Last night I was watching the television program The Voice. It is a show that I have been watching since the season started and I have grown to admire many of the contestants as they sing a variety of songs. One thing that has struck me is how many of the contestants seem to have the mark of faith, something about them makes me think they are Christian. Other contestants may not be Christian but the Gospel is present in their story even if they don’t know it yet. Consider a few contestants:
- Two contestants are openly Christian
- Two contestants were “lost” but have been found
- One contestant brings hope to street kids in their “day job”
- One contestant is inspiring because of her blindness
- One contestant is so Soulful that a judge felt “baptised by the Spirit” after one hit performance.
Just in case you haven’t seen the show, I am talking about Australian singers singing on an Australian show. This isn’t an American show where almost everyone thanks God. Perhaps it strikes me as odd because I expect Australian television to be so secular that when faith, hope and joy pop up it stands out. Perhaps it is just me but some of the elements on the Voice are not just human emotions but real hope and joy that only come from Faith, the mark of faith on someone’s life.
But I am sure that there will be some people out there that think it is not Christian enough, the contestants aren’t out there enough with their Faith. Not one contestant has openly thanked God and some others haven’t identified themselves as Christians. Yet when contestants on the TV show Survivor were openly Christian, it wasn’t a very good picture of our Faith. So I want to suggest three ways that the mark of faith is present in The Voice:
- Worship – whilst a few singers have sung songs with a Christian message, many singers have sung in a way that takes you to another place. This ability to go beyond the words of a song to move people is a gift that comes from God. When we truly worship we are moved to another place, even if we aren’t singing a “worship” song. For example when Darren Percival sung “this time love will be for ever” Keith Urban said “all the atheists will be confused now” because the song moved everybody.
- Character – some of the contestants have admirable character, you would love to be around them. Whilst some of the contestants wouldn’t be Christians and others may be loosely Christian, the TV show has shown how important character is. In most cases I just want the contestants to succeed because I like them so much.
- Building up – whilst you don’t have to be Christian to build people up, I believe that seeing the best in others is the way God sees people. The secular narrative on the other hand is to tear people down to get ahead, to support others as long as they support you and make others look bad to make yourself look better. Now I haven’t seen everything that goes on whilst the cameras aren’t rolling, but the bits the cameras have picked up are much better than other TV shows on at the moment.
So whilst I am not saying the Voice is a Christian show or that everyone is Christian, I am impressed that the Gospel values of Faith, Hope and Joy are seeping through the elements of the show. If you want to see how effective a quiet witness is, rather than a bang them over the head with the Gospel approach, then check out some of the video clips online of the Voice.
Mark of Faith 