What do we think about celebrities behaving badly? It sometimes seems like they can do nothing else, especially in music. Amy Winehouse (left) spent the last couple of years in an alcoholic and drug addicted haze and we watched it all through the news reports. Kanye West got drunk & hijacked the mic at the MTV video awards ceremony this week causing headlines, but this is hardly shocking news. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and countless others perfected the chaotic and dangerous lifestyles that has became common place in the music industry in the 60′s.

Christians tend to treat them like the rest of the world. We judge! We say they should know better, they don’t deserve the fame, the adoration etc etc. Some go as far as to not buy the music of musicians whose lifestyles they do not approve of. When i think about that choice i would have to get rid of a huge amount of music to fulfil this requirement. I have approved of & promoted The Beatles countless times to dozens of people, not least over over the last week but i am of course, talking about their music, not their lifestyle choices.

I have a weird story to tell about this. I was raised in a ‘brethren Church’ and for anyone who knows what that is, in Northern Ireland at least it is, considered to very conservative. Many families have no television, no “secular” music and virtually no interaction with people outside of their own ‘denomination.’ Some of these aspects were true for us but we had T.V. and we had a record player with amongst other things, a ‘Simon & Garfunkel Greatest Hits’ L.P. so i knew about good music! It got better when i got my first ‘walkman’ and with it, an ‘Elton John Best of’ cassette. Elton was at this point an old drinking buddy of Harry Nilsson and John Lennon who had only been murdered a few years before, and was also in the process of publicly ‘coming out.’ Like he needed to tell anyone by that stage! I was listening to the music.

At what stage should be boycott the music of someone who we do not feel is a good influence? I know i have asked the question before but for the ‘non-christian’ artists we do listen to & follow, do we pray for them? I think we should. Do we realise that there are many artists in CCM who have issues with drugs, alcohol and sexual sin? How do i know this? Well, they are only human and humans do this stuff, doesn’t matter if you are in ‘secular music’ or ‘Christian music,’ it still happens. We may be more likely to pray for the CCM artist we like as they go on tour or plan a new record so why do we lap up the music of our ‘secular’ favourites and not speak to God about them?

I have read interviews with countless musicians & celebrities who speak about God and their curiosity regarding spiritual things. Christians tend to jump in & criticise them before they would stop to pray. In most corners of the world Liam Gallagher (right) is renowned for his volatile personality. His drug fuelled antics, especially in the 90′s are well documented but i remember taking on a different view of him when i heard him speak about God a few years ago. Hearing someone like this genuinely question things of God is not uncommon. When you achieve fame, success and money, what else is their to have? Yet Liam, with all the stories of drugs, the two fingered salutes and the violent temper, is still just like me.

We can be heartless and proud when we look at celebrities & Rock stars. I wonder could we stop to pray for the next celebrity who we see plastered over the news for all the wrong reasons? Perhaps if we saw them as people like us and not as idols or as ‘bad people,’ we might think differently.

H/T Cherith (for the idea)