A Step Toward Freedom: A Review of Hear No Evil

I almost don’t believe this story. Let me explain.

In Hear No Evil, Matthew Paul Turner retells stories from his upbringing as a music deprived, Independent Fundamental Baptist in Tennessee. His church, complete with a Fourth of July flag-waving Declaration of Independence worship service and a scare-the-hell-out-of-you “terror house” on Halloween, scoffed at any music with a hint of syncopated beats. Turner writes: “Independent Fundamental Baptists hated drums, tambourines, and cymbals because the devil loved them and used them in all the music he sold at record stores.” His church upbringing makes my Southern Baptist crew in Oklahoma look like a bunch of tongues-speaking Pentecostals.

Hear No Evil begins with Turner’s reflection of the anti-Sandi Patty movement among extremely conservative Christians. He has to keep his identity as a Sandi Patty fan a secret, because people in his church might think he’s not really a Christian. Situations like this seem ridiculous to us now, but this was reality for Turner, and his new book explores how he slowly breaks free from a world where fear motivates most decisions and thoughts and discovers that “freedom is an amazing thing”. One place Turner consistently finds freedom is in music.

One of my favorite moments in Hear No Evil is when Turner is in the middle of a piano lesson with his single, middle-aged piano teacher, Ms. Lansing. Turner describes her as an independent spirit, who people in his church would describe as “loony as a Democrat”. Ms. Lansing, a Baptist who wasn’t welcome at the IFB church, encourages Turner to be creative. She says she’s fighting for his imagination: “Without the imaginations of artists, the church will die or lose its ability to help people.” What great advice. This wisdom leads a teenage Turner into a moment where he “hears from God”, and God tells him that He needs him to be the Christian version of Michael Jackson. Turner’s pursuit of this high calling leads him into a mess of trouble and self-discovery.

I almost didn’t believe this story, but it’s part of my story as well. I needed to read it so I could laugh along with someone else who sees the evangelical-fundamental brand of Christianity as misguided, at best. Reading Hear No Evil helped me take another step toward freedom. I’m not there yet. To echo Turner, “I was learning that I didn’t know a lot of things. And I think a part of faith is learning how to become okay with that.“

_________________

If you’d like to get a copy of Hear No Evil, (I think you should) you can purchase it directly from the publisher’s site by clicking here. This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Advertisement