Jennifer Knapp comes out as a singer and a lesbian
Reprinted from my article as Denver Christianity Examiner
Jennifer Knapp was wildly popular at the beginning of this decade—including a Grammy nomination in 2002—and then suddenly fell off the radar. Speculation ran rampant… was she just burned out, dealing with personal issues, exhausted, gay… She revealed in an interview with Christianity Today that the answer to all of those is “yes.”
The artist who brought us the wildly popular “The Way I Am” in 2001 was beginning to ask herself “What way am I?” during that same period. She stresses that the 250 days a year on the road was more of a factor in her decision to take what turned into a seven-year sabbatical. But now that she has come out with the new album “Letting Go” (which will be available May 11), she is also letting go of any pretense about the same-sex relationship she has been in for several years.
Much will be written about this, of course, but there’s a deeper question to face: Does this invalidate her music? No matter how strongly you might feel that homosexuality is a sin, the overall question is whether we only believe we can be spiritually uplifted by people we have fooled ourselves into believing are perfect. Think of your favorite Christian artist; that person who consistently raises your spirit to a new level. Do you think he or she is perfect? Or what about your favorite Christian teacher? Are these people perfect…or have their sins just not been written about yet?
Perhaps some think this is worse because Knapp has made the conscious decision to continue living in what many Christians believe to be a sinful lifestyle. But what conscious choices have others made that many would consider sin? Greed is spoken against throughout the Bible yet churches across the country are promoting it through the “prosperity gospel.” Does that constitute choosing to live in a lifestyle of sin?
There’s quite a potential laundry list of conscious lifestyle choices Christians make that many others would consider sinful. So the question remains, “Does Knapp’s lifestyle choice make it impossible for her music to draw us nearer to God?” And what about her music that we loved before she made this choice? Has it suddenly lost its capacity to touch us?
What do you think?
April 14th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eric Proffit, Preaching Unleashed. Preaching Unleashed said: Jennifer Knapp comes out as a lesbian. Has her music lost its ability to draw us to God? http://bit.ly/bp3twH [...]
April 15th, 2010 at 9:06 am
“Impossible” may be too strong of a word. The only distraction her music poses relies solely on the condition of our hearts.
All truth is God’s truth. We can find it in everything, everywhere, whether secular or religious. Her being a lesbian doesn’t make her message any less valid. Regardless of whether homosexuality is biological or chosen, her music is true. It’s a slippery slope to discredit her ministry simply because she’s announced she’s gay.