FREE WORLDVIEW MAG FREE WORLDVIEW RALLIES
Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
PAGE: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 NEXT>

Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
Posted On: 11/27/07 11:27:14 PM Age 31, TX
I'm unsure if Todd is trying to say, "Don't forget the truths of God's character!" or if he's trying to say, "Out with the lovey feeling Jesus." === The first I agree with, the second I do not. === We *need* to know that God is Holy, King, Lord, Righteous, Just. We need to know the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. === But we also need to know how He feels about us. Reducing God's love for us to only, "I love you despite how I feel," implies that He has less than fond affections for us. Yipes! === In John 15 and 16, Jesus says that He loves us the way the Father loves the Son, and the Father loves us in that same way as well. How does God the Father love God the Son? How does the Father feel about Jesus? === Reading through the Old Testament, I see horribly wayward people. But I also see a broken hearted God. Even by Genesis 6 I see that. Of the wickedness of man it says, "The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain." Reading that just breaks my heart...the love He must have felt felt for His creation for His heart to be "filled with pain" at their waywardness. Also, when Israel went out to battle, the Levites often lead the way, singing of God's neverending love. Then all through the prophets, God compares His relationship to His people of that of a husband and wife. Psalms and Song of Songs have already been mentioned. Then at the end, in Revelation, we see a wedding. === I'll mention one more thing -- "Needy, emotional women continue to need more counseling, self help books and conferences where they can spread their wings and soar." I do not understand the basis for this. I'm 31 and single and know many other single women my age. Most are needy and emotional, longing for a husband. And they have little to no concept of Jesus as Bridegroom, while God started speaking the idea to me when I was 16, so I'm not experiencing what many do as a single in her 30s. === Oddly enough, once when I was feeling particularly emotional and needy, I read only Song of Songs for 2 weeks, and it completely brought calm to me. Yeah, I thought it was weird too. But seeing that kind of love for me calmed me. How often does God say, "I am with you"? It seems like there's something to just knowing that He's with us. === I was also under the impression that the number of men attending church had been declining from before the "love songs to Jesus" started coming out. === Finally, I think there's a difference between knowledge and real *knowing*. How often I've discovered that, while I have the knowledge that Jesus loves me, I don't actually know it. I don't have the experience. The difference between book learning and hands on learning. I don't always have the experience, so I also must simply rely on the truth, but the experiences are also there.
Click here to reply to this post



Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
Posted On: 11/27/07 10:59:25 PM Age 19, CA
Fantastic!!! This has needed to be said for a long time. I myself am a professional musician and composer, and I have been fed up with self-centered worship songs for quite some time. The focus of almost all worship songs today is consistently on the needs of self: self-worship instead of God worship. God does in fact love us no question, but He is disgusted with our sin. We are not really the beautiful, love-worthy little beings that God drools over like modern worship says, but rather much more like what the author of Proverbs says: like rags covered in excrement. On the flip side, we are to love God with our HEART, soul, and mind, but the basis of this relationship with Christ is our obedience, not our feelings: "...if you love me, you will obey my commands." Obedience to Christ (our sanctification) is the basis of our relationship to God. This should be the focus of worship. Just like the hymns written in past centuries did beautifully, honoring God through obedience and worship is to be the center of of worship, not us and how we feel.
Click here to reply to this post

Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
Posted On: 11/27/07 09:19:02 PM Age 41, PA
Amen! Thank you for speaking the truth with courage and courtesy. I am part of a worship team at my church and I hate, yes HATE these mushy, gooey, girly, love songs! Yes I love Jesus, but only because He first loved me. His love is so much deeper than our weak and adolescent comprehension of His love. He DIED for me, He did not give me a hug. Thank you Todd!
Click here to reply to this post



Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
Posted On: 11/27/07 07:46:07 PM Age 44, KS
I kinda have to disagree with you about raomance in song with regards to Jesus. He is the brideroom and we are His bride. Mention of marriage and our relationship to God is quite prvelant in scripture. Sex and its climax could be seen as a physical metephor for the experience of heaven. Marriage is multi-faceted and I really don't think eliminating romance between Christ and His bride is going to enhance the relationship.
Click here to reply to this post

  1. Re: Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
    Posted On: 11/28/07 09:20:19 AMAge 53, OH
    Age 44, KS Wrote: I kinda have to disagree with you about romance in song with regards to Jesus. He is the brideroom and we are His bride. I only have this to say: If you are a male, it sounds as if you expect a homosexual relation with Jesus! If you are female, it sounds as if you would cheat on your spouse with Jesus! If this sounds terrible, you shouldn't even be thinking this way. I am never going to be Jesus'"bride." The bridal imagery is applicable to the church collectively. Just as we might picture a nation as our "Motherland," or a ship as a female, we can see the church collectively as a bride. But a citizen is not the husband of his or her country, and a sailor is not the wife of the U.S. Navy.
    Click here to reply to this post

Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
Posted On: 11/27/07 06:32:23 PM Age 38, TN
AMEN!!! I have found myself not listening to contemporary Christian music anymore for just these reasons. What's worse is that this trend has bled into the Church's worship ministry as well. I find myself sooooo distracted by these mushy lyrics that I often don't sing. I use this time for prayer. Don't get me started on the 7-11 songs either. (7 words long and repeated 11 times)
Click here to reply to this post



Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
Posted On: 11/27/07 06:21:08 PM Age 45, SINGAPORE
Thank you for this article. I belong to the contemporary part of the church that sings these 'silly love songs' and most of the time they do evoke much love and gratitude for Jesus- atleast the ones that we sing- which are mostly from the Hillsongs repertoire. But there have been many many times that I have felt exactly like what Todd has expressed. There is a sensuous familiarity in these sentiments which doesn't sit well with me. We really have reduced the High and Mighty One to the boy next door and its quite disgusting! However, to be fair, true worship really is contingent on the extent that we have surrendered our lives to the Lord and some of these songs do drip with anointing and certainly help in expressing the deepest longings of the soul. So I do the next best thing. I judge and discern the spirit behind the words and just keep my mouth closed if my heart is not echoing what my lips are repeating. Praise the Lord, that hasn't happened too often- we're still a bit conservative here in Asia.
Click here to reply to this post

Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
Posted On: 11/27/07 06:07:26 PM Age 38, TN
AMEN!!!! Todd this is a wonderful article. I have been trying to express what is wrong with the "new" church music for a long time. There is so much wrong with it, I have a hard time finding anything positive to say about it. My friend alerted me to your article. We have found one church in our area where we can sing hymns while holding a hymnal without having to look at screens. She and her family have just joined and my husband and I are right behind her. Pastors and "worship leaders" need to listen up and wise up. There are a discerning few who know the real thing when we hear it. There is a lack of singing about the sacrifice of our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because we are too busy singing about ourselves and OUR needs. I'm sick of all of it. Thanks again.
Click here to reply to this post

  1. Re: Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
    Posted On: 11/28/07 06:59:37 AMAge 52, NJ
    With you 100%. I was unfortunately relieved last Sunday when it was announced that our "praise team" could no longer support our Sunday early service. Check out Coach Dave at Pass the Salt ministries. He's been beating this drum for quite awhile.
    Click here to reply to this post



Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
Posted On: 11/27/07 06:05:24 PM Age 62, CO
Boy am I glad somebody has finally said this about modern "Christian" music! I refuse to sing any "la la" songs and much of the music is so vapid I simply cannot listen to it! There is some very very good stuff .... this I love. But I have to listen carefully .. Is it "me" music? Or does it Praise the Lord and tell the Truth about his Grace, Mercy, Justice! Wake up Church! ND
Click here to reply to this post

Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
Posted On: 11/27/07 05:48:02 PM Age 21, MO
The point of all the theology though is to say, "Oh my beloved!" I agree that we need theology in songs Todd, but if we completely forget about the love part we become a brood of vipers. If we don't have love for the savior because of what he has done and if we don't have love for the Father because of his righteous and just judgments and if we don't have love for the Holy Spirit for renewing our minds and giving us groans that we can't express then we are worthless. Don't completely leave love out. I am a 21 year old man deeply in love with MY, yes my, Jesus. I am unashamed to say it. I worship the Jesus that has robes stained in blood and will come back to slaughter all the ones who are unrighteous. It is manly to love the Jesus I worship. I am unashamed to say I am part of the bride of Christ and if I get taken away in love at times, that is great. There are also those times where I am not in the honeymoon though and I choose to love him. It isn't always easy but I will always choose to love him. Besides, this is what I am going to be doing for the rest of eternity giving him worship as his bride anyway so... Why not start now?
Click here to reply to this post

  1. Re: Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
    Posted On: 11/27/07 10:28:45 PMAge 61, NEW ZEALAND
    For those who want to start praising the Lord as we will in eternity, a look at Revelation 5 will give an idea of the kind of thing that will be appropriate. I don't see any carooning about love in that song! Rather reverant humble thanks with awe.
    Click here to reply to this post



Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
Posted On: 11/27/07 05:34:30 PM Age 31, NY
I really liked this article, which is a first for me and Worldview Weekend, which I generally only read for amusement or alarm at what the extremists are up to lately. I'm a liberal Mainline Protestant and not interested in going to hebbin if you guys (right-wingers) are the only ones there. But I liked it, I really did, not in the least because I disdain Air Supply. One woman I know of a more evangelical background called a lot of the contemporary Christian dreck "Jesus is My boyfriend" music. I agree. Except for Bill Gaither there's hardly a religious song written after 1910 worth listening to IMO. Thanks for a good one.
Click here to reply to this post

Read More Feedback

Post Feedback
We would like to post your feedback, but please keep your feedback short and clean. All feedback will be reviewed before it is posted. We encourage healthy debating but will not accept feedback with personal attacks. Commenting on a person's public statements, actions and writings is not considered a personal attack. Please limit your feedback to less than 750 words. Comments written in ALL CAPS will not be posted.

All fields are required. Your age and state will be posted on the site, but your personal information will NOT. If you would like your name to be posted with your feedback, you must include it in your feedback text.

First Name:
Last Name:
Email Address:
City:
State: OR Country:
Age:
Feedback Title:
Your Feedback
(no HTML):
Save my information for next time.



Notice: By entering your email address, you agree to join the
Worldview Weekend email alert system.



Worldview Weekend
Family Reunion
Branson, Missouri
April 23, 24, 25, 2010
Worldview Weekend
Training Institute
Memphis/Collierville, TN
April 9th & 10th, 2010