble, true, right — etc. Although purity comes from the heart, the things which go into our minds can affect our hearts. We shouldn’t intentionally fix our minds on things we know will be bad for us, but rather we should seek things out which are good for us.

In summary…

If you put these principles together, you can see that Christians do have freedom when it comes to what we engage with in the world. However, we have to be careful that we’re not allowing ourselves to focus on things that will draw our hearts away from God, away from the truth, and so on. We need to look for things that will be beneficial for us, rather than hinder us.

One implication here is that this depends to a large extent on our Christian maturity. To give an analogy: a recovering alcholic might, understandably, refuse to touch a drop of alcohol. This is not to say that alcohol is wrong for everybody, but it would be wrong for them. In the same way, some people might struggle with particular art and find that it’s right for them to steer clear of it — but that doesn’t mean everybody should.

There’s a large element here of wisdom and knowing our own hearts. If you know that certain things will tempt you away from Christ, don’t touch them. At the end of the day, we are answerable to Christ — not one another (Romans 14:4). If Christ is calling you to avoid something, you should avoid it. That doesn’t mean it will be the same for another.

Should I wear an AC/DC T-Shirt?

Given what I’ve said above, let’s return to the question: is it right for me to wear an AC/DC T-Shirt?

I do appreciate that AC/DC have written songs like “Highway to Hell,” which is hardly a positive Christian song! At the same time, it strikes me that these songs are very tongue in cheek. I don’t think they intended to encourage anyone literally to go on a highway to hell (which, of course, no Christian should treat lightly). I remember seeing Brian Johnson (lead singer of AC/DC) interviewed on Top Gear, and thinking that he seemed like a genuinely lovely chap. Not a Christian, but I don’t think intentionally encouraging people in the direction of Satan.

Also, when I listen to their songs, I like the guitar riffs and the rock style — I’m not usually listening too closely to the lyrics. Frankly, I think their music has a life and joy about it which you don’t find even in a lot of Christian artists! In short, listening to AC/DC gives me pleasure and enjoyment in life, and listening to them does not tempt me away from Christ.

Plus, I believe that Christians can and should expect non-Christians to produce music and other art which is worthwhile. This is because everyone is made in the image of God. People who create are still in some sense fulfilling their God-given purpose, even if they are not doing it to the glory of God. That doesn’t mean it saves them — only faith in Christ can do that. But you can’t erase the image of God in human beings. I believe that it’s right for us as Christians to enjoy music etc. which is good, even if it isn’t explicitly Christian. And I believe that AC/DC is good rock music.

How pure is pure?

There’s one more thing to consider. I can understand why people might have difficulty endorsing an artist who have songs which talk about “hell”. But where do you draw the line? For example, the Beatles were not exactly squeaky clean. Last year I read Ian MacDonald’s book Revolution in the Head: the Beatles Records and the Sixties. He goes into detail about the cultural revolution in the 1960s and the part the Beatles played in it. If you thought the Beatles were simply harmless, think again!

If I’d been wearing a Beatles t-shirt, I suspect that no-one would have asked me whether it was an appropriate thing for me to be wearing. But were the Beatles more ‘pure’ than AC/DC? What about the Rolling Stones, or Queen, or Nirvana, or just about any other popular band of the last 60 years? You see people wearing t-shirts for these bands all the time.

The point I’m making here is that, if we impose a ‘purity test’ on everything out there in the world, and demand 100% purity, we will have to reject EVERYTHING in the world. Including ourselves! Nothing is 100% pure. Christians are purified through Jesus Christ, but we know that we still need to battle with sin until the day he returns and brings us into the new creation.

Every single artist who has ever lived has been in some way impure. Bach, for example, produced some of the most beautiful Christian music the world has ever seen. And yet I’m sure he would be the first to admit that he was a sinner. Some classical composers wrote some very beautiful music, and yet were not even Christian.

In a nutshell, we need to realise that the world is always going to be a mixed bag: everything and everyone falls short of God’s standards to some extent. However, my experience has been that as God works in me to purify me I find that I can enjoy ‘worldly’ things more without fear of being corrupted. The problem is not with the things that I am watching or listening to, but within my own heart. And, as God works there, I find that I am not drawn away and tempted by ‘worldly’ things like I used to be and I can simply enjoy them for what they are.

Want more?

I hope that you find this helpful. If you’d like more detail, there are a couple of things I can recommend:

• The What is Christianity? course goes into more detail about how God made the world and how he wants us to enjoy it.

• My book, Confused by Grace, looks at how God wants us to love him and love others and goes into more detail about what it means to be pure in heart.