I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.(Romans 10:2 – ESV)
In my mind and experience, it seems that light and fluffy music often precedes light and fluffy messages. This causes me to wonder: How discordant would it be for a service to have a happy clappy sing-a-long, move to the groove “praise and worship” time followed with a serious sermon on sin, scripture, soteriology, or sanctification? Wouldn’t the disco diminish the effect of the sermon, in a sense? Is happy the way to holy? Is an upbeat all it takes to make the downcast pursue the upward call?
It is all part of the pull, say the purveyors of the seeker sensitive model. Just get them in. Give them some rousing music, and then you can give them the gospel. Well, what kind of gospel is that? It's called "bait and switch" in the real world. They get you in the store with one thing, and then they tell you the truth about the actual price of the item.
In churches like that, the ones with the “kickin’ praise band”, I really don’t think they actually ever make the switch at all. There is no price to pay for the Jesus Jam crowd. The music stirs your soul, and the message warms your heart. You know, it may even change your life, but it won’t be the gospel. You can sing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, all day long and it can still be all about you, you, you, and your Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, all about the projection of your best feelings into your imaginary rockin’ religion. They are trying to connect with people in a powerful way, disconnected from the real power.
6 comments:
Uplifting music? Sure, as long as it is lifitng up the name of Christ...
We have written on this topic in similar fashion, check this post's labels for more, perhaps your question or objection may be seen there...
I believe this to be a topic to be pondered and prayed about by all before allowing the argument of your first reaction to stir up your emotions. Worshiping God should not be about personal preference.
While it is certainly okay to have preferences, they must not dictate whther ot not we can "enter in" or not...all other things being equal, of course...if the music is not speaking of biblical truth, or is simply man centered, we are talking about a different thing, which in many cases is what we have here as I have described in this post...
Hey JD!
I finally am getting around to visiting again - the eyes are back together and I even POSTED something today!
Good to be back -- and as far as your subject -- I am working through the issue of getting our worship ever more Christ-centered.Our worship team has made great strides, but we need to go to the next level and examine the Theology of our Worship again...
We have banned many of the 'brown cow' songs -- keeping only the ones which actually are Biblical... I am now working on incorporating more hymns...
Good to see you seeing again Ray! I'll be saying some prayers for you and your congregation, as well as checking out your new post as soon as I finish typing this...blessings to you and yours brother....
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