My thought was on doctrine. I recently heard a Contemporary Christian song which had a first verse like this:
"I was so uniqueUm... What? Seriously.... What?
Now I feel skin deep
Count on the make-up to cover it all.
Crying myself to sleep
‘cause I can not keep their attention
Thought I could be strong, but it’s killing me.
Does someone hear my cry?
I’m dying for new life."
Maybe I didn't get enough of the song in, let me add the chorus:
"I wanna be beautiful,Um... What?
Make you stand in awe.
Look inside my heart.
Be amazed.
I want to hear you say
Who I am is quite enough
I just wanna be worthy of love
And Beautiful"
Make who stand in awe? Is that referring to other people? Why would you want other people to stand in awe of you? Is that referring to God? Um, you're not going to get God to stand in awe of you.
"Who I am is quite enough?" Um... no, that's not right either. I am quite NOT enough.
"I just wanna be worthy of love..." Um... NO. I will never be worthy of God's love. That's why it is only of God's grace that we can be loved. Nothing I can ever do will make me worthy of His love.
Supposedly (according to Wikipedia), CCM Magazine labeled the artist that sings this song 'the future of contemporary Christian music.' Scary thought...
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not against contemporary Christian music. My mom still writes music, and that is contemporary. Another contemporary song goes like this:
"How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That he should give His only Son,
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turned His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory"
...Yeah, I'm ok with that
So, how much doctrine needs to be in a song for you to consider it doctrinally sound? I suppose it would be good for it to at least mention "God" in it, right? Maybe even have a reference to Christ in it, to be considered a "Christian" song? But perhaps more of an issue that needs to be addressed, how have we come so far to be having songs saying, "make me beautiful"
Is it ok to sing a love song, and put "God" at the beginning of it, and the rest of the song could be song to your girlfriend? Or does the song need to contain lyrics that constantly remind us of Who is the focus of the song?
Just a thought...
I will end my post with another hymn from Charles Welsey. If you don't "get it," let me know.
Depth of mercy! Can there be
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God His wrath forbear,
Me, the chief of sinners, spare?
I have long withstood His grace,
Long provoked Him to His face,
Would not hearken to His calls,
Grieved Him by a thousand falls.
I have spilt His precious blood,
Trampled on the Son of God,
Filled with pangs unspeakable,
I, who yet am not in hell!
I my Master have denied,
I afresh have crucified,
And profaned His hallowed Name,
Put Him to an open shame.
Whence to me this waste of love?
Ask my Advocate above!
See the cause in Jesus’ face,
Now before the throne of grace.
Jesus, answer from above,
Is not all Thy nature love?
Wilt Thou not the wrong forget,
Permit me to kiss Thy feet?
If I rightly read Thy heart,
If Thou all compassion art,
Bow Thine ear, in mercy bow,
Pardon and accept me now.
Jesus speaks, and pleads His blood!He disarms the wrath of God;Now my Father’s mercies move,Justice lingers into love.
12 comments:
I heard that all Charles songs were reveiwed by John Wesley before they were OK'ed. Aome of the ones we now sing were rejected by John an account that they sounded to soft and squishy... I wonder how he would have veiwed the garbage that passes itself off as "Christian" today.
For your consideration here are some lyrics from a Christian Rap artist...
When the Father in Heaven decides that it's through (Matt.24:36)
every person who (ever) lived will arise from their tomb (John 5:28)
to give an account for the sinning that they've done (Matt.12:36)
Behold- All Judgement's been given to The Son (John 5:22, 27)
"HE'LL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO THEIR DEEDS"(Rom. 2:6)
your whole life's been recorded as He reads: (Rev. 20: 12)
The Standard is Perfection! Did you notice your flaws?
You're convicted guilty because you've broken His Laws! (Gal. 3:10)
The Judge is condemning or justifying men, (Matthew 25:26)
and you're only justified if you trust He died for your sin. (Rom.3:24,25)
'cause all sinned and lived a life-span that was flawed (Rom. 3:23)
but through faith you'd be given a right-standing with God! (Phil. 3:9)
but the curse of the Law remains over your head (Romans 2:12)
because you rejected Christ to live for the moment instead.
you should have took heed to the Wrath of Christ (Luke 12:4)and His Sacrifice now you'll be trapped in strife for your afterlife! (Rev.20:10)
I hope you're concerned because you'll burn for eternity (1 Thess.5:3)
and murmur in urgency in a furnace infirmary (Matt. 13:42)
you're mellon will swell, then you'll melt into gel
you'll be greeted by demons-welcome to hell!
The LORD explained and made His warning plain, (Luke 12:5)
admit that you're at blame-repent and adore His Name (Luke13:3, Acts17:30)
but you ignored this claim and have made His orders vain
and exchanged His glory for a form of fortune/fame (Rom. 1:23a)
to snort cocaine and pour you more champagne,
now you're a corpse of shame torched in a fort of chains (Jude 6)
where it's pouring flames of storming scorching rain (Luke 17:29-30)
to contort your frame your torched in enormous pain!!! (Luke 16:24)
If you had faith in the grace of the Great Messiah (Jesus)
He'd have forgave you for hate straight desire (Acts 3:13)
but you made Satan sire, and he's a blatant liar (John 8:44)
now you'll drown forever in boiling lakes of fire (Rev.20:15)
you'll experience permanent suffocation
you're eyes will melt and your lungs will suck your face in
it's breath-taking, 'cause you'll never breathe again
but bleed your flem and hear screams of evil men
the heat will never cease you'll weep forever (Mark 9:44,46,48)
you and demons can grieve and scream together
you're a piece of bacon, you wanna meet with Satan? (Rev.20:10)
he's being tormented, too- I won't keep you waiting
proceed to bake in a flaming oven,
see your naked cousin, he's in the blazing dungeon
you search and holler for a church or altar,
but it's too late to repent you squirm in burning sulfur (fire and brimstone)
thirsty, you ask for a glass of some water (Luke 16:24)
but you're trapped in the massacre packed in the slaughter
your teeth are gnashing (Matt. 8:12) there's no speech or laughing,
you won't see compassion- just weeping, gasping
your nerves are exposed- in shackles and chains, your shadow's in pain
the furnace will glow- so hot a thermometer never could register
see the heat exceeds all measures of temperature! (Mark 9:44,46,48)
You can't say I didn't try to warn and tell
but this earth's just a sliding board to hell (Matt. 7:13-14)
to avoid it, to Jesus trust and pray
'cause Judgement Day could be months away
if you're shook tonight than look to Christ
you go to hell if you're not in the Book of Life (Rev. 20:15)
so go tell all your fellow non-believers
that hell is where you dwell if you're not with Jesus.
The LORD finds no pleasure in seeing you die forever (Ezekiel 18:32)
so please make the right decision and believe that Jesus Christ is risen!(Rom.10:9)
"If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God rose Him from the dead, you will be saved." Rom. 10:9
Any thoughts?
I thought you weren't going to self-promote your new CD, Shannon? Oh well...
My thoughts on the lyrics... It's non-KJV in the quote of Romans 2 and 10, so it's no good. :)
Since this post is about the doctrine in the songs, then yours passes that test... Maybe we'll have to have another post on some other issues related to music.
Does Christian music only have one purpose?
To be fair to the song, the author does change her perspective at the end. The song goes on to say (speaking to God) - You make me beautiful, you make me stand in awe, you stepped inside my heart and I am amazed. She acknowledges that the only thing beautiful in herself is God.
I think it is unfair to quote part of the song and not the whole. You can point out the bad doctrine of the first two verses, however it is unfair to stop there. The author concludes with the fact that the first two verses are bad doctrine.
"Does Christian music only have one purpose?"
1 - Whether eating or drinking or singing, do all for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31).
2 - It is to be used to aid in letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly by Teaching and Admonishing one another through it (Col 3:17).
3 - Christian music should be used to edify each other (1 Cor 14:26)
anything else?
Andy-
Would you say Col 3:16 represents three different genre of music? If so, how would you specifically define a hymn or a spiritual song?
Kevin
OK... hearing the explanation of the song does help me understand what she was saying better - now that I know Who she was singing to (And I am honestly not even saying that sarcastically).
I guess then the failure was on my part by not understanding where the artist was coming from when I heard the song.
But, should you really need the song explained to you for it to make sense? I would understand if you needed the truths of the Bible explained to you for you to "get it" and I'm ok with that. (Meaning, if I don't understand Christ's work for me, then I won't get Depth of Mercy)But should I really need to know what's on her mind in order for me to understand what she is saying?
Maybe I do.
I guess I'd rather just hear songs about how the Father gave His only Son to make this wretch His treasure, than to hear, Now I'm quite enough, now I'm worthy of God's love, now I'm beautiful.
So then maybe that is your preference? I think the song is a great one, when we think of how short we fall, how ugly we are and yet God changes us and makes us beautiful. What a thought!! That God sees us as beautiful - Psalm 139:17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
Great post Andy!
Kevin,
Clearly Psalms refers to the 150 in the Bible, Hymns refer to Fanny Crosby and Isaac Watts, and Spiritual Songs refer to the good contemporary choruses... Doesn't everybody know that? When Jesus was done with the Last Supper, they sang, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.
Honestly, I am looking forward to studying that out some time. I don't know what the differences are, though I do believe that they are different and not just three ways of saying the same thing. Have you looked into that?
ANONYMOUS,
Yup, it is my preference. I prefer to be able to sing with understanding, and if I need more knowledge from the artist to be able to understand the song, then I think it's lacking.
Almost every single Psalm in the Bible uses the name The LORD in the song. Those exceptions, I am going to guess there were 15 of them, so 10%, that did not name Him by the name The LORD, had the title "God" in them. And almost every single one of them had "God" in the first verse. I truly believe you ought to know Who the song is being sung to.
I'd be curious to look at the top CCM songs nowadays and see how often they mention the name of Jesus.
Andy - I twice when teaching on the subject (the two times were at least a year a part) I went on to a website that listed the top 15 CCM songs at the time and the lyrics. Both times I went through all the lyrics and none of them mentioned "Jesus" or "Christ" It was interesting - a great deal of "You" and "He"
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