Keeping the faith is what all Christians are called to do. However some seem to be losing it, or at least watering good hunks of it down. This happens often of course, but it certainly gets played out in the world at large when celebrities come on the scene, affirming their Christian faith, only to seem to lose it as they make the big time.
Britney Spears comes to mind here, for example. They start off claiming to be Christians, and sometimes claim to be virgins as well, but as the spotlight shines and the glitter and glamour takes over, some of those values tend to wear down over time.
It looks like we have another case with Australian singer Guy Sebastian. He came to fame winning Australian Idol in 2003. I recall a Christian friend urging me to alert my followers to make sure to vote for him since he was a Christian. Well he has made the big time since then, and while his career is going great guns, one must ask hard questions about his faith.
A new article gives us cause for concern. Of course a short article is not enough to take any firm conclusions from, yet what is said does seem to be quite a worry. The piece begins this way: “Guy Sebastian has come a long way since winning Australian Idol in 2003. Then, he was the country’s most talked-about virgin and a devout Christian. Now, Sebastian is a happily married dad and yesterday revealed his religious beliefs had also changed. A song on Sebastian’s new Armageddon album, called Get Along, highlights the fear and ignorance inherent in many faith groups.
“The singer, 30, said he still believed in God, but is more informed about religion than he was in his youth. ‘My views are more based on life and discovery and research than just what I’m told,’ he said. ‘Because what I was told in regards to so many things was so wrong. I’ve gone from a place where I was told there was one way and only one way, to being more in a place where I don’t think anyone has the right to say what they believe is more important or more significant.’
“Sebastian also spoke out in favour of gay marriage. ‘I don’t think anyone has the right to tell someone who they can and can’t be in love with,’ he said. ‘You look back at the unfair things that happen in history and this will be looked back on as one of those things. People will think “Oh my gosh I can’t believe the world was in that state, that they held those views”. It’s pretty unfair for people to not be able to claim the same benefits, that’s ridiculous’.”
So he admits his beliefs have changed. We almost need to read between the lines here, but what is said seems to indicate a change for the worse. We will have to wait and see what the lyrics are to his song Get Along. But it sounds a bit dodgy.
However, when he goes on about rejecting his earlier beliefs about there being only one way, then that is a real concern. One must imagine that he is referring to nothing other than the basic Christian belief that Jesus is the only way to the Father. That is Christianity 101, and without that core belief, one really can be asked if they really are a Christian.
Jesus of course was incredibly clear on all this: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6). Or as we read in Acts 4:1: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
So if he is rejecting Jesus as the only way, then it sounds like he is no longer claiming to be a Christian. He says he still believes in God. Well, with all due respect, that can mean anything. And as we are told in Scripture, the devils also believe in God: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder” (James 2:19).
And what about this peculiar remark: “I don’t think anyone has the right to say what they believe is more important or more significant”? Really? So was Jesus quite wrong then? He certainly seemed to think that what he said and did was supremely important and more significant than what anyone else had ever said or done. He made it out to be a matter of life and death, not just mere personal taste or preference.
Equally worrying is his total capitulation to the homosexual agenda. Of course this is not new. Back in 2006 already he was pushing this foolishness. In an interview that year we find him saying this:
There was a mini-debate about you saying you had a lot of gay friends and so were offended by the word “faggot”, but that homosexuality surely clashes with your Christian beliefs?
That’s the sad side of Christianity. That’s not how it’s meant to be. I’ve been to gay clubs heaps of times. That’s the old fundamentalist way of thinking that’s unfortunately spread through all these generations. They miss the whole point of Christianity which is love. God loves people whether they are black, white, gay, straight, bisexual, whatever. As a Christian, we’re never going to get close to being sinless or perfect, and I’m no better than anybody on this earth, but our No.1 goal is to be as loving as we can. We aim to be like God, so for me, I think that’s a really ugly side of when people get lost in religion. It’s funny, Shannon (Noll) gets called that, Anthony (Callea), all my friends in the industry. That’s the word everyone picks — as soon as you’re in the industry you’re gay.
You’re not anti gay marriage?
I’m not really anti anything. If you’re a gay couple why not? I don’t really have a stance because I don’t know what it’s like to be told you’re not allowed to marry somebody. That doesn’t seem fair to me.
I recall at the time telling a group of students that perhaps he was just trying to be a bit cool with a secular interviewer. So I tried to be gracious and hope that he did not really mean all that. But it is fully reaffirmed here alright. It is the same sentimental, sappy secular humanism masquerading as Christianity.
His unbiblical notion of love acts as a trump to anything and everything else. ‘As long as you love someone it is OK’ he seems to insist. Well, if I love two others is that cool too? If I love my cat, is that alright? If I love my sister can we get married?
His replies are simply foolish and completely contrary to the clear teachings of Scripture. Indeed, if his “views are more based on life and discovery and research” nowadays than the sure Word of God, well then anything goes. He has allowed personal experience to be the final authority on everything, including what God has specifically revealed to us in Scripture.
So it is not at all looking good for Guy Sebastian. Of course we all can and should pray that he comes back to his senses, and comes back to biblical Christianity. He seemed to start out strong. But in Christianity, it is not how you start that counts, but how you finish.
As Paul could say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). I hope that this will be true of Guy – and all of us for that matter.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/music/guy-sebastian-losing-his-altar-ego/story-e6frf9hf-1226493157024
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/music/album-wait-over-for-idol-guy/story-e6frf9hf-1111112416077
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