Let me just start this off by saying that i love worship. Its always my favorite part of services at church, that being said, some of the Christian music out these days is awful.
I spent a good majority of yesterday listening to christian music on Pandora and im pretty sure every other song was by Chris Tomlin. Im pretty sure he wrote and repeated about 10 lines about 6 times in the course of 3 minutes. I was about ready to pull my hair out. Thankfully, one can 'dislike' Chris Tomlin on Pandora and it will never play one of his songs again. Not so with the christian stations in the area. As my dad put it one time after listening to the radio at work all day: "I feel like the played the same five songs over and over by different people!"
Aside from the repetitiveness of the music stations and the songs themselves, i think its a bit of a shame that the silly choruses that are playing have no real spiritual value to them (in my opinion). Its almost as if they're meant to illicit and emotional, 'spiritual' experience of 'worship'. Maybe we need to reexamine what 'worship' really means.
Brian one time said something to the effect of "I think that people learn a lot of their theology from the songs that they sing at church and those on the radio, but they dont have any 'meat' in them"
I think that is so true. How did we all learn the alphabet? A song. how did we memorize verses growing up? songs. Heck, some of us even learned how to clean our rooms from a song. If the most basic skills in life are learned through song, shouldn't it then follow that the basics of the christian life are learned largely through song? Whether we mean for them to or not. If most of us are honest, we learn more from the songs we sing at church than from what the pastor says, or even what we read in the bible. We commit to memory songs much more easily that scripture itself.
Songs teach, whether we like it or not.
I just feel as if christian song writers should take a little more care in what they're writing and releasing to their fans. I know that for a lot of artists their songs are "expressions of the self" and of their own relationship with God but in a lot of ways they're teaching the Christian masses what a relationship with Christ looks like, and it seems to me that what they're teaching is that relationship with Christ is an emotional experience. Chris Tomlin, MercyMe, and all those hugely popular christian artists are the Pastors of the modern Christian and its as if they're preaching that God is Holy and "He thought of me, above all" over and over and over and over and over and over...
Granted, im coming from a place where the rawness of the gospel excites me and the gravity of Christ's sacrifice isnt something to write a little chorus about. But i truly believe that sometimes we're listening to someones "self expression" as if it were how everyone should feel about God. Im fine if someone wants to express them self but maybe they should express them self with a little more depth, as harsh as that sounds.
PS. Apologies to anyone who's favorite artist is Christ Tomlin, he's the just the easiest to make fun of ;)
I spent a good majority of yesterday listening to christian music on Pandora and im pretty sure every other song was by Chris Tomlin. Im pretty sure he wrote and repeated about 10 lines about 6 times in the course of 3 minutes. I was about ready to pull my hair out. Thankfully, one can 'dislike' Chris Tomlin on Pandora and it will never play one of his songs again. Not so with the christian stations in the area. As my dad put it one time after listening to the radio at work all day: "I feel like the played the same five songs over and over by different people!"
Aside from the repetitiveness of the music stations and the songs themselves, i think its a bit of a shame that the silly choruses that are playing have no real spiritual value to them (in my opinion). Its almost as if they're meant to illicit and emotional, 'spiritual' experience of 'worship'. Maybe we need to reexamine what 'worship' really means.
Brian one time said something to the effect of "I think that people learn a lot of their theology from the songs that they sing at church and those on the radio, but they dont have any 'meat' in them"
I think that is so true. How did we all learn the alphabet? A song. how did we memorize verses growing up? songs. Heck, some of us even learned how to clean our rooms from a song. If the most basic skills in life are learned through song, shouldn't it then follow that the basics of the christian life are learned largely through song? Whether we mean for them to or not. If most of us are honest, we learn more from the songs we sing at church than from what the pastor says, or even what we read in the bible. We commit to memory songs much more easily that scripture itself.
Songs teach, whether we like it or not.
For this reason i love old Hymns. Many (not all) of them have such good Theology in them. Be Thou My Vision, It Is Well, Amazing Grace, Rock of Ages... even the more modern hymns like In Christ Alone. They have such beautiful Theology in them.
I just feel as if christian song writers should take a little more care in what they're writing and releasing to their fans. I know that for a lot of artists their songs are "expressions of the self" and of their own relationship with God but in a lot of ways they're teaching the Christian masses what a relationship with Christ looks like, and it seems to me that what they're teaching is that relationship with Christ is an emotional experience. Chris Tomlin, MercyMe, and all those hugely popular christian artists are the Pastors of the modern Christian and its as if they're preaching that God is Holy and "He thought of me, above all" over and over and over and over and over and over...
Granted, im coming from a place where the rawness of the gospel excites me and the gravity of Christ's sacrifice isnt something to write a little chorus about. But i truly believe that sometimes we're listening to someones "self expression" as if it were how everyone should feel about God. Im fine if someone wants to express them self but maybe they should express them self with a little more depth, as harsh as that sounds.
PS. Apologies to anyone who's favorite artist is Christ Tomlin, he's the just the easiest to make fun of ;)
