This week, The Gospel Compromised Coalition published a stinker of an article titled 7 Things Christians Can Learn from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. They promptly took it down after a wave of criticism from the Bible-believing Christians left among their readers.
The link above is to the article’s archive, since TGC was too embarrassed to leave it up.
You can draw your own conclusions about Blake, Chapelstreet Church, New Covenant Bible Church, and Reformed Theological Seminary, but I just wanted to highlight some of the more interesting quotes from the article.
“Still, the joy Swifties feel in Taylor’s presence—perhaps even catching a glance from Taylor herself—reflects the joy of drawing near to the only One who knows and loves us perfectly.”
“Yet it wasn’t just Swifties who noticed the shimmering attire of Taylor’s fans. Taylor’s dresses became more visible when worn by her followers. Through Swifties, the world saw Swift.”
One of my friends reflected on this moment: “When Taylor was revealed, her appearance seemed flawless. I had high expectations, but when the petals came off, I wasn’t disappointed. Somehow, she was more beautiful than I imagined.”
My friend observed that this moment is a dim reflection of the day Christ is revealed to his followers.
“For Swifties, the thought of playing a small part in Taylor’s joy—even making her smile—makes the show sweeter.
Believer, how much more does Christ enjoy you…”
Many Swifties marvel at the profound feeling of belonging they experienced gathering with countless others who shared the same object of admiration. This sweet connection transcends cultural background, socioeconomic status, personality, age, and era. Through one person, many are brought together (cf. Eph. 2:12–14).
It’s hard to explain what I felt when I woke up the morning after seeing Taylor Swift. The best way I can describe it is sad joy. For all the happy anticipation leading up to the show, the sorrowful realization that it was over tainted my joy.
Obviously this is all very embarrassing.
This article isn’t only guilty of this weird idolism. The rise of of “At the Movies” sermons that Life Church popularized that are now being mimicked by thousands of other churches across the world are another example of Christian’s desire to tell people about Jesus any way they possibly can without actually pointing to the Word of God. What’s more, the Jesus we get from Taylor Swift isn’t Jesus at all. It’s Taylor Swift.
“Want to learn about Jesus? Let me tell you about Taylor Swift.” Hopefully we can all recognize this as a really really bad approach to teaching people about Scriptural truth.
We don’t need to use Taylor Swift to teach us about God. We have the Word of God to teach us about God.
But my question is, how in the world do articles like this get put on The Gospel Coalition in the first place? Don’t the articles get reviewed? By theologians?
The removal of articles like these after pushback from the public shows not a dedication to correct theology, but a dedication to capitulating to public opinion.
Not a good look.
