Christian Rock preaches AT you, not WITH you...

[Montgomery BOO...URNS]

I refuse to listen to Christian Rock Music. My reasoning for this is
that I had attended a Ministry Rock Concert earlier this year (all the
musicians were part of a Ministry Festival hosted by Franklin Graham)
and I felt I was being preached AT from a concert stage. A band that
comes to mind during this concert was Third Day. Between each song they
would "preach" and "heal" the audience with the word of God. It's
rather insulting because it's part of that "Holier Than Thou" demeaner
that they are saying (or in this case, singing) that they are at the
Right Hand of God and they know no more than you or me what God wants or
what God is.

As for my good friend who brought me along to this concert, I have no
problem with his religious views. I know he has his reasoning for
accepting Jesus Christ into his heart as I have accept Jesus Christ as
my saviour as well. I don't deny that for one second and I respect his
religious views.

Yet what else bothers me about Christian Rock is the capacity that the
musicians have compromised for themselves. They have forfeited their
talents in order to "preach the word of God" where music itself should
not be a vehicle for religion. Well what about Hymns you may ask? Hymns
are a different story. Hymns are more of a folk tradition whereas many
of them have been passed down from generation to generation with no
known author and no real date as to when they were formulated as music.
Depending on what church you attend, most hymns have been translated
to English and have been derived from a period where the music didn't
even have lyrics or words, they were originally sung in a chant or
spoken in tongues. Also, a good portion of hymns are Negro Spirituals
that originated in Africa and were passed on from the churches and
religious groups that were brought over to the United States as slaves.
Hymns are a part of heritage whereas the Christian Rock genre of music
is just that, it's a genre of modern music that only represents those
artists and record companies who think they know what God wants to tell
us. I could be listening to more of what these musicians have to offer
but they have succumbed to making their music a "message."

Sure, Bob Dylan had a message in his music... maybe. But his audience
wasn't deceived by any forfeit of talent. He was who he was as with
many legends of rock from the 60's, 70's and beyond who might have had a
message in their music (be it political, social, sexual, environmental,
even religious issues to name a few) and their MUSIC is what made people
listen. They weren't listening because they felt they had to listen and
therein lies the rub with Christian Rock. Many people are duped into
believing that the music is good just because it is passing along the
word of God or it is cleansing their soul. These musicians could be
doing so much more and it's somewhat of a shame.

Granted, after seeing Third Day my impression was rather positive as far
as their music was concerned but I knew something was missing with them
and all of the other bands who played during this Christian Ministry
Concert. I would probably enjoy their music a lot better if it wasn't
for them preaching at me.

And to my good friend who took me to this concert, I have all the
gratitude in the world for inviting me along and as well I would like to
thank your church organizers for having me as a guest. They were very
pleasant and kind people and I hope we can get together again for
something else sometime soon.

Monty

[Willy]

I refuse to listen to Christian Rock Music. My reasoning for this is that I
had attended a Ministry Rock Concert earlier this year (all the musicians
were part of a Ministry Festival hosted by Franklin Graham) and I felt I
was being preached AT from a concert stage. A band that comes to mind
during this concert was Third Day. Between each song they would "preach"
and "heal" the audience with the word of God. It's rather insulting
because it's part of that "Holier Than Thou" demeaner that they are saying
(or in this case, singing) that they are at the Right Hand of God and they
know no more than you or me what God wants or what God is.
As for my good friend who brought me along to this concert, I have no
problem with his religious views. I know he has his reasoning for
accepting Jesus Christ into his heart as I have accept Jesus Christ as my
saviour as well. I don't deny that for one second and I respect his
religious views.
Yet what else bothers me about Christian Rock is the capacity that the
musicians have compromised for themselves. They have forfeited their
talents in order to "preach the word of God" where music itself should not
be a vehicle for religion. Well what about Hymns you may ask? Hymns are a
different story. Hymns are more of a folk tradition whereas many of them
have been passed down from generation to generation with no known author
and no real date as to when they were formulated as music. Depending on
what church you attend, most hymns have been translated to English and
have been derived from a period where the music didn't even have lyrics or
words, they were originally sung in a chant or spoken in tongues. Also, a
good portion of hymns are Negro Spirituals that originated in Africa and
were passed on from the churches and religious groups that were brought
over to the United States as slaves. Hymns are a part of heritage whereas
the Christian Rock genre of music is just that, it's a genre of modern
music that only represents those artists and record companies who think
they know what God wants to tell us. I could be listening to more of what
these musicians have to offer but they have succumbed to making their
music a "message."
Sure, Bob Dylan had a message in his music... maybe. But his audience
wasn't deceived by any forfeit of talent. He was who he was as with many
legends of rock from the 60's, 70's and beyond who might have had a
message in their music (be it political, social, sexual, environmental,
even religious issues to name a few) and their MUSIC is what made people
listen. They weren't listening because they felt they had to listen and
therein lies the rub with Christian Rock. Many people are duped into
believing that the music is good just because it is passing along the word
of God or it is cleansing their soul. These musicians could be doing so
much more and it's somewhat of a shame.
Granted, after seeing Third Day my impression was rather positive as far
as their music was concerned but I knew something was missing with them
and all of the other bands who played during this Christian Ministry
Concert. I would probably enjoy their music a lot better if it wasn't for
them preaching at me.
And to my good friend who took me to this concert, I have all the
gratitude in the world for inviting me along and as well I would like to
thank your church organizers for having me as a guest. They were very
pleasant and kind people and I hope we can get together again for
something else sometime soon.
Monty

You make an interesting point, and I'd like to offer a suggestion as to the
source of this style.

First of all, I don't know the source of your information regarding the
hymns most commonly sung in todays churches, but in reality, most of those
were written either in England or right here in good ole USA, albeit many
years ago, and most likely before your time. You suggested that many of the
songs may have been sang in tongues, and if you're referring to tongues as
spoken in pentecostal circles, you are completely off base as the current
pentecostal trend has only been around for 100 years or less. Most of what
we think of as hymns in the US., particularly those sung in fundamentalist
churches, Baptist in particular, are MUCH more recent that you might think,
and were in fact written in English and in most cases within the last 200
years. You would generally have to be visiting one of the OLD main line
protestant denominations to hear any truly OLD hymns, and that is a rare
occurence even in those circles.

Now, regarding the current trend in rock music to PREACH a message. . . it
has seemed the last 50-75 years or so that most song writers feel the need
to shove a salvation message or a 'you must praise God" message in
everything they write, but allow me to offer what I feel is the reason.

You didn't mention what your faith tradition might be, but i would suggest
that most of todays Rock singers find their spiritual awakening in either a
fundamentalist conservative denomination, or a pentecostal / charismatic
group. In either case, if you understand the structure of their belief
system, it is of MAXIMUM importance that they CONVERT you to their way of
thinking. Or as they might say, YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN... and of course,
you MUST do it THEIR WAY using their style and format. This seems to be the
primary focus of the vast majority of Christian fundamentalists in our
society.

While there certainly are still denominations where the primary focus is on
BEING a Christian (caring for the poor, working toward justice and equality
for all etc...), it is RARELY to be found. (I'm proud to say my
denomination is ALL about DOING the work of Christ, rather than CONVERTING
people to a set standard of thinking)... So in my church, you DON'T hear
messages such as those most often sung by todays more popular gospel
singers, but having said that, don't expect that trend to change anytime
soon. The fundamentalists are zealouts about such matters, and will reject
any song that doesn't either make you feel lacking, or cause you to want to
raise your hands and praise, or hit the altar begging for forgiveness for
being a human being!!! lol

Willy