Very interesting article. Not sure that i agree with all its points (i.e. Rock and roll, because I'm not even sure what exactly is classified as rock and roll plus there is soft rock, classic rock, hard rock, etc.), but other points are deeply intriguing.
The point of music is not that you have music and you want to
adorn it with words, but rather that you have a message and want to
adorn it with music.
But it is not humble to mumble. Rather clarity is a service to the listener.
Often Christian music is experience-centered, man-centered, and
self-centered – ‘give me, give me’. The content is inferior, lacking
sublimity, magnificence, glory, weight, beauty, skill, and theology.
I have known people to sing themselves into a state of intoxication without realizing what they were doing.
(I feel as if I have done this before)
Just as words can rightly or wrongly represent Christianity, so also does music.
Are they servants or stars? Are they gathering followers for Christ or
fans for themselves? As someone observed, they are not saying, “Behold the Lamb”, but they are saying, “Behold me saying, ‘Behold the Lamb.'...They are afraid to be different from the world and are ashamed of
Christ. One Christian artist mentions the name of the Lord Jesus once
in nine songs. Some musicians are so vague that it is not possible to
distinguish if they are singing about some lover or about Christ.
Again, behold the power of good music. When Paul and Silas
sang, the earth shook and the jail rattled (Acts 16). When Jehoshaphat
went out to battle, he put the singers in front of the army and God set
up ambushments (2Chr 20:22). David’s harp drove off evil spirits (1Sam
16:23). When Elisha called for the minstrel, it invoked the hand of
God and a spirit of prophecy (2Kg 3:15). Good music pleases God, as it
is written,
- Psa 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song … it shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs.
Hmm very very interesting article. Thanks for sharing, Rebecca! =)
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