This got too long for a comment box, sorry. My husband would complain and say just “cut to the chase.”
Gina from Chats With "An Old Lady" left a comment on the post "Katie Perry aka Katie Hudson".
I appreciate her thoughts and I totally agree with her conclusion:
We need to be careful not to follow anyone 100%...whether it be an author or a musician. No one will be 100% or without error. We need to sift. We need to teach our children to sift.
That is why I encourage everyone to be Berean and compare everything to the scriptures:
Acts 17:11 "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." NIV
I won't say that all CCM artists are bad nor will I say all the songs are bad, but from what I have seen I would rather err on the side of caution than risk insulting my Lord.
I use the term CCM in the sense that the industry does, nothing derogatory is meant against those who are writing some beautiful hymns today.
I agree we need to teach our children to discern, but discernment requires making judgments. There is no way around it. The problem is that many of today’s parents are not using discernment and many parents are clueless about the supposedly “Christian” music their children are listening to on “Christian” radio and are being introduced to at church youth groups. Most of the parents I have known trust that if it says “Christian” it will be fine for their children. They have often told me, “At least it isn’t secular music!”
Steve Camp , previous CCM musician, has written The 107 THESES: reclaiming a reverence for God in ministry . In it, he expresses his concerns for the direction CCM music is going.
Recently, I researched the CCM industry and specifically the youth music for the families at our church. Over 90% of the parents had no clue who the children and youth were listening to - they had just accepted that it was “Christian”. Since the Youth leaders had no problem with the music, why should they question it?
Upon spending months researching, I was shocked by what I found. Many songs:
Glorified Death
Continually discuss Suicide
Have Jesus as my girlfriend style songs
Used New Age Terms such as “Rebirthing”
Nonsense terms and expressions ("This is my skizzle. For Izzle.")
Derogatory remarks about parents
Glorify rebellion vs. submission
Misrepresent the character of Jesus – rebel, punk rocker, better than drugs
During concerts often perform music from secular groups.
Replace Jesus name with He, Him, etc., as if you can hear a song with the capital letters and be able to determine a difference.
Songs dwell on Satan and evil
No clear presentation of the gospel in the songs or the websites
Casual, familiar treatment of Jesus – no longer Lord, but your buddy, your homeboy
The over whelming recipient of CCM’s praise is “You”, which is probably more true than they would like to admit. Meaning that they do not sing about “Jesus” but instead sing about “You”.
The lifestyle of the artists:
Endorse and use alcohol
Curse words are common in many artist’s language
They listen to and style their music after secular groups.
Immodest attire and actions
Multiple Earrings and tattoos are commonplace
They say “we don’t preach” just want to have fun
All of that is bad enough but they are also teaching a different Jesus:
JR “Not A Slave” video – shows a spirit coming from a box
“Better than pot – Jesus rocks” & “Smoke on his love – believe” – Barren Cross
Rastafarianism – P.O.D.
This is long I know but truly most parents do not know this. There are many parents I know who are raising their grandchildren, for various reasons, and they just aren’t as able to do research about certain issues. I spent months researching this night and day in order to warn parents about a particular event. This post explains more about it.
Is Contemporary “Christian” Music Christian?
The fruit of that research is located at:
(warning it is long – 325 slides and just as many that weren’t even included)
It includes pictures and lyrics, but not one music piece. The focus was totally on the lyrics and lifestyles of the artists. Someone with a musical background will have to discuss the difference in music better. I can recognize it but not explain it. This piece covers some that issue.
Music is Not Neutral
Warning!!! The following is not for the weak of stomach or heart. This one video was the proverbial last straw. I include it for you to see how a teen has interpreted Skillet’s song “The Last Night”. Don’t watch it if you already understand the problems of what our children are listening to. It might give you nightmares.
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10 comments:
Sis, kudos on one of the best research I've read on CCM! Do you mind if I pass this on (with credit going to you, of course)?
I think more people should be made aware. Here in Singapore, most people listen to the same things Americans do, and I believe it'll be very beneficial.
Pass it on. I just pray that people will really discern what the Lord would have them do and not what they've been taught or worse "what feels right" to them.
The church is losing its youth, at least here in America. I'm afraid it is the church's fault and we will be held accountable.
Thank you, I shall. :)
Just a note, the CCM pdf includes the verses that I found to contradict the lyrics. It is more in-depth than this post.
Sis,
I have just finished going through the slides in the PDF. If that will not convince anyone who calls themselves Christian that not only is secular music bad but that most of the CCM we are hearing today is utter rubbish and don't even come to close to being Christian, I don't know what will.
You know, I've been blessed to be led to your blog and this study. To God be the glory! With your permission I'll share this with Christian I know -- people need to start realizing these things!
I listened to secular music a lot when I was younger and even a Christian then, but last year the Lord convicted me that I should abandon those -- an experience I chronicled at my blog (http://wordnverse.com/2007/11/05/goodbye-u2-john-mayer-and-others/). After reading your study, I will now even start looking through my CCM collection and remove the bad fruit.
God bless you for doing this, and I can't thank you enough.
Shalom!
Thank you for the comments Isaiah. I hope only to make everyone compare everything to the scriptures.
If we allow God's Word to Guide us and His Holy Spirit to lead us - we will do well.
Blessings, Berean Wife
Clarification, lest you think I would endorse any of the groups you have used as examples in your post...I would never endorse them or encourage my children to listen to these groups. The ones you have used as examples are dead wrong, and are the "edgy" extreme groups. They do not represent every group or artist out there, though, that may fall under the category of "CCM". There are some that are in no way like the groups you talked about. That is why it is so important for parents to be involved in helping them choose. I totally agree that a parent should never just trust that because it is called "Christian"that it is okay. So..if my child comes home and says he heard a song somewhere by a certain group, I say to him, "Well, lets go look them up on the internet, read their testimonies, watch a video they have done, and look at their lyrics, and decide if this is a group that glorifies God." That is what we do. Then they see for themselves what is right and wrong. We are walking them through making the choice and guiding them, and not just telling them "no" because it is CCM. They are learning to choose and discern. We have found that to be very eye opening and has helped our children in making choices. There have been times when we have done this and my son has said, "Oh, mom! I didn't know they were like THAT! I don't want to listen to THAT!"
On the other hand, I think we need to sift through other kinds of music as well. For example, I love hymns and go to a church that sings hymns, but many hymns are not doctrinally correct. There are times at our church when our pastor or my husband who leads the hymns, will stop and point out error in the hymns. We have even changed some of the words in a few hymns to make them more correct. If you study the lives of some of the hymn writers you will see less than perfect people...some of them did things that were unbiblical. We seem to lose sight of this as time goes by, and will somehow think of hymns as "sacred". We need to sift through them as well.
If you look at the lifestyles of some of the classical composers, you will see some pretty crazy people. My daughter is a music major, and has had to study some of the composer's lives. Let me tell you, some of them were pretty whacky!!! But many Christian's only listen to classical.
I guess all I am saying is that we need to be Bereans and discerning in all areas...and be consistant.
In the slide show thing that you posted about the CCM artist they had quotes and things that these artists had done in their lives that were wrong. I agree the things were dead wrong. But I think that a slide show like that could be shown about all of our lives. I doesn't mean we should be counted out as unusable. We wouldn't want to be written off. I don't know if these artists have changed or repented, but maybe some have...I just think we need to be so careful not to write off an entire "style" of music because of some examples that are poor. We are all in a process of growth...even the artists that were quoted.
Again, I do not agree with the stuff that you used as examples in your post, but I do not think it is fair to characterize all contemporary artists as being that way.
I have to say some one your quotes are taken out of context. Rarely from the Bible, but often from "CCM" artists. The Relient K song, for example (slide 285) is about his girlfriend/wife not Jesus.
There are a lot of good points you make in your study, but I cannot help but feel you are overly harsh, in that not all CCM is unbiblical.
Delirious, Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Third Day, Tree63 and Newsboys are something to be thankful for.
How can we redeem the rock culture? And How can we encourage Christian artists to become all things to all people and reach people like Mariyln Manson for Christ, without them comprimising on the faith "once for all delivered".
Gina,
I agree about parents being discerning and I don’t understand why more are not.
The church as an institution should also be discerning. The Lord will hold us accountable for those we lead astray. When an activity or a music group is supported by the church, it implies consent.
The groups I used are the groups that play on the local “Christian” radio station and that the youth in this area listen to or assoociated by the DOVE awards. I did not even discuss the local groups that are just known in my area. Many of them are even more extreme, but they do not come with more than an individual churches recommendation.
I agree with the statement that there are several terrible hymns and many more with just as poor theology. I am not sure about too many of the hymn writer’s lifestyles but they are human as we all are. The thing is when a person is still alive the personal lifestyle has more influence on others. Teens in particular today will go to the artist’s websites and facebook sites and they will check out the others associated with them.
One example: DC Talk
"All Apologies" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. The dc Talk version replaces the lyric "Everyone is gay" with "Jesus is the way".
In 2007, dc Talk covered a Prince (Jehovah's Witness) song "The Cross", featured on Kevin's album, "The Blood".
So now through DC Talk’s music our teens have been introduced to Nirvana and Prince, not very godly role models. What happens when the teen develops a taste for that music? Are we not responsible if we recommended DC Talk?
All classical music is not good either, my daughter is a classical violinist, there are some really “dark & evil pieces” by even more bizarre artists that she doesn’t play for the same reasons I have mentioned. Most pieces though are far removed from the author’s life and must mostly be judged on their own merit.
We must be discerning.
Larry,
Thank you for considering the information.
My question about the Relient K song is if it is played on “Christian” Radio how would you know? So many songs have vague references that sound more in reference to a girl friend than the Lord. How can you know?
Skillet–Better than Drugs
“Feel your every heartbeat
Feel you on these empty nights”
Flyleaf -All Around Me“
My hands are searching for you
My arms are outstretched towards you
l feel you on my fingertips
My tongue dances behind my lips for you”
If you were to read what the teens themselves say, in their comments, about songs like this you will find they don’t know either. We are to present the gospel clearly. The Lord is not the author of confusion.
I admit I do not know all CCM artists or all of the ones you mentioned. Nevertheless, if you study them and their lyrics similarly would they really pass the test of Scripture? If you do study them please share the information with me.
We as Christians are unable to redeem anything or anyone. We must obey the Lord by preaching the Word, then and only then might they be redeemed. It will be by the Lord and his Word - our only part is in obedience.
Ps 49:7-9
7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
Nor give to God a ransom for him —
8 For the redemption of their souls is costly,
And it shall cease forever —
9 That he should continue to live eternally,
And not see the Pit. NKJV
Ps 44:26 Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love. NIV
May the Lord redeem each of us by his love.
Berean Wife
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