|
Browsing the web you'll find a lot of opinions. I ran into a blog the other day that I thought would serve as a good counter-point to my own viewpoint. To start, I'll begin with the article by Abbie Stancato:
Identity Crisis Brewing in Christian Music
Christian music has come far since the early days of Amy Grant. Amy helped to mainstream contemporary Christian music. But, has Christian music gone too far?
Tooth & Nail Records represents hard rock Christian artists. Why should the devil have all the good music? I enjoy some Christian heavy metal, but personally do not subscribe to the screaming.
Nonetheless it is done in the name of Christ.
Or is it?
Psalm 66:1 states: “Make a joyful noise unto God.“ But what about the lyrics?
It is extremely important that Christians know the word of God. Hank Hanegraaff, the host of the Bible Answer Man radio program states that “thee” problem with modern day Christians is Bible illiteracy.
So what about young Christian artists and songwriters who may not have in-depth biblical knowledge?
I note Tooth & Nail Records because they have many artists on the Christian Rock Charts. Tooth & Nail currently holds the No. 2 song on ChristianMusic.net.
The Top Ten Christian rock songs as of Sunday, May 31st do not contain the words God, Jesus, or Christ in the lyrics. The songs speak about faith and a proper path for the soul. Many of the lyrics are not as blatant as their Christian Adult Contemporary counterparts. Others are religiously ambiguous, deeply disguising the meanings within their lyrics.
I give Tooth & Nail credit for offering provocative lyrics to listeners of hard rock. However, it appears the lines of Christianity are blurring.
I recently had a music director from an Ohio radio station decide against adding one of my songs to their playlist. And it wasn’t because she didn’t like the song. She said the lyrics are too Christian. They focus on Christian songs with not so obvious lyrics, and mainstream music which has Christian or positive lyrics.
It is great to know this format exists. Yet if this is the wave of the future it may indicate a serious identity crisis building for Christian music.
As so long as there are Christians who have Christ truly written in their hearts, I think the core of Christian music will survive.
What identifies a Christian song—one which glorifies Christ and God directly or one which buries the identity of the meaning—is a poignant source of debate and contemplation.
Now for my counter-point. Personally, I think music by Chrisitians has not gone far enough. Notice I said "music by Christians" and not "Christian music". In the distant past, cultures composed mostly of Christians produced beautiful works of art that spoke to every aspect of life, both physical and spiritual. Even in the last 200 years some of the best-remembered works of Christians involve entertainment of some type.
The root of the controversy lies with the term "Christian music". Instead of merely referring to music rendered by Christians, it's somehow become a self-contained genre with its own rules of do's and do-not's. This artificial bubble is perpetuated by some artists, the record labels, the press, and especially by retail distributers, who can deny a product if they feel it "not Christian enough".
This odd situation created by the gated community mentality has cast adrift those Christians who wish to have an effect in the world and not merely sing music to the choir. Worship music is great, and I commend everyone song writer who strives to please God in this fashion, but there's no reason to be limited in the subject matter covered by the lyrics.
The other day I was listening to local rock station WJRR 101.1. The usual hits were playing, some of them interesting, many wallowing in misery and depression. Amidst the racket several songs by Red, Flyleaf, and Anberlin were played, with the DJ even saying that he's been hit by a flood of requests for the Anberlin album. This particular song offered advice on how to deal with a person who was behaving in a wicked fashion.
If you look into the band Anberlin you can see how they're having an effect. Lead vocalist Stephen Christian stated in an interview that their faith is more complicated than a simple label: "I think we're categorized like that a lot because we're on Tooth & Nail Records, which, years ago, was known as a Christian label and never lost that reputation. I don't care who listens to our records. If it helps people in whatever circumstances they're in, that's amazing, but I definitely don't classify us as a 'Christian band'...[My faith] affects every single aspect of my life, but I'm not a preacher, I'm an entertainer."
Drummer Nathan Young commented, "The thing is, some bands that are trying to get out of the Christian market, they get bummed out by questions about it. I don’t really mind it, because I’m a Christian, and I’m okay talking about it. With the whole term 'Christian Band,' I don’t understand how a band can be Christian. We get the question, 'Is Anberlin a Christian band?' and it’s like, yeah, Anberlin is — as humans".
Christian has also said in an interview with Lightforce radio (MP3 format) how the band tries to "step out of the bubble" and referred to themselves as being part of Christian music. He discussed in detail what Christians should do in their lives: love and embrace others as Jesus would as well as show God's grace to others. He mentioned as well how the band Fall Out Boy said in an interview that they did not really know much about Jesus until Anberlin toured with them. How much of an effect would Anberlin have had if they kept themselves safe within the artificial boundaries of "Christian Music"?
|
I remember back when I had the pleasure of meeting P.O.D. for the first time. I had no idea who they were, since it was my first time at a venue such as this. (Soul-Fest, New England)
As I rushed from the main road to get to the main stage, I noticed out of the corner of my eye someone struggling with a case from under a tour bus. I thought he was a stage hand, so I ran over and helped him get the case out. He pulled out a Bible, and explained that they had packed in such a hurry he'd forgotten to keep it out.
We stowed the trunk again, and he invited me onto the bus. Again, thinking it was just a bus and having never seen one that size before, I accepted the offer. He went through the introductions, everyone else first, then himself.
"I'm Sonny."
I discovered they were a fairly well known band called P.O.D. and that they had released an album called the Fundamental Elements of Southtown. We chatted about it, life, their music, and Sonny then let me in on a secret he was going to make public when they got on stage.
"Ozzy invited us to play Ozzfest." He had lights dancing in his eyes when he said it. "Can you imagine the opportunity there?!" I'd never seen anyone, let alone a musician, get so excited about Ozzy.
I was excited that this awesome group of guys were getting such a huge deal. I mean, what kind of band starts out with a tour, an album, and an invite to one of the most famous rock music festivals in the world? This was one unknown band that was about to be known, I thought.
Of course, when I met up with my friends later on, I discovered that they all knew P.O.D. and were jealous I got to meet them. Still, I thought about how proud Christianity in general would be of this group; I mean, they were going to be a light in some SERIOUS darkness! We support our missionaries!
Yeah. Fast forward a few months to when they actually DID perform. They were drummed out of the Christian market; Spoken against by well known "Christian" leaders; In short, they were treated by the CMI like Nero to early believers.
These guys have never left their personal walks. They've been as real as it comes when talking about troubles, trials and struggles. Through it all, though, they've been 100% about God.
How about when a well known secular rock star becomes a believer and releases his first album? Surely, we would support him! Well, not exactly. Especially when the name of one song was made public- "Die Religion Die."
Oh well. Frankly, I'm with Head on that one, and I'll keep listening to P.O.D. and DMX and finding Truth within lines shunned by the mainstream church and the mainstream Christian industry- After all, who said Christ was mainstream to begin with?
Why can't we break out of this tea-sipping, can't we all just get along meandering and go with the art form God gave us.
I'm sick of the ghetto attitude and the arrogance...We've got to stop being a subculture of the religiously blah and step and glorify God.
eh...I'm just sick...
not so Merry
As I read, I could feel the frustration, I could read the annoyance... But what at? I know, you said Christian music, writers, yadda, yadda... Here's the trouble- I can't figure if you're railing on examples I or Patrick gave as decent guys, or on us as writers; Or whether you're spouting off at the writer he quoted.
So, that having been said, I'm going to come on back with my opinion, and if it's based on something you're not sending off, you go right ahead and correct me, cool?
The two gentlemen I mentioned with specific examples are better versed in the Bible as a whole than most pastors I've run into. DMX not so much, but having recently turned his life over to the Lord and now in a discipleship program, I'm looking for some cool stuff to happen with him too.
I don't give a rip what the staunch white collar, pressed slacks, Oxford necktie knot crowd thinks of my approach to evangelism, or POD's approach, or Head's approach, and why? Because it's not directed to them. It's directed at the people who are into head-banging, moshpit diving, crowd surfing, torn jeans, shaved head, more metal than a '78 Olds generation.
Do you honestly think that these guys are somehow less "Christian" than the ones sitting up in church Sunday, Wednesday and every other Saturday? If so, perhaps you could sit in for God on the judgment seat while He steps out for a coffee.
My band had a common theme when we were performing- I was the Goth, my brother was the thug, our bassist was the metal-head, our lead guitarist was the Cobain look-alike and our drummer was the kid. What I mean to say, is that we had no theme. When we took the stage, people didn't know what to think. Know what they got?
A couple Beetles covers, rock, rap, thrash and in the midst of it all, a whole lot of God. Our music wasn't meant for the churched at ALL, though a lot of the younger churched liked it. It was an evangelistic, in your face, you are seriously needing to straighten your thinking message.
One of our last performances, if you could call it that, was to lead worship on a youth Sunday. The senior pastor wasn't so sure because in his mind, we were a group of crazy, funked up, wacked out, attention seeking morons. (He confessed this to me later.)
What happened that morning was totally God, but it also made him change his thinking. We played, the church filled with the usuals, then it filled completely with all the kids and people who would come to our shows. God hit. The Spirit fell. People who had been going to that place for years were falling on their faces repenting, and that included the pastoral staff.
I'm not sure everything that happened there that morning but I do remember there was never a sermon. I just remember we played for about three straight hours, not knowing what time it was. We weren't focusing on the clock, we were focusing on God- Which, quite honestly, was the same thing we did at nearly every show.
So, if you're tired of the ghetto attitude and "arrogance" of the music mentioned, then there is a nice, quiet spot in the last pew of the half-empty church down the road. I'm sure you could catch a nap there quite easily.
But, if none of this applies to what you were frustrated about; If it's all quite the opposite of your annoyance- Then I'd love to meet you sometime. I'll be the vampire looking dude- Preaching.