Face the Music

Christians in the music industry

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It has a sinful beat. It undermines the Christian faith in secular culture. It is the devil in the Church! What is it that has much of the conservative Christian church in a hopping fit? Two words: Christian contemporary. In this speech, I hope to clarify a little about the musical genre that is making waves in our culture. First of all, I will cover the purpose of music. Secondly, I will clarify the opposition contemporary Christian music faces. And last, I will clarify the purpose of contemporary Christian music. First, the purpose of music is to do two things:

1. To glorify and worship God
2. To edify and guide believers in their walk with God

In the Christian church, this definition is accepted with no difficulty. Many times, the Bible mentions glorifying God through music, and singing His praise aloud. He instructs us to. We are to sing with hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs. And therein is the key. Churches have been singing psalms and hymns for hundreds of years. While those are not to be undervalued, the time has apparently come for the spiritual songs the Bible talks about. Logically, conservative churches are resisting—they are, after all, conservative, and we’ve been singing hymns and psalms for how long? Yes, for hundreds of years. And this is an important reason the conservative church hasn’t fully accepted the contemporary Christian music. However, the newness that contemporary Christian presents should not be a problem. Things will come, and things will go. Hymns were once a new thing, as were psalms. As I said before, we have had psalms and hymns for hundreds of years. Now is apparently the time for the spiritual songs the Bible talks about. These songs glorify God. They edify and guide Christians in their day-to-day life. And they are not the work of the devil. This leads me to my second point: Examining the opposition to contemporary Christian music. Conservative churches that oppose it have solid reasoning: ‘It seems unchristian.’ First, we need to realize the difference between personal preference and bad morals. Personal preference says “I won’t listen to that song because it is loud.” Good morals, when faced with morally deprecatory music, say “I won’t listen to that song because it has things in it that are directly in disagreement with Biblical principles.” A majority of the people who oppose contemporary Christian music are legalistic. It is a matter of preference, not of morals. Legalism is a somewhat common affliction in the conservative church today, and it is most unfortunate. The dictionary definition of legalism is strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code. Contemporary Christian music is a unique and successful way of ministering to a lost world, but legalist opposition would destroy it because it is not psalms or hymns. My personal opinion on the matter is this: If the legalists want to get rid of contemporary Christian music, so be it. But if they do, it is up to them to find a new way of spreading God’s word to a lost world. Some people say that contemporary Christian music does not hold to the traditional Christian values that the church was formed on. In a song from Kutless, a Christian rock band, they wrote the following words.

Take me into the Holy of Holies
Take me in by the blood of the Lamb
Take me into the Holy of Holies
Take the coal, touch my lips, here I am

As you can see, these lyrics state that the only way we can have access to God is through the blood of the lamb—a basic belief that the Christian church has understood for more than a thousand years. This song is also recounting Isaiah’s experience in the temple, an event taken directly from Isaiah chapter six. So the claim that contemporary Christian music leaves traditional Christian values in the dust is not valid. Another claim against contemporary Christian music is that it does not “shine the light” into the darkness of the secular culture today. Well, consider this. Double- platinum artists of The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot, a professing Christian band, has experienced overwhelming success with two of their songs, Meant to Live and Dare You to Move. Consider a line from this song.

Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Salvation is here

And their other hugely popular song, Meant to Live.

We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life…
We were meant to live for so much more,
Have we lost ourselves?

I remember station surfing on my radio and hearing this song on one of our secular rock stations. I was ecstatic. Meant to Live, their louder song had finally made it big. I could only imagine how many teens would hear it and perhaps begin to wonder if we were indeed made for so much more than shallow material possessions. It also mentions that everything inside of us wants the life that God offers—the second life, or life after death. And this song is huge on secular and Christian music stations alike. If that is not spreading the light into dark places, I don’t know what is. And lastly, I will clarify the purpose of contemporary Christian music. Contemporary Christian music was designed to aid in worship areas and to help get the Christian message out. While it is certainly not a replacement for the traditional psalms and hymns in the Christian church, I can say with certainty that they are not detrimental to the basic Christian values that can be found in the church today. The claim that contemporary Christian music is “the devil in the church” is totally unfounded.

Take for example one woman who was raised in a Baptist church. After she was married, she began attending a Presbyterian church with her husband and family. Because of her background, music was important to her and she felt that it had a profound influence on the way she worshipped. However, God directed her and her family that it was time to leave the Presbyterian Church they had attended for over fifteen years. Where they were going, they didn’t know. God was wise enough to lead them to a wonderful, Christ-centered church. But…the music was a little iffy. The woman was startled by it, and she felt certain that she could never get used to it. But as she came to know the people of the church and understand their purpose, she began to realize that music does not make a church—the people within and the way they connect with one another and with God is really what matters in a church. Well, that woman was my mother, and I am a part of the family that experienced the wonderful change from being part of the extremely conservative to slightly more upbeat—but just as God-centered—group of people and their unique music. And while we still hold to the conservative principles we have always had, we have just begun to realize that the people within the church matter more than the music.

In summary, I hope I have convinced you that contemporary Christian music is not as many say it is: It is not the music of the devil in the church, and it does not undermine Christian outreach to the community—rather, it strengthens outreach to secular culture through widely accepted and attractive styles. And even if contemporary Christian music still isn’t your favorite genre of music, I hope this speech has helped clarify how contemporary Christian music is not bad.

~Please feel free to comment on this post. I would like feedback!~