Bon Jovi.

 Why am I writing a blog about Bon Jovi you may be asking? Because God said too. 

As you may or may not know, there is a rock doc on the band Bon Jovi. It is a four episode limited series. It is very well done and covers a lot of their history as a band.

So a friend of mine and I have both watched it and were discussing it the other day. He asked me if I thought that Bon Jovi was a Christian. I told him, I'm pretty sure he (they) are not. I asked him why he would ask such a question. He proceeded to tell me because of some of their song titles. Like "Living on a Prayer." "Lay Your Hands on Me." He said those have Christian words in them. I said "yes, yes they do. But I'm sure the meanings behind each of these songs are not Christian based." "I'm sure they have a far different meaning than what you think."

I told him that I would try to break each one down and see what happens.

First up: Living on a Prayer. 

The song has two fictional characters in it who are in a relationship. BF/GF? Husband/wife. Doesn't matter. The song is talking about how the couple is down on their luck. That they should hold on to each other. That they would make it together. They don't talk about praying to God to help them out. They are leaning on each other for help. To me if you are singing about "Living on a Prayer", you should be living, waiting for God to answer your prayer(s). I don't pray to my wife and she doesn't pray to me. We pray to God!

Psalm 121:2 New Living Translation

2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!

Next: Lay Your Hands on Me.

The band is singing about physical touch. How it can grow a couple closer together, more intimate. A more emotional, deeper connection with someone. That's great and all, but to clarify for my friends question, a Christian, especially a Pentecostal Christian, the laying on of hand has a whole different meaning.

Numbers 8:10-11 New Living Translation

10 When you present the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel must lay their hands on them. 11 Raising his hands, Aaron must then present the Levites to the Lord as a special offering from the people of Israel, thus dedicating them to the Lord’s service

When we lay our hands on people, it is usually for healing or an anointing of some kind. There are many, many verses about the laying on of hands. 

So this is my break down of these songs. Just because a band uses Christian wording, doesn't make them Christian. 

Metallica wrote a Christian based song. (Creeping Death)

Black Sabbath wrote a Christian song. (After Forever) 

W.A.S.P wrote a Christian song. (Golgotha)

Take a listen if you don't believe me. I'm sure there are more out there, but these are the only ones that I can think of.

I guess my point of all this, is this. You can use all the Christian lingo, wording, whatever you want. To be a Christian, you have to believe in The One True God, and have relationship with Him.

God bless.

Rev. Kev.