Dusty Bibles

Josiah Queen

This Music of the Week was recommended by Solari team member Jeroen van Straaten’s teenage daughter. It is absolutely uplifting to see Generation Z kids being moved by a Christian pop song.

Twenty-two-year-old Josiah Queen just put out his second album, Mt. Zion. “Dusty Bibles,” one of its promotional singles, garnered a whopping three million views in just a month’s time—and this despite the self-critical message the song carries.

With “Dusty Bibles,” Josiah Queen sends a thoughtful challenge to the Insta-generation and phone-scrolling youth to lay down their devices and pick up their bibles. You would never guess how many young people actually seem to have a bible. During his Summer Worship Night in Pennsylvania, 30,000 teens and young adults were screaming the song word-for-word in an enthusiastic testimonial to its popularity.

The lyrics resonate with many young adults who are disillusioned by social media vanity and are looking for something real and lasting. “Are we really too busy or is it all a lie?”

These kids understand very well that depression, addiction, seduction, and even suicide are almost foisted upon them by reckless social media platforms and AI giants. The recent instances of AI-chatbots starting sexual conversations with minors and advising suicide methods are tragic cases in point.

One day, we dare say, we will throw our phones away—just like young Josiah Queen does in the song’s video.

We got dust on our Bibles, brand-new iPhones
No wonder why we feel this way
We walk with our eyes closed, blind leading blind folks
And I’m done with those idols and dusty Bibles