Looney Tunes: "More Like Falling in Love"

If a person communicates a message while maintaining a position of influence, he or she is a teacher. As Christians, we are called to evaluate and discern the teaching that we hear (Phil 1:9, Heb 5:14, 1 Jn 4:1). Therefore remember as the forthcoming songs and messages are examined in this series, the person originating the teaching is not being judged, but the teaching itself. Nothing is more important than the truth and fighting for it is worth the effort.

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So the last time I talked about this song it was in the form of a meme. Basically, I was addressing the song's chorus which goes, "It's gotta be more like fallin' in love than something to believe in, more like losing my heart than pledging my allegiance."

That song, by Jason Gray, is apparently not supposed to be messed with. 

I uploaded the meme I made to Facebook and got some interesting reactions, as you might guess by the number of comments I received.

 

Basically I took the line which I quoted above and tied it with the response "said the Bible never." 

Why did I do it? Somebody had to.

Seriously, though, claiming that our Christian lives should be more like "falling in love" with God (a phrase never used in the Bible) than something to believe in (the word "believe" is used over 250 times in Scripture) is a little astounding.

Here are some of the other lyrics in the song:

It's like I'm falling in love, love, love
Deeper and deeper
It was love that made
Me a believer
In more than a name, a faith, a creed
Falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me

There's a tragic irony here just as there is with the line I quoted earlier. Gray says that there was a deep love that he fell into with Jesus that brought a change in him -- a believer in more than just "a name."

In the book of Acts, the power of God and the salvation of the people is tied to the mere name of Christ over 30 times (see 2:21, 38, 3:6, 16, 4:7, 10, 12, 17, 18, 30, 5:28, 40, 8:12, 16, 9:14, 15, 16, 21, 27, 28, 10:43, 48, 15:14, 17, 26, 16:18, 19:5, 13, 17, 21:13, 22:16). And that's just one book!

Clearly Jason Gray is trying to get at something here.

And I think I know what it is.

The young artist is pushing back against the notion of religion. In fact, he explicitly names the "evil system" of sorts in the second verse of the song. 

This idea isn't new. In fact, there have been some very popular songs/videos out and about that have slain the idea of religion. Remember this video? Over 26 million views!

Several different ideas surround the whole "Religion vs. Relationship" debate, so I won't go there.

Gray's point is this: our relationship of love with Jesus should trump the doctrine we identify with. That really couldn't be more wrong. And I think I can prove myself to be right in just three words.

For me to prove Jason Gray wrong, all I'd have to say is, "Who is Jesus?" 

Do you know what would happen next?

 He'd have to tell me what he believes! You see, it doesn't matter who I'm "in love" with if I don't have the right thoughts about that person. 

For instance, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons all have ideas of who Jesus is. All of those ideas disagree with each other and they all disagree with the Bible. However, an adherent to any one of those religions may say "I love Jesus."

Well, which Jesus?

Without correct beliefs about God, it is impossible to have correct love toward God.

This is why the apostles put so much emphasis on the name of Christ in early church evangelism. There is only one name, one Lord, one way of salvation (Acts 4:12). That belief is the foundation of our faith. The love we have is what is built off of that foundation.

I've seen my fair share of people who have said they have a special relationship with Jesus, but have absolutely no substance to their faith. If doctrine and theology are off, everything else falls apart.

There is a lot more that can be said on the subject, so feel free to strike up a conversation in the comments box below.

As an alternative to "More Like Falling in Love," try "Manifesto" by one of my new favorite bands, The City Harmonic. Enjoy: