Review of Barlowgirl concert
I went to a concert with my kids of the Christian band Barlowgirl. It's 3 teenage sisters who sing and play guitar and drums. It followed a baseball game and fireworks at Christ's Church night at the Jacksonville Suns.
Although the music was ok, I was disquieted by a couple of things. The theme verse that they pounded home to the complicit crowd was Romans 12:1,2.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." (NIV)
Now, I think it's great that they want to offer their bodies to God, to not conform to this world, and to renew their minds... However, the three practical examples they gave of how to live that out made me uneasy.
First, don't date. Apparently, they have studied the scriptures and decided that it's not OK to date. In fact, they have a song that says, "I'm not dating, I'm just waiting." Although I haven't delved into their detailed explanation of why this is such a bad practice (if they have one), I am quite concerned that any teenager who goes on a date will think of themselves as a less-than-perfect Christian. And what does waiting mean? When do you wait until? Until you arrive at the church door in your wedding gown and discover that day who God has picked out for your spouse? What about arranged marriages? Is that OK? It makes my head hurt... I understand they were influenced by this book.
Second, they adjured the crowd to not dress as the world dresses, "And you know some of the fashions out there girls..." While I'm all for modesty, I had to laugh that the first thing I thought of when they came on stage was how their dress, make-up, bling, etc., was indistinguishable from the "world." I remember thinking that if my mother was there I would probably have had a hard time convincing her this was a Christian concert. So, we are not to dress like the world, but who decides what is "worldly" or not? Barlowgirl? Apparently, with the dyed hair, tight ratty jeans, t-shirts, bangles, and low-slung guitars, you've got a lot of wiggle room, lol. Oh, I see on their site they have a page dedicated to the clothing companies they endorse. Hmmm...
Lastly, they each told a story of how they had dreams to do such and such with their life but they gave it up to be in this band, because God had called them to it. Not only is that a dreary way to look at surrendering your life to God, I could help but think of the actual gifts and talents God had given them that were being supressed, since their musical skills were just "ok." A quote on their web site says, "We gave God our dreams. And now we go on stage every night saying, We don't know why we are here, but we know You put us here for a purpose."
So, they're a cute band, out of the mainstream, and I think have the right intentions and passion at least. I just hope they aren't too successful with their message, and that they tack on some maturity soon! :)
On the positive side, all 3 of kids liked their music (even my 16 year old son who usually doesn't like anything except screaming). And I like some of their songs, too. For example,
- "Psalm 73" (My God's Enough) is one of my daughter Olivia's favorite songs. Passionate and sour.
- "Never Alone" Sorrowful harmonies in minor key, a la Evanesence
- "No One Like You" is a high-energy statacco-lyric song, a la Avril LaVigne
I think their forte is the strong harmonies on the slower, powerful, minor-key anthems.
