- Blest Be The Tie That Doesn't Cramp My Style
- Pillow of Ages, Fluffed for Me
- I Surrender Some
- I'm Fairly Certain That My Redeemer Lives
- Sit Up, Sit Up For Jesus
- Take My Life and Let Me Be
- What An Acquaintance We Have In Jesus
- Where He Leads Me, I Will Consider Following
- He's Quite a Bit To Me
- Oh, How I Like Jesus
- Fill My Spoon, Lord
- It Is My Secret What God Can Do
Way of the Master
I like these. They made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteWhat's really sad is that I gather these are not such satire anymore. I hear from Eldest Daughter that there's one out there now called (if I recall correctly) "Free to Be Me." And this is a _Christian_ song? Maybe we should start re-writing Biblical commandments.
ReplyDeleteTake up your ipod and follow me...
That "Free to be Me" song is just hideous. There is a lot of junk out there, but no more than I remember coming out in the seventies. Praise God there are some really awesomely doctrinally correct songs coming out regularly these days!
ReplyDeleteBad songs are nothing new. But years ago many theologians were inspired to write songs, hymns, and poetry for the church--and many songwriters who were not theologians took their songs to close associates who were theologians to have their lyrics "checked." That is not very common anymore. The only deep theologians I can think of in the CCM field today are Keith Getty & Stewart Townend and Steve Camp. And a few others have a decent theological understanding.
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is that many folks in the pews these days are not capable of spotting bad theology or lyrics that are not precise enough when dealing with current evangelical issues. I've heard some real garbage in church and when I mention the issue to the music minister or the pastor they think for a second and then say, "oh yeah, those are really bad words. I hadn't noticed that." Then we sing the same song again a couple months later.
Funny, I didn't find "Free to be Me" all that offensive.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it, the artist is relating how she can't be perfect, can't get her life just right, and that Christ loves her for who she is, dents in her fender and all. Personally, while light hearted and doctrinally shallow, I found the song to be quite encouraging. All Christians aren't at the same level of growth in their walk, with Christ, and while they need to get of the 'milk' of the Word, and start eating the 'meat' of the word. Yes, I wouldn't necessarily sing this song in corporate worship, but is there really anything wrong with it over the airwaves? Lets not find ourselves guilty of the same things the Pharisees were guilty of. JMHO
I'm not sure I know the song "Free to Be Me." But my sense from hearing others talk about it is that it may be the type of song I mentioned in my previous comment when I referred to song lyrics that are not precise enough when dealing with current evangelical issues.
ReplyDeleteIf Evangelicalism is currently having trouble with narcissism, which I believe it is, then a song that is not technically biblically wrong, may still be ill-advised. I think current Evangelicalism stresses the love of God to the exclusion of other divine attributes, and that means that we need to be careful about balance in that regard too.
It's a never-ending battle to try to cast the spotlight on God and praise him for who he is while recognizing our own humanity and the blessings he has bestowed on us.
I don't know what "Free to Be Me" says, but current Evangelicalism has crossed over the Freedom in Christ line and fallen into antinomianism. So we have to be careful there. On the other hand, we must ruthlessly root out any legalistic tendencies in ourselves (and our music).
I was mainly pointing out the oddity of the title. We were talking about shallow titles that convey an idea of something less than life-changing commitment, right?
ReplyDeleteI'll bet I could get imaginative enough to imagine (in general terms) lyrics to some of the ones in Rich's list in the original post that wouldn't be technically _heretical_, but that's not quite the point.