Contemporary Christian Music has been and always will be a subject of great controversy. Many pros and cons for many types of people but I would like to give my own perspective on it from the years I have spent involved with and meditating upon it.
A. Though there may be subjective opinion of one genre verses another there is no objective way to measure genre this side of heaven. Which instrument does God want more a guitar or mandolin? Maybe a harmonica, or how about a harp? What is God’s favorite music? Country and Western what about reggae? Even if we stop at worship, which is better? Gregorian chants or southern gospel? It is obvious that there are multitudes of ways to do music. Music stylistically represents culture. As long as cultures are diverse then so will be language and music. Though God chose the Jews of the Old Testament era, we do not know how to perfectly translate their culture to ours; in that God made a lot of legislation that was specific designed for the ancient Hebrew’s time and era. Even current Jews have a great deal of debate on how to accomplish that old lifestyle in today’s world. Therefore for Gentile Christianity this is even truer. There is no one cultural standard. Now do not confuse my statements with culture for morality. Our values are eternal and never change. But our culture always changes. Therefore, it is no surprise that our music always changes. So we can not therefore say that there is a perfect style of music. Occasionally, we may see things a style offers that are wise or unwise, moral or immoral, and correct or incorrect. However this far away from an exact science and always will be so. Instruments in and of themselves electric or acoustic can be used in any way whether Good or bad.
B. Instrumental music is not however neutral. Some people draw the conclusion that instrumental music is neutral and does not effect us one way or the other. This is a false teaching however. Music is and always has been an extremely powerful force. Many a famous musician has given a great diatribe on the power of their music. Few preachers have ever been able summon the type of religious devotion that has sprung up from rock and rap mega concerts. Where fans would start fanatical fan clubs openly call there musician their “idol” hang up posters listening to the recordings over and over again. The world we live in today is run through popular music. We here it constantly, in stores, on commercials, movies, sports games, concerts, restaurants not to mention in private. Music has many drug like qualities. It can easily altar our moods and often times is used for wild parties, religious service, athletic endeavors, fighting depression, studying and sleeping. Music indeed is a force to be reckoned with. There has been positive music that has inspired people to do right. There has also been negative music that inspired evil. Instrumental music has the ability to alter our emotions. Our emotions can be swayed in moral and immoral directions. Whether lust, wrath, depression or anxiety. We must not be fooled by the power of instrumental music.
C. It is true that secular rock and rap music has pagan and demonic influences, connected with it. The term rock and roll actually was a metaphor for sex. It was a form of rhythm and blues, which encouraged lascivious behavior, drunkenness and eventually teenaged rebellion. It started out with a secular bend which a Judeo-Christian society was quick to perceive and deny. Soon rock & roll was hit with the British invasion. Groups like the Beetles and rolling Stones took over the airwaves. Soon their came a pure pagan element to rock music. Some jokingly while others very seriously were making allegiance with demonic forces. Rap music was never as openly blasphemous against Christianity. Though their lifestyle was obviously pointed in the devil’s direction. Rap started out not quite as evil. It had a party beat that tried to take urban blacks away from their ghetto environment. Yet soon enough as it became popular it embraced the criminal world filled with gang violence, obscenities, drug abuse, and violence toward women, prostitution etc.etc. Just as suicide would become calling card for the rock star lifestyle, gang violent shootings and murder became the calling card of gangsta rap. Even at the point were the emphasis on violence was slightly hushed, the materialistic lifestyle has set Americas youth on fire.
D. With all this said, all music can be sanctified. There have been Christians on the big and small stage who have used their musical gifts to reach out to today’s youth and there has been some success. I have been ministered to and been apart of a few of these ministries. You can always measure the effect by the fruits of the spirit. There has been success in Christian music to bring people to a more spiritual level. There have been listeners who have gained a contrite and have self-control etc.
E. Yet the success is limited I believe because of lack of knowledge. Even though Christians have a freedom to play any genre. They must understand that playing secular music is like meat that has been sacrificed to idols. Many new Christians may listen to Christian music copying a worldly beat and think of a song that had the old sex, violence, envy, or other fleshly emotion and be drawn back into the old temptations. (1 Corinthians 8:7) At the same time a lost person may hear Christian music with a secular beat and be unimpressed with either the inconsistency or the annoyance of a foreign message. I remember several years ago watching MTV’s “The real world” a Christian from Kentucky was carrying a DC-Talk CD back when they were a rap group. A member who was a black comedian laughed at the CD because Christianity was not nearly as macho or violent as he understood rap to be. Christian Music is not necessarily an effective evangelism tool.
F. There is stark distinction between worship and entertainment. A large problem I see today in Christian music comes from the confusion of purpose. Many acts have accidentally assumed that they can be simultaneously entertainers and worship ministers. First of all if they are providing worship ministry and selling tickets, then the gospel is on sale. But this points to the previous fact that there is a difference between worship and entertainment. Entertainment is focused on pleasing people. Worship is focused on pleasing God. If your lead worship you may entertain your audience but never at the sacrifice on giving praise to God. In entertainment you are focused on the audience and pleasing them but hopefully you can give glory to God in the process. Is it ok, for a Christian to have entertainment. It would be worldly and lazy to have too much too much entertainment. In fact I would say seeking entertainment is never going to be the highest good. But people have a need to serve themselves and have fun or entertainment. We all have a sinful nature and we all are going to have activities to please ourselves. The dirty little secret most preachers never touch on is that God knows this. (Ecclesiastes 7:16-20) The questions if we are going to please our selves, would we rather do it through Godly activities or ungodly activities? This is the purpose of Christian entertainment. It will always be better for me to feed the homeless and reach the lost than find Christian entertainment. But when I, like the rest of world, do not have the spiritual resolve to positive do good. It would be good to seek entertainment in sanitary environment which Christian music provides.
G. Most of today’s mainstream Christian music is in serious need for reformation. There has been a need to make Christian music worldlier to win the lost. However, worldly music on protects lost people form Christianity. Worldliness keeps the attentions of the audience away from the Holy Spirit. Christian music also needs to focus less on popularity and more on ministry. Attention is paid more to young good looking acts and less on older more experienced Christians. Not to exclude the younger acts, however the bias is obvious and in an immature direction. Younger good-looking acts are made the main event because of calculated popularity. However, these group are usually less theologically orthodox, less experienced in ministry and more naïve to world of temptation. Many of them have the right motives, but while they can give a great testimony, they are unprepared for real guidance. Pushing them in the spot can hurt them as badly as it hurts the overall audience.
H. Christian music needs to drop ecumenicist philosophy, for bold evangelistic zeal. Over the years Christian music has been dominated by a doctrine of ecumenicism. At first, it was only scene as pragmatically ignoring conservative protestant difference to effectively deliver the gospel. But over the years the message has been pounded like hellfire and brimstone. Theology doesn’t matter at all! Now it doesn’t matter if artist are Protestants or Catholics or liberals and as a result some are Christian musicians are now accepting the Mormon cults and Muslims as well. Well let’s take this idea to its logical extent. The reformation didn’t matter, it didn’t matter that Christians could never have real assurance of salvation. It doesn’t matter if faith justifies them or they need works. Doctrinal differences don’t matter. The Anabaptist and Baptist were divisive and wrong for the radical reformation. Because it doesn’t matter if the members of your church are saved or not. Also religious freedom doesn’t matter either. It doesn’t matter, John Wycliffe and William Tyndale were wrong for defying the church so that a common person could have their own copy of the Bible. The Bible is divisive. Is this type of behavior really pleasing to Jesus? Matthew 10:34 “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” If we are going to follow Christ, we have to be divisive in the sense that the gospel is divisive. Many Popular Christian acts must remember this, if they really want to reach the lost.
I. Real powerful Christian music must focus its power on a striving hunger for righteousness, holiness, humility and sacrificial love. It must evangelize out of the conviction that there is a real hell which our generation really needs to escape from. Much Christian music is transformed into a bully pulpit. Instead of Bible verses they use an upbeat message and nice guitar riffs. However with all the force the direction gets blurry and blurrier each year. More emotion less theology and bible. Emotion if used in a godly way is an awesome thing. Yet if it is prostituted, a Christian youth can be raped of any true passion. If denominations and theology really different matter then how can all these different Christians always preach the exact same sermon? Why can’t there be a Christian rocker who really is different?
Are the days of prophetic Christian rockers like Keith Green and Rich Mullins gone? Are their musicians willing to play unpopular messages and take their stand against the status quo, if only for the prize of treasure in Heaven?
If not then this is day the music died.
But if so, rock on for Jesus, rock on!
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