Why is “Christian” Music so Awful?

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Slinger said:
While the content of the songs are typically simple they are chosen for that fact because it allows a person to easily learn the words and be able to focus their mind on the Lord in worship. That is what we are encouraged to do where I attend church. Substance is given in the teaching.

I guess you could compare it to Catholics praying using the rosary. I have read on this site that the repetitive prayer allows one to focus their mind on the Lord and not having to think of what they are going to say next.
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Your comparison is something I have used albeit not the Rosary, but in regards to Novenas!

A non-denominational friend of mine asked, “why do you Catholics read prepared prayers written by other people?” (Refering to Novenas) My response was, To Draw close to God, and so do you by the way, every time you sing one of those Chris Tomlin songs, or Matt Maher tunes, you are in fact doing much of the same, trying to draw closer to God, are you not?" “Maybe you should check this out, It’s called the Corpus Christi Novena”

Peace and Love in Christ!
 
onemangang said:
Your comparison is something I have used albeit not the Rosary, but in regards to Novenas!

A non-denominational friend of mine asked, “why do you Catholics read prepared prayers written by other people?” (Refering to Novenas) My response was, To Draw close to God, and so do you by the way, every time you sing one of those Chris Tomlin songs, or Matt Maher tunes, you are in fact doing much of the same, trying to draw closer to God, are you not?" “Maybe you should check this out, It’s called the Corpus Christi Novena”

Peace and Love in Christ!
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Thank you! That would be what I was referring to!
 
I was reading through all of the threads here and wondered why this is posted in the “non-catholic religions” forum. The Catholics I know enjoy this kind of music and it is not limited to non-catholics.

Sorry, just an observation…
 
Slinger said:
While the content of the songs are typically simple they are chosen for that fact because it allows a person to easily learn the words and be able to focus their mind on the Lord in worship. That is what we are encouraged to do where I attend church. Substance is given in the teaching.

I guess you could compare it to Catholics praying using the rosary. I have read on this site that the repetitive prayer allows one to focus their mind on the Lord and not having to think of what they are going to say next.
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I agree with this completely. The simple, repetitive, often slow, lyrics of some worship music is chosen precisely because it allows people to quiet their mind and rid themselves of internal noise to focus on being in the presence of the Lord. Before I came to know this by experience, I disliked those types of songs, too. I actually like “Here I Am to Worship”. I don’t take it as “Hey, God, here I am to do You a favor by giving You a little of my time today.” Rather, it reminds me what I’m doing: I am here, now, in the presence of the Lord of the universe in fellowship with His children; I am not mentally somewhere else, thinking about some work related concern or what I’m going to do when I get home.

Personally, I favor classical music most of the time, and I love the old hymns, as could be surmised by my user name. We still sing those. But I’m not going to bash the newer music. If someone doesn’t like it, no problem…just don’t listen to it.
 
True confession, my username is a Casting Crowns song:)

I came from Contemporary worship and now that I am Catholic I still love the music, just listen to it at home. I find it complements the deeper worship experience I have now. Some things just speak to people. Having said that CCM is not the only thing I listen to. I am a baby boomer raised on Classic Rock- some of the most spirtual songs I know and love are written by none other than people like Bruce Springsteen and I also have a gulty pleasure thing about Bon Jovi. Listen to Keep the Faith sometimes and tell me that is not a Christian song-LOL! Hey I even find God in Jimmy Buffett tunes- just listen to One Particular Harbor. I also love country these days- Keith Urban writes a lot of spiritual songs in my opinion. So I will wrap up my response with some Journey- Don’t Stop Believin" because God actually used that song in my life during a really difficult time- the thing just keep popping up on the radio when I would become most despondent. I am thankful that God uses even pop and pop inspired Christian music to keep me thinking of Him during the day.

God Bless,

Val
 
I am not on an equine forum but we do own a horse- my daughter is on the equestrian team at Penn State. We have owned a horse since she was in third grade:)

Val
 
prodigalson2011 said:
I have to agree with this, too. The tendency to mock and demean others’ means of expressing or experiencing their faith is wholly unChristian, in my opinion. Though I must also admit that I have some reservations about the motives of much of the Christian music industry. But if someone genuinely enjoys the music for spiritual reasons, all the better for them.

I, myself, most regularly listen to jazz, fusion, classical, or more experimental types of rock music (prog, psychedelia, indie), but there are a good handful or two of CCM artists I have come to really like, including that horrible Casting Crowns. 🙂
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Thank you 🙂

That’s all I am trying to say. There are some Christian songs that I love and some that I am really not fond of, and some I just can’t listen to because of the beat. Even though I can’t stand some of them, each one of those songs are praising Him. If you really listen to the songs most of them are about worshiping God, loving God, praising Him no matter what, etc.and so I am not going to put down these artists because no matter what reason they are singing these songs for or how bad they are these artists are still praising God and getting the message across.
 
Slinger said:
I was reading through all of the threads here and wondered why this is posted in the “non-catholic religions” forum. The Catholics I know enjoy this kind of music and it is not limited to non-catholics.

Sorry, just an observation…
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Perhaps because of the attention given to many Evangelic churches and megachurches speciffically where such music is lplayed, in church, without church elders and long time faithful members stepping in and saying no you can’t do that.

As to the music itself, well it is played outside of church also. People send their money on it so there must be something to like. Current CCM hits might not sound like the electro synth pop which is dominating the Grammys and other pop music awards at this time but it does sound like a lot of the pop/country music coming out of Nashville or on the urban gospel side the neo-soul coming out of Atlanta. And musically with a change of lyrics could serve as a theme night on American Idol.

If you really love a type of music I would expect you to listen to it when you step outside of church as well as when you are doing your best to offer praise to God.
 
In evangelical churches, the term ‘seeker-friendly’ worship has become popular. The seeker churches desire make worship appealing to those who are not Christians.
Music becomes a major issue in these churches. From my own experience across the Tiber I have seen churches that are usually split between two groups:
1st group: “We need to attract the younger crowd with contemporary music”.
2nd group: “We need the old fashioned hymns”! (which are actually no more than 100 years old:D).
What neither group seems to realize is that they are dictating to God how He should be worshipped.
The focus is not on God, it’s on me. Is it the kind of music I like, I enjoy. Does it make my toe tap? Are they the kind of hymns I grew up singing?
Worship is reduced to gawking at a singer on stage who looks more like he/she is on “American Idol” than in a church. Thus many people can easily say “I worship God at home, on the TV”.
If indeed you believe worship is music driven, and your participation in it is just passive listening. Then I can see how many can reach that conclusion.
The problem is, that is not what the Bible says is worship.
 
Has anyone listened to Psalters? I think they are actually amazing musicians and super talented, although not Catholics.

Here’s a link to their recording of Our Father: youtube.com/watch?v=L3rT8YVJERk

the Creed: youtube.com/watch?v=TkLZri7h66o&feature=relmfu

Trisagion: youtube.com/watch?v=lbW2iRsgcpc&feature=relmfu

Magnificat: youtube.com/watch?v=vfOrC827FKg&feature=relmfu

Hosanna: youtube.com/watch?v=poErxvUjSIU&feature=relmfu

Gloria: youtube.com/watch?v=iD2sKWBZoGA&feature=relmfu

Mysterium Fidei: youtube.com/watch?v=6kwzbh7y_6Q

Agnus Dei: youtube.com/watch?v=I7w2XKms8yA&feature=relmfu

Rich Mullins is cool too. His Creed is touching: youtube.com/watch?v=9LR2hFP1yb4

There is a lot of good music in the Christian world.
 
I think why much of it is so awful is best expressed by a Simpsons episode. I think I have this right. I at least have the spirit of it right. Ned Flanders was dating a woman who used to be a pop artist and now was a Christian pop artist. He asked her how she made the transition. She said ‘it is easy, you just replace the word baby with Jesus’.

I have to say I like a wide variety of music. I like old four part harmony hymns. I like spirituals (‘There Is a Balm in Gilead’, ‘Do Lord’). I like old hymns performed in a folk style (‘Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me’, ‘The Old Account’). But I mostly despise modern Christian music. I think it might be that the songs seem to me to lack a certain humility and reverence. They also seem to be excessively repetitive and in irregular ways.
SPBlitz said:
I’m going to have to go with Hank Hill on this one: “Christian Rock doesn’t make Christianity any better, it just makes Rock and Roll worse”.
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Amen.
 
exnihilo said:
I think why much of it is so awful is best expressed by a Simpsons episode. I think I have this right. I at least have the spirit of it right. Ned Flanders was dating a woman who used to be a pop artist and now was a Christian pop artist. He asked her how she made the transition. She said ‘it is easy, you just replace the word baby with Jesus’.

I have to say I like a wide variety of music. I like old four part harmony hymns. I like spirituals (‘There Is a Balm in Gilead’, ‘Do Lord’). I like old hymns performed in a folk style (‘Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me’, ‘The Old Account’). But I mostly despise modern Christian music. I think it might be that the songs seem to me to lack a certain humility and reverence. They also seem to be excessively repetitive and in irregular ways.

Amen.
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I’m with you there.
But I gotta tell you what I noticed in Baptist churches I was in was the preference of ‘revival hymns’. Songs sung on the “sawdust trail” were not much better.
Why Protestant churches do not dig into their past and sing hymns far superior to, what I heard one preacher call them, “ditties” is beyond me.
 
AbideWithMe said:
JustaServant—

How do you know the object of other people’s focus?
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“Love lifted ME”
“What a Friend WE have in Jesus”
“Just as I Am”
“Joybells ringing in MY heart”
“WE Gather at the River”
“***I ***Love to tell the Story”
“I’VE found a friend in Jesus”
(one of my alltime favorites) “Love Lifted ME”

Shall I go on…?
You’re not praising God, you are testifying to each other.
It wasn’t until I started attending older Reformed churches that I was introduced to beautiful hymns that I never knew existed. Disagree all we want with mainline Protestant churches, but their musical heritage is FAR supeior to what I heard in fundamentalist churches.
 
“Love lifted ME”
“What a Friend WE have in Jesus”
“Just as I Am”
“Joybells ringing in MY heart”
“WE Gather at the River”
“I Love to tell the Story”
“I’VE found a friend in Jesus”
(one of my alltime favorites) “Love Lifted ME”
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I always forget how much God despises pronouns ;).
 
JustaServant said:
I’m with you there.
But I gotta tell you what I noticed in Baptist churches I was in was the preference of ‘revival hymns’. Songs sung on the “sawdust trail” were not much better.
Why Protestant churches do not dig into their past and sing hymns far superior to, what I heard one preacher call them, “ditties” is beyond me.
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Oh, okay, I’m sorry----if you’re narrowly limiting it to a a particular type of Baptist church, maybe that’s true—I haven’t been in any really fundamentalist type of Baptist church, so I wouldn’t know. But really, you never sang “Amazing Grace”? No other John Newton hymns? No hymns from the Wesley brothers?

Now your second paragraph looks like a blanket statement, though. We do sing old hymns, including some which are dated pre-Reformation. Who doesn’t know “Be Thou My Vision” or “All Creatures of Our God and King”, to name just a few pre-Reformation hymns?
 
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