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Twenty One Pilots on Christianity

Missionaries in Disguise - Worldviews on TOP Lyrics and the Clique

By Gianna HermannPublished 7 years ago 6 min read
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Throughout today’s culture in America, there are numerous forms of media that portray different worldviews throughout their lyrics, videos, or other content that happens to be in one of the best positions in regards to influencing its audience. For example, the band Twenty One Pilots has many songs that are obvious in who they are trying to reach throughout their lyrics, and although they are not considered a “Christian band,” the majority of lyrics of their songs send positive messages primarily to those who are struggling with their personal mental health and personal problems they are fighting through. While it is clear that Twenty One Pilots’ main audience is of those who more than likely have worldviews related to nihilism as well as to those who are struggling in their walks with Christ, it is also very clear that their music is of a Christian worldview as they talk about their struggles in keeping their faith in the Lord as they themselves struggle with their mental health.

Twenty One Pilots consists of two Christian guys, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, whose goal is to reach out to those who are struggling through life by getting them to think through the message they share throughout their lyrics. It is very clear that they want to get those who are struggling through their mental health such as through anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts to try to think differently by sharing their own personal testimonies of how they have endured and are enduring through similar trials, but still have hope.

One might say that the main audience of Twenty One Pilots is geared to those of both a Christian worldview as well as a worldview of nihilism, or in other words, a worldview that sees no point to life. Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew describe the worldview of nihilism as one “which is what results from naturalism once the trust in human reason is eroded” in their book Living at the Crossroads (Goheen 17).

Many lyrics by Joseph are blatantly toward struggling Christians and can be seen through the lyrics in songs such as: “Goner,” “Addict with a Pen,” and “Taxi Cab.” Some lyrics in “Goner” such as, “I’ve got two faces, blurry’s the one I’m not, I need your help to take him out… the ghost of you is close to me” is portraying how the one who is struggling in the song is fighting through his sin nature, otherwise known as “blurryface,” who is a made-up character Joseph made up. The one who is struggling is fighting against their sins and knows that the Lord is the only one who can help them out as he continues to seek for His help through the Holy Spirit.

In “Addict with a Pen,” the lyrics, “Hello, we haven’t talked in quite some time, I know I haven’t been the best of sons” refers to how Joseph knows that he is a son of the King, but has not necessarily tried very hard to reach out to Him through prayer. The song continues with Joseph expressing how he “hasn’t found a drop of water” referring to the living water which clearly resembles the Lord and eternal life (John 4:10) in these lyrics as a later verse states “You hear me screaming, ‘Father,’ so wash me with your water.”

And again, in “Taxi Cab,” Joseph refers the Holy Spirit as “ghost” as he wants to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but is torn by the fact that he is a “half a soul divided” as he again mentions his struggles with his sinful nature. In this song, Joseph references some scripture such as found in Psalm 30:5 which is, “…Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning,” with the lyrics “there were three men,” referring to the trinity, talking about the night and “darkness [fading] away” so the one who was struggling “could see another day.” The last stanza of the song ends with one of the three men who were in the cab saying, “we're driving toward the morning, son, where all your blood is washed away, and all you did will be undone," obviously referring to the death of Jesus Christ and the meaning of His crucifixion for our sins (John 3:16).

Twenty One Pilots clearly shares a Christian message and works through being “serious about bearing witness to Christ with integrity and depth that such witness requires in our modern day,” as they are connecting with not just Christians but various different people as well, through “the development and appropriation of a Christian worldview rooted in…scripture” (Goheen 29). Joseph and Dun work on moving their audience’s thoughts to a Christian mindset as they continue to respond to Hosea 4:6 as they fight against those who have a “lack of knowledge” of the King, through working to grow the Kingdom by not announcing that they could be considered a “Christian band” on purpose to reach a larger audience.

The known audience of Twenty One Pilots is largely made up of their fans, who call themselves “The Clique,” and seem to have a postmodern tribalism worldview, just as many other fan groups, as they all identify to one another very much in ways that relate to how they have persevered through finding that they have “meaning” as well as having similar “experiences and ideas” (Wilkens 142) such as majority of them identifying with each other through sharing the same mental health problems.

In fact, it appears Joseph’s lyrics reach out to those who have a personal worldview of nihilism. Some of the most prominent lyrics that show how Twenty One Pilots’ audience is geared to those who feel as though there is no point to life can be found through the lines “and honestly we’re probably more suicidal than ever now” (“Isle of Flightless Birds”), “Friend, please don't take your life away from me” (“Friend, Please”), as well as, “Take me out and finish this waste of a life” (“Trapdoor”), as Joseph wants to let his audience know that he knows how they feel and knows what it is like to be in that state of mind. Lyrics by Joseph also appear to be reaching out to those who have an existentialism mindset such as through the words, “He thinks that faith might be dead, nothing kills a man faster than his own head” (“Trapdoor”), and “we find our worth in giving birth and stuff,” (“Isle of Flightless Birds”), which shows the mindset of an existentialist that views life as going “beyond nihilism by affirming its trust in the power of the individual to will into existence its own conception of the good, the true, and the beautiful” (Goheen 17), as the lyrics explain how some make their own value themselves instead of finding their identities in Christ.

Although the lyrics throughout many of Twenty One Pilots’ songs may seem to be very depressing, many of their songs have messages that seem to point back to the cross and the reason for why both Joseph and Dun are still choosing to live as they continue to fight against thoughts that certain mental health problems bring to both them and their audiences.

Check out a free podcast on itunes called "Is Twenty One Pilots a Christian Band?" by Clifford Stumme for more analyses on this topic.

Works Cited

Addict with a Pen. www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/twentyonepilots/trapdoor.html.

Friend, Please. www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/twentyonepilots/friendplease.html.

Goheen, Michael W., and Craig G. Bartholomew. Living at the Crossroads: an Introduction to Christian Worldview. Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Academic, 2009

Goner. www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/twentyonepilots/goner.html.

Isle of Flightless Birds. www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/twentyonepilots/isleofflightlessbirds.html.

Polarize. www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/twentyonepilots/polarize.html.

Screen. www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/twentyonepilots/screen.html.

Taxi Cab. www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/twentyonepilots/taxicab.html.

Wilkens, Steve, and Mark L. Sanford. Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives. Downers Grove, IL, IVP Academic, 2009.

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Gianna Hermann

College kid trying to spread some love

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