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OPINION: Hell Together: Popular but misguided

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The newly-released song, “Hell Together” is an example of casting off authority for the sake of personal autonomy.  David Archuleta, runner-up for the seventh season of American Idol has written a song which resonates with families who are experiencing LGBTQ+ issues and reflects much of society’s resistance to authority.

Last Friday, Good Morning America featured Theo Bedore, a biological female who identifies as a male and her mother, Kate Kendrick, and surprised them by introducing them to David Archuleta.  Kendrick thanked Archuleta for “being authentic, learning to be who you are, and giving the rest of us courage to do the same.”  Theo thanked him for “making Queer kids not feel alone and making this seem normal and not just the fad or something that people do as rebellious.”

Archuleta’s coming-out-as-gay journey to his current station in life involved a journey away not only from his biological sex but also from his church.  In 2022, he was interviewed about “stepping away” from the Morman Church after coming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and said “I can’t keep putting myself in a palace [Sic] where it’s so conflicting where they say, ‘We love you so much, but at the same time, you must change who you are.’”
Recently in sharing the background of his song, “Hell Together,” Archuleta said, “When I came out and also left my church and when that was made public I didn’t hear from my mom for a few days.  I thought, oh no, she’s probably so upset with me but then she sent me a message saying that she also was stepping away from the church.”  Then he said that she texted, “I don’t wanna be somewhere where you don’t feel welcome and if you’re going to go to hell, then we’re going to hell together.” 

His song, “Hell Together,” is based off this message from his mother.  The chorus says, “If I have to live without you, I don’t wanna live forever In someone else’s heaven.  So let’em close the gates.  Of if they don’t like the way you’re made Then they’re not any better.  If paradise is pressure, Oh, we’ll go to Hell together.”  At one point Archuleta sings “Hallelujah, wish we knew it sooner.  Walking out with grace.”

This song is not actually about Heaven or Hell or even being gay.  It’s about authority.  Heaven and Earth has an authority, and that authority is not what we may think or feel about things.  The authority is God who has graciously revealed himself and his expectations to us.  David Archuleta may sing about grace, but with all due respect to him, it doesn’t take grace to walk away from God.  What he is doing is not an act of grace.  It takes grace to walk to God, and God himself gives us that grace.

Like air that we breathe is essential to living, authority is essential to the proper functioning of a society.  As John MacArther has said, “God has established three institutions within human society:  the family, the state, and the church.  Each institution has a sphere of authority with jurisdictional limits that must be respected.”  When authority is not respected, individuals and society do not function properly.

Freedom is experienced not by resisting authority but by submitting to authority.  Paul said, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”  Galatians 5:1

The point of Heaven is not that it is a place that I imagine.  Heaven is a literal place where Christ is.  Hell is a literal place where Christ is not.

It is often thought that one must choose between loving others or speaking the truth to them but love and truth are not mutually exclusive.  They go hand-in-hand.  Both can and should be done simultaneously.  This is where we are told that instead of being children, we are to go about “speaking the truth in love….”  Ephesians 4:15

Should David Archuleta’s mother love him?  Yes.  Should she speak the truth to him?  Yes.  Should she say that she wants, along with her son, to go to Hell Together?  No.

The experience of David Archuleta and his mother is another modern example that one can be immensely popular while rejecting authority.

Todd E. Brady serves as Staff Chaplain and Advanced Funeral Planner at Arrington Funeral Directors.  He and his wife, Amy have five sons.  You may write to him at tbrady@afgemail.net.