I am not a fan of the term "christian rock." I think it is some what absurd to slap someone's faith into a musical genre. It devalues someone beliefs. There are bands that have christians, but do they make christian music? And what does that even mean? Lets throw out the idea of putting the label "christian" on music. There is worship music and there is secular music. To me worship music is music with the sole purpose of bringing glory to God. Some of my favorite worship artists are Hillsong United, David Crowder band, Phil Wickham, and John Mark McMillan. These people are doing what they do to honor God the father.
Webster's dictionary defines secular as not overtly or specifically religious. So secular music is music that isn't religious. Really any band that is making music for any other reason than worship falls into this category. Is anything that isn't worship music bad? I don't think so in the slightest bit. People have gifts to express themselves in many ways. Music is by far my favorite form of expression.
But i don't listen to worship music nonstop. I love to worship God, but i can worship him by listening to secular music as well. Take the song by the band Jimmy Eat World, The Middle. Take a few minutes to listen to this song. I don't know the context of these lyrics or exactly what this song is about, but that isn't what music is about. Music is about an experience, how does make you feel? How does this make you think? "Take some time in the middle of this ride. Everything, everything is gonna be alright." From those words I feel comfort that no matter how rocky this ride may get, God is going to make everything alright. Its not what the song is about, its about what the listener experiences while listening.
I love secular music too. Most of my favorite bands do not write about praising God. It is interesting though to learn about the music or bands you may like and really learn what they believe. Because most of the time you will find more meaning in the songs than what is just on the surface. I find it interesting to learn what certain muscians claim they believe. Mostly more modern music artists are more open about their faiths. But just because some one in a band is a self proclaimed Christian, we can't label them as some "Christian" band.
I recently got into this band called Mumford & Sons. They are a folk band out of London. Their lyrics are very heartfelt and full of passion. There is much debate (on the internet) about their faith and what they believe. Their lyrics draw a lot from old Shakespearen play and seemingly from a biblical context. There is controversy over this because in some of their songs the do swear. In the song Little Lion Man, the chorus is "its not your fault but mine, it was your heart on the line, I really f*cked it up this time, didn't i my dear." Swearing is an entirely different topic that i am not going to go into. But i found a few days ago, a youtube audio clip of them playing an old hymn at a live show. It happens to be one of my favorite hymns, Come Thou Fount. It would seem to me that they are believers in Christ, if you are willing to stand up in front of a crowd of thousands and start playing an old hymn, you are either crazy or in love with Christ. So i will leave with this clip, and you can make your own judgement. Just remember music is good in all of its forms. It is an expression of an artist and it is an interpretation of the work by us, the listener. Be open minded and be kind to your ears.
In his Blessing,
Steves_like_a_Book
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