Albums that have been banned by Christian bookstores

Off the subject, but kind of on the subject... (no, I never make much sense...   )
I trashed all my secular music when I came to faith in '89. Long story short, I've grown in my understanding of my freedom in Christ, and that art is neither secular nor Christian in and of itself - therefore I've since re-collected many secular albums I once deemed "wrong" for a Believer (since there were/are so many mainstream albums that are innocuous and do not 1. exalt evil, or 2. Belittle Christianity)... I said ALL that to say this - I had a bunch of Iron Maiden albums before coming to faith. I've since only obtained certain songs here and there by them - songs that are neutral.
I do not yet feel comfortable re-owning full albums by Dickinson and company due to my personal policy of not listening to anything that is opposed to the faith. That said, I've made some wrong assumptions about many secular bands. Where I will never own Slayer, Venom or S.O.D. albums again due to the obvious hatred for God and exaltation of things God told us to avoid. However, I've been sniffing around recent albums by Megadeth and considering picking a couple up (clearly due to Mustaine's faith working in his spirit to not write songs like "Killing is my business" anymore).
Now, to question Bought4Life and Kerrick and others in the faith who have no problem with the likes of Iron Maiden, first- more power to ya, I don't judge, I just have trouble in my own spirit about the subject matter. I may be totally ignorant to the actual meaning of the number of the beast lyrics, but I've avoided that album cuz I always "believed" that it glorified satan and the number. Am I wrong ? What is the song really about ? Based on my own convictions, would the lyrics not be for me ? I'm just curious. Help me out guys

G/F..I am probably not the one to answer this, as I go up and down with my walk far more than I should. So I probably don't have the right answer.

I will tell you that I sold off my entire secular cd Collection before, a huge one. And not just metal, 70s rock too. Got rid of it all. Never rebought most of it, just gathered some mp3 back. Although I have slid back some and I still listen to it today, I just don't usually buy secular cds (except for CrashDiet and a couple 80s metal bands) because I keep believing that once I get to where I know I should be in my faith that I won't want them anymore again..but that's just me.

Thanks for your honesty - I actually burned my collection in 1989 (and it was huge -several hundred cassettes and a bunch of LPs) - the reason for this was christian "propaganda" I was reading as a brand new believer (i didn't know any better and just wanted to please my God). Today I realize that listening to an album by Huey Lewis, the Doobie Bros or Skynyrd is not gonna damage my relationship with God. Nor does it affect my walk to listen to some songs by bands that I wouldn't recommend their entire albums - I have songs by van halen, Fastway, Led Zepp, and Iron Maiden. In a way, I could almost be considered a "closet listener" of most of these songs because I don't want to stumble anyone who may hear me listening to a certain song and think I approve of ALL their songs.
This is where i am in my life and walk - I'm not saying all believers should be as I am, I just don't understand how a believer can feel comfortable listening to a song that demeans, belittles, blasphemes our Savior or uplifts evil in any way. Again, I'm not judging and I'm not pushing my ideal, I just need understanding from anyone who can listen to those songs and also loves Jesus.

Thank you for asking G/F!  There are a bunch of pretty big misconceptions with Iron Maiden and evil, etc.  GRRR I'm so frustrated that CMR automatically deletes its old threads, because this topic came up over there and I discussed it in full but now it's gone!  But here I go again.    First off, I'm very particular about the lyrics of bands I listen to and I would say it sounds like my "requirements" are quite similar to you.  I ended up getting rid of all my Metallica because they were so dang angry.  Anyways, back to misconceptions of Iron Maiden.

1.  Their drummer, Nicko Mcbrain is a very outspoken Christian.  I do not believe the rest of the members are but I don't think there's much animosity there either.

2.  None of their lyrics are anti-God or anything.  (I'll get to the song in question in a bit.)  Actually, you will find it's quite the opposite.  I recommend checking out the lyrics for Revelations, The Angel And The Gambler, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, and The Sign Of The Cross.  (Some of their lyrics are a bit PG-13 and in the early stuff, a bit sexual... but I'd let my teenage kid(s) listen to them if I have any haha.)

3.  The Number Of The Beast.  

Check out this video at 7:28 to hear Iron Maiden discuss that.  (This is from their 2004 documentary.)



Also, the song Revelations that I mentioned earlier, check out how Bruce introduces it (warning, language):



4.  I hope that helps some!  If you have any other questions about it all, please let me know!  I like clearing that stuff up (or at least trying to haha).  Regardless, I believe everyone's got different levels of how stuff affects them and what-not.  Personally, Iron Maiden meets my criteria of what I feel is ok to listen to.  I realize not everyone may feel that way so don't let anyone sway you one way or the other.  That's between you and God.  But I don't want anyone to miss out on this great band due to a common misunderstanding!

Bro, thanks so much for your honest response ! I will definitely watch the videos later today when I get a minute.
I really like a lot of songs by bands I was into before I came to faith - but won't listen to them to this day, as I want to be pleasing to our Father.
I once illustrated it like this to my kids when they were teens: Imagine them having a hypothetical album with songs that had lyrics that trashed me and their mother personally - and lyrics that praised things that my kids knew we hated.
They got the picture. I've tried to keep my musical collection "clean" over the years.  70% of my collection is primarily Christian or bands with Christian members. The rest is carefully chosen mainstream albums that I would feel comfortable hanging out with Jesus and listening to together.

Which brings me to Maiden. Amazing legends. Used to draw "eddie" on my school notebooks. And I do have a few songs by them (I mean who doesn't like Run to the Hills ???), but I've always shyed away from most of their albums due to some of the disturbing cover art, and assumptions of what the songs are about.

So, yeh, I gotta go do some errands, but I'll check those vids out in a little while.

I'm not so bothered by "language" as long as it's not blasphemous language or really foul.

I have been battling my own flesh when it comes to secular music. Even though I listen to some, I am at a point to where I no longer want to listen to anything that:

1. Is blasphemous to my Lord or belittles my religious beliefs (for obvious reasons)
2. Has so many sexual overtones (and undertones) in their lyrics (80's hair bands come to mind, especially)
3. Has lyrics that are pro-occult. 

Now, about number 3. Therion was one of my favorite bands for a very long time. I didn't pay no mind to their lyrics back then, because I was so impressed with the music that I didn't really bother scrutinizing their content until I began getting convicted.

The band's leader and founding member, Christofer Johnsson, is a member of a magick society in Sweden. And his songs have ranged from stuff like Gnoticism (The Perennial Sophia), Hinduism (Kali Yuga), Yazidi (Melek Taus)...

And then there's the title track from their album Deggial. I looked up the meaning of Deggial, which is also spelled "dajjal". Anyway, dajjal is a character in Islamic eschatolgy. Basically, the Christian (and biblical version) of Jesus Christ is actually the antichrist in Islamic eschatology, and they refer to our Jesus as the dajjal.



So yeah, I digressed a little bit, but that is a huge reason why I quit listening to Therion.

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

Bro, thanks so much for your honest response ! I will definitely watch the videos later today when I get a minute.
I really like a lot of songs by bands I was into before I came to faith - but won't listen to them to this day, as I want to be pleasing to our Father.
I once illustrated it like this to my kids when they were teens: Imagine them having a hypothetical album with songs that had lyrics that trashed me and their mother personally - and lyrics that praised things that my kids knew we hated.
They got the picture. I've tried to keep my musical collection "clean" over the years.  70% of my collection is primarily Christian or bands with Christian members. The rest is carefully chosen mainstream albums that I would feel comfortable hanging out with Jesus and listening to together.

Which brings me to Maiden. Amazing legends. Used to draw "eddie" on my school notebooks. And I do have a few songs by them (I mean who doesn't like Run to the Hills ???), but I've always shyed away from most of their albums due to some of the disturbing cover art, and assumptions of what the songs are about.

So, yeh, I gotta go do some errands, but I'll check those vids out in a little while.

I'm not so bothered by "language" as long as it's not blasphemous language or really foul.

You are most welcome!  I hope you get the clarity you seek with regards to the best band ever.    Also, I forgot to mention the art that goes along with the singles for Run To The Hills and The Number Of The Beast.  Google-image search for those to see what they think of Satan haha (the latter is a little gruesome but I think quite awesome).  As for language, none of their studio albums are parental-advisory but a couple of them do have one or two four-letter-words.  Bruce will drop more in live performances but it's not very extreme.  Hope this all helps!

kerrick wrote:

Ha!  What a punk.  For the record, I have NOT!

p.s. you have 666 posts...

 I didn't even realize my post count was... that number... and I was gone all weekend.  I almost didn't post, just to mess with you guys but... here I am.

Ultimatum - Puppet of Destruction
We had finally gotten onto a decent distribution company with Diamante and after releasing the CD we find out that stores won't carry the album because the artwork is offensive!?!? What? I had to write a letter of explanation to Diamante that they could distribute to the Christian stores so that they could understand the meaning behind the cartoon puppet on the cover. Sheesh!