Contemporary Christian Music - are we gold?
A while back I wrote a blog article on CCM, I kind of got bored of the idea of doing a second part as it isn't exactly an exciting subject. Well, I suppose this will be a continuation of the "rant" theme I've had going for a while.
I love CCM, its what go me away from listening to Rihanna and Paramore and Chris Brown and all that stuff, It has it's pluses. But the thing is, people listen to that and only that, its theology-lite, and because the artists are not exactly versed in anything more than songwriting and music, often-times what comes out is man-centred, or theologically inaccurate.
Even so, some songs, such as Britt Nicole's "Gold", aim to be encouraging - it really is a lovely song - but it doesn't mention God, or Jesus once, and it's not encouraging christians, (Who would be unlikely to dress as "emos", or skateboard on sidewalks where it's not allowed), from what I can tell it's encouraging the lost, but frankly - a song like this should be telling these folks to buck their ideas up - it isn't good to dress in dark clothing and wear eyeliner and rebel against authority (I can't believe I actually just said that!), nor is it a good thing to vomit your guts up every day. It's this namby pamby idea that if someone is hurting they need a hug and encouragement.
What they need is the fear of God! Yet they get a hug. All Christians should be hardened to this nonsense, we are supposed to be expecting persecution and even execution. Yet we're being turned into cissies. Then our artists are scratching the itching ears of the lost! What is going on?
Maybe Britt thinks that the youngsters in her music video are christians, and are representative of christian youth. I don't know. But her lyrics don't suggest it:
This, this is for all the girls, boys all over the world
Whatever you've been told, you're worth more than gold
So hold your head up high, it's your time to shine
From the inside out it shows, you're worth more than gold
This is of course - a bit dodgy to say the least. You see, alot of these folks are objects of wrath right now, more so than their parents. they're fornicators, idolators, druggies and murderers. Until recent times an evangelist would never dream of telling a non-believer that they're "worth more than gold"
They would tell them that they're a sinner, that they're wicked and that if it were not for God himself we would never seek him. The bible says that we are rebels against a righteous king, that we are desperately wicked in our hearts (inside), and that we are going to die - and rightfully deserve to. There is not a man alive who hasn't broken at least one commandment (most in some way have broken them all), and as such we are fully deserving of the punishment we WILL receive, which is destruction in the lake of fire.
So don't let anybody tell you that you're not loved
And don't let anybody tell you that you're not enough
Yeah there are days when we all feel like we're messed up
But the truth is that we're all diamonds in the rough
So don't be ashamed to wear your crown
You're a king you're a queen inside and out
I don't know, but it seems that Miss Nicole is a universalist - maybe she thinks everyone is going to be saved. Yes, God loves everyone on earth, but this second line is wrong - we aren't enough. We can't save ourselves, and we will never be good enough without the help of God. We are not Kings, we are not Queens, and telling people they are may sound great, really lovely, flowers, unicorns and my little pony sort of stuff. But its not true! This woman is a professing Christian, yet she has exalted us as equal to Jesus who is our ONE, TRUE, KING. We should be ashamed to wear a crown, because its satanic! "You shall be as God, knowing good and evil".
You glow like the moon, you shine like the stars
This is for you, wherever you are
Feel good about yourself, love yourself - yay. With songs like this, maybe nonbelievers will start listening to CCM. Then we can just take out any sort of gospel centred stuff, and then we can just congratulate ourselves on how great we are.
Its understandable from "the world", who have no concept of sin, who deny God in all areas, who have no hope. But from a supposed Christian artist this is unacceptable. Who taught her? What denomination does she represent? Because this isn't theology, its worldy self-esteemism, self congratulatory prattling. I told you this was a rant.
But as a final though - have a look at the lyrics, remember that this is played on Positive, encouraging, "christian' music stations, and ask yourself how different this is from secular music.
Then ask yourself, how different is this from, amazing grace, how great thou art, great is thy faithfulness - which are songs about, our position, God's position, and God's relationship to us.
Then remember that there is a whole genre of music just like this, which calls itself christian.
I love CCM, its what go me away from listening to Rihanna and Paramore and Chris Brown and all that stuff, It has it's pluses. But the thing is, people listen to that and only that, its theology-lite, and because the artists are not exactly versed in anything more than songwriting and music, often-times what comes out is man-centred, or theologically inaccurate.
Even so, some songs, such as Britt Nicole's "Gold", aim to be encouraging - it really is a lovely song - but it doesn't mention God, or Jesus once, and it's not encouraging christians, (Who would be unlikely to dress as "emos", or skateboard on sidewalks where it's not allowed), from what I can tell it's encouraging the lost, but frankly - a song like this should be telling these folks to buck their ideas up - it isn't good to dress in dark clothing and wear eyeliner and rebel against authority (I can't believe I actually just said that!), nor is it a good thing to vomit your guts up every day. It's this namby pamby idea that if someone is hurting they need a hug and encouragement.
What they need is the fear of God! Yet they get a hug. All Christians should be hardened to this nonsense, we are supposed to be expecting persecution and even execution. Yet we're being turned into cissies. Then our artists are scratching the itching ears of the lost! What is going on?
Maybe Britt thinks that the youngsters in her music video are christians, and are representative of christian youth. I don't know. But her lyrics don't suggest it:
This, this is for all the girls, boys all over the world
Whatever you've been told, you're worth more than gold
So hold your head up high, it's your time to shine
From the inside out it shows, you're worth more than gold
This is of course - a bit dodgy to say the least. You see, alot of these folks are objects of wrath right now, more so than their parents. they're fornicators, idolators, druggies and murderers. Until recent times an evangelist would never dream of telling a non-believer that they're "worth more than gold"
They would tell them that they're a sinner, that they're wicked and that if it were not for God himself we would never seek him. The bible says that we are rebels against a righteous king, that we are desperately wicked in our hearts (inside), and that we are going to die - and rightfully deserve to. There is not a man alive who hasn't broken at least one commandment (most in some way have broken them all), and as such we are fully deserving of the punishment we WILL receive, which is destruction in the lake of fire.
So don't let anybody tell you that you're not loved
And don't let anybody tell you that you're not enough
Yeah there are days when we all feel like we're messed up
But the truth is that we're all diamonds in the rough
So don't be ashamed to wear your crown
You're a king you're a queen inside and out
I don't know, but it seems that Miss Nicole is a universalist - maybe she thinks everyone is going to be saved. Yes, God loves everyone on earth, but this second line is wrong - we aren't enough. We can't save ourselves, and we will never be good enough without the help of God. We are not Kings, we are not Queens, and telling people they are may sound great, really lovely, flowers, unicorns and my little pony sort of stuff. But its not true! This woman is a professing Christian, yet she has exalted us as equal to Jesus who is our ONE, TRUE, KING. We should be ashamed to wear a crown, because its satanic! "You shall be as God, knowing good and evil".
You glow like the moon, you shine like the stars
This is for you, wherever you are
Feel good about yourself, love yourself - yay. With songs like this, maybe nonbelievers will start listening to CCM. Then we can just take out any sort of gospel centred stuff, and then we can just congratulate ourselves on how great we are.
Its understandable from "the world", who have no concept of sin, who deny God in all areas, who have no hope. But from a supposed Christian artist this is unacceptable. Who taught her? What denomination does she represent? Because this isn't theology, its worldy self-esteemism, self congratulatory prattling. I told you this was a rant.
But as a final though - have a look at the lyrics, remember that this is played on Positive, encouraging, "christian' music stations, and ask yourself how different this is from secular music.
Then ask yourself, how different is this from, amazing grace, how great thou art, great is thy faithfulness - which are songs about, our position, God's position, and God's relationship to us.
Then remember that there is a whole genre of music just like this, which calls itself christian.
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