Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 03:58:48 PM |
Age 29, MD |
Hey that's the Faith+1 approach to song writting. Take a song, cross out the word baby, replace it with Jesus and boom instant hit. Mir album here I come.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 03:37:44 PM |
Age 52, NC |
That pretty well sums up what I've seen happening in my own church lately.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 03:00:47 PM |
Age 57, NY |
I agree in principle with the concepts of the article, and, appreciate the excursion back into some of the older hymms which our contemporary church does during our worship. However, I'm not ready to toss out some of the newer music altogether. Bottom line- I like it; and the Lord likes to hear me tell Him so.
I wonder if some of the comments which refer to the "biblical" nature of this music might change a little if we were using "biblical" language. Remember "agape", "phileo" and "Eros", are the original words (all with different meanings) which we now translate as the word "love".
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 02:25:07 PM |
Age 40, OR |
I agree with you 100%. As Christians, we should be able to distinguish our music from the world's music. If we can't, something is wrong.
If a person of a non-Christian faith, such as a Muslim, can sing a 'praise chorus' without ever expressing anything contrary to his own faith, something is wrong. Our music needs to distinguish Who is our 'lord' and our God. Christian music should be doctrinal.
Otherwise, I could sing Ann Murray's "I cried a tear" in church---after all, it doesn't really say who is the 'you'. So, it could be my lover, it could be God...or it might even be you---just as it says.
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- And onto the beat....
| Posted On: 12/06/07 02:47:21 PM | | Age 54, NC |
That's a good point about a Muslim being able to sing the same CCM lyrics a Christian would - and not notice any difference.
A lot has been said here about lyrics; I'll comment on the rhythmic pulsation holding the words together.
Here's what I think is actually heinous about all of this: Turn on the radio and you'll hear a ton of contemporary music that is either sexually or violently immoral. The lyrics are trash, and many of these songs have the exact same rhythm structure as CCM does.
Most young people today listen to this kind of garbage. They hear the beat pulsate. They feel the sexual pull. Let's not pretend this isn't so, okay?
And then these young people go to our churches and sing to Jesus with the same type of beat....
To me, there's just something sick about that.
Sad to say, it seems that a lot of aged hippies from the sixties brought this sensual music into the church because they never quite outgrew puberty.
I've heard CCM church musicians talk about their favorite Led Zeppelin songs. To appreciate Zeppelin, you've got to appreciate the wrong kind of morals.
What concerns me most is that young Christian people are being raised to only appreciate bubblegum for the ears, and once many people get hooked on it, they have trouble appreciating anything else of finer quality. It's like junk food. It's psychologically addictive.
Anyway, we're losing a great store of Christian heritage with all these churches abandoning hymns for the sake of bringing in "seekers." I'm sorry, but carnal man does not by nature "seek God." But he does seek entertainment.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 01:36:05 PM |
Age 29, GA |
Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
This was a writer in the 1600's, John Donne. Many of his sonnets were of the Divine Romance between Christ and His church.
We are the Bride of Christ - yes, even the men. These men in the old days understood that. They didn't need to Man Up, as you say. They were vuenerable in their love for Christ Jesus. True men aren't afraid of romance, of tears, of love.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 01:22:59 PM |
Age 25, MS |
I will say, for someone going through a hard time that has had a shallow understanding of God and that He will always be there for them and that they'll always know it will have trouble getting through a time where God seems silent, where he is saying only "my grace is sufficient."
and one who sees God as a Lover always, and forgets that part of that love is judgement of sin will always forgive themselves when they mess up, cause they don't see the need for consequence. Or at least some guilt that helps them not mess up again.
My friend Shaunti talked about that one night, about how when someone messes up we run to let them know they're forgiven, and they never really learn from their mistake. She said sometimes we need to let them really wallow in the guilt a bit, and let it create a repentant heart. You'll notice Nathan in the Bible when dealing with David did not speak of restoration. He told David his sin, and David ran to the Lord prostrate, begging for forgiveness.
He never messed up that way again.
That really speaks volumes to me. All the prophets, and even Jesus Himself spoke of the wrongness of sin, the need to repent...and that restoration would come, but from a pure heart, a heart really seeking change.
I am thinking that I agree with this man's thoughts as far as the above paragraphs I have written go.
I spent my whole life in church, singing these very songs, and I never really began to understand God the way I described him above til recently. I feel many times lately like I've missed out on alot about God. I wish I had known.
We need some revamping in the worship community. But I will say we need to keep the romance as well.
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- Music is not a spiritual gift
| Posted On: 12/13/07 08:29:29 PM | | Age 42, MO |
Good words, Todd. It's important to understand that true worship is spawned by the Gospel, and not by music.
Aaron
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 01:05:15 PM |
Age 45, NC |
Amen and amen. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
We are supposed to be Christian Soldiers, not whining wimps. One way to get more men at church is to give them something to sing about.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 12:59:53 PM |
Age 45, CO |
For the most part contemporary "Christian music", and I use that term loosely is theologically void of anything edifying, let alone giving praise to the God of the universe. We are called to be separate from this world, we are too look, behave, and sound different from our unsaved counterparts. If music reflects the condition and state of our heart and soul, then what does it say when contemporary Christian music sounds no different from it's secular counterpart. Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played 1Corinthians 14:7. We are to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, Ephesians 5:19. With the infection of secular society upon the church its no wonder the worship services on Sunday mornings seem more like a concert, instead of a time to pray and worship. Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! 1Chronicles 16:29 How many times have I heard people professing Christ as Lord and Saviour say "Our church has an awesome band that plays all the current music, not all that out of date stuff! This attitude simply portrays the sad state of much of the church today, so much for discernment, so much for bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Prophets come in many forms, in fact Gods word to us says “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves Matthew 7:15. Much of the Christian music scene is tainted with secular ideology and very often preaches a very different Gospel. Much of the Christian music scene exists to gratify and feed the desires of those involved with it, not to Glorify God! Instead of embracing everything new that comes along, like the world does, why don’t we just get back to basics! Church is not about contemporary music or how good the band is or being satisfied with the set list for any given Sunday. We need to be focused on our relationship with God, maybe if we were more concerned about what He commands we would less concerned about what we think we want! As far as Jesus giving us a Hug, well perhaps once we are in glory with Him but for now...Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded James 4:8.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 12:54:16 PM |
Age 17, CA |
Respectfully, I strongly disagree with many of the points made in this article, and I completely agree with Zoe's review (that's the really long one. I found this article on the same discussion board as she did, teddekker.com - come check it out) My thoughts - Sure, a healthy balance is fine so we don't forget who he is, but God is our lover. It sounds like what the writer is advocating is a return to Old Testament thinking, where there was an abundance (maybe even an overabundance) of fearful reverance and distance and not nearly enough intimacy. The curtain has been torn! If all he wanted was reverance there was no reaason to create us; he can get plenty of that from the angels. The thing that makes us special is that we have been invited into that intimate relationship. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with expressing deep longing for God. I firmly believe it's what he wants.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 12:52:23 PM |
Age 55, TX |
Todd,
You have a point. I play in my praise band at a Vineyard Church. The Vineyard movement has certainly done it's part to add to the "Warm & Fuzzy" CCM genre. I hadn't given this too much thought but I was talking to some of my fellow musicians a couple of weeks ago and we thought how it would be cool to put together a set of music from our playlist and perform it at a local secular venue like a restaurant or public event. We figured we could do a couple dozen songs and no one would be the wiser that we were singing about Jesus. Now that I think about it, that's just sad that we have that large a body of praise songs that sound so worldly they can't be easily discerned from actual worldy music. Part of being Holy is being unique and set apart from the world, dedicated to a Lord we can sing proudly about.
What happened?
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