Brant Hansen “Hypocrisy, CCM, and What Do We Do Now?”

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Hypocrisy, CCM, and What Do We Do Now?

There’s nothing about me that makes me especially qualified to write about this. I’ve been around CCM radio for a while, as have many of you. And given my upbringing (a long, difficult story) I’ve certainly had to struggle with how to deal with in-your-face religious hypocrisy.

So maybe that’s where this comes from. Some pain, a lot of reflection, and finding my faith growing in spite of it all.

Here are a few things I think we can do, for ourselves and our listeners and the many broken people in “the industry.”

Don’t make music choices based on morality.

I’ve seen radio programmers put in such an odd position, trying to sort through “Who’s really a Christian?” and “Is that person truly repentant?” and “Is this person’s heart good?”

Be humble about this: You and I have no idea.

None.
Paul acknowledges this in I Corinthians 4. He says he doesn’t know others’ real motives, and doesn’t even know his own.

Honest humility is very freeing because we need no longer have these awkward debates about the righteousness of others.

So don’t base your decisions on your personal perceptions of goodness and repentance. Instead, make them based on your station’s mission statement. Is adding that artist, or continuing with that band in your rotation, actually a distraction from the real message your station purports to convey? Maybe so! Then you can politely let a listener who complains know: “We just feel like it’s a distraction right now, and we want to focus on Jesus instead of the artists.”

Genuinely—and personally—pray for people, including the perpetrator(s).

Some will say we should only pray for victims. I understand the sentiment, but it doesn’t square with what Jesus says about praying even for our enemies.

In a couple weeks, I’ll be back at RJ Donovan max security prison in San Diego, and I’m honored to be there. The guys I’ll be speaking to and with are almost all murderers, some of the serial variety. I’m honored to be among them.

As Jesus people, we pray for both victims and perps. We want “fallen stars”— many of which battle real, intense, public shame—to find the real peace, wholeness, and the healing that has clearly eluded them.

Quit Doing the Pedestal Thing

Radio people can be very guilty of this: Fawning over musicians. Celebrating the already celebrated.

Maybe it’s the most natural thing in the world, but like a lot of natural inclinations, we need to grow out of them.

We need to model for our listeners that this Kingdom works differently from the world. We put the last first, and the first last.

Maybe we double-down on centering our listeners, instead of celebs. We can appreciate what musicians do, sure, but… the people listening to us while, say, driving to their work at the water treatment facility? Their saving our lives.

We’re doing celebs, themselves, a favor by lowering the pedestals. The stage is not a healthy place. We’re doing people a favor by treating people equally.

Let’s not treat people like rock stars… and then be shocked when they fall apart like, you know, rock stars.

Avoid this take: “Hey, we’re all sinners…”

Yes, of course, we are all sinners. But this is like the bumper sticker error: “Christians aren’t perfect; just forgiven!” on the car ahead of you that just cut you off. So people shouldn’t expect us to act any differently from anyone else?

They absolutely should expect us to be different. They should expect us to be disciples of Jesus. They should reasonably expect us to be growing peace and self-control and gentleness and the other fruit of the Spirit. We are supposed to be different.

Instead, here’s a way to talk about hypocrisy when it’s public and obvious:

We will always have hypocrites around us. Jesus did, too. There will always be people in public, or maybe in your personal life, who are leading double lives. This is both horrible and not surprising.

But—and this is key—I decided long ago that I will not let hypocrites chase me away from the best relationship of my life. Don’t let them do it.

They may have made my life miserable in the past. They may still be awful people. But I will not give them that power. I will continue to walk with God.

My relationship with God is my source of joy, and purpose, and a relentless, pervasive sense of peace that doesn’t depend on circumstances. His words are life to me, and when I put them in practice, life-giving to all those around me, starting in my heart and home.

So yes, hypocrisy is terrible. Jesus called it out. But no way will I walk away from the very Jesus who acknowledged human sin and then DID something about it.

I share that with listeners often, because we all need to hear it. People are openly looking for this peace, maybe more than ever in my lifetime.

Let’s offer it to them.

Brant Hansen is a radio host syndicated through Christian FM Media. Brant can be reached at brant@branthansen.com.