Leeking said:
I think there's a different between "christian artist" and "artist who happens to be christian", I think christian music today has more from the latter category.
I would venture to guess that the majority of popular artists in the US are Christian yet the majority of them make no mention of it in their music. That is not the music we're talking about here. Unless I've been grossly misled, we were discussing music that is blatantly Christian by artists that are blatantly Christian (kind of like being openly gay). And don't try to make it sound so innocent...groups like Avalon have an agenda, almost like a politcal agenda, to get their message across. At the extremes it becomes religious propaganda.
I think christian music should be music that glorifies God. If it doesn't do that, then it's no christian music, period.
Music is one of God's greatest gift for us to worship Him. The production of a song is important, but don't let that get in the way to the heart of worship.
If this is nothing but worship, why does it try to mimick popular music? When worship becomes entertainment you've crossed the line. And don't tell me these Christian groups aren't making any money...since when did you get paid to "worship?"
God is real, and the true purpose of life is to worship and glorify Him. Amen!
Fair enough, if you believe this. But there are many ways to worship (even beyond church) that have no hidden agenda and do not involve making money. I am a practicing Christian and would never make such as statement as to the "true purpose of life." My religion (I'm not going to start throwing around denominations) and my personal faith are much more low-key.
Leeking, I am going to go out on a limb and guess that you are a native Malaysian. If so, you may have been a Christian all your life but the Christian faith was at least
introduced or possibly
forced upon your ancestors at some point. It was most definitely forced upon the native people of the Americas, most notably by the Spanish. I am not trying to single you out; the simple fact is that people of all ethnicities were introduced to various religions at certain points in their history. But you should be especially sensitive to forms of religion that try to pervade other mediums, such as popular music, where it takes on elements of propaganda. This attempt to "sneak the religion" into something commonly viewed as entertainment is a much less brutal but more devious attempt to spread Christianity than forced conversion.
There is an interesting parallel between Christian music and the practice of sending so-called "missionaries." I wholeheartedly disagree with the practice of sending missionaries with the goal of converting established cultures with established religions into Christianity, or any other faith for that matter. Oftentimes it is veiled under the premise of "helping and educating" when the true agenda is to convert. I fully support the "helping and educating" aspect as long as it does not disrupt the traditional culture, but it is unfortunate that only churches or groups with some politcal agenda want to do the "helping and educating." Christian rock is similarly ambiguous. What appears to be fun and entertaining has a message and an agenda. It is sent in a medium that is often cited for its vulgarity and sexual innuendos, just as missionaries are sent into primitive and uncouth cultures. If the true intentions of both missionaries and Christian rock were known to their intended target, it is unlikely that they would be as well-received.
What is the harm in these "innocent" excursions of Christianity? Perhaps you should consider how Christianity has handled traditional ancestral worship that was once common practice in Malaysia.
mixmkr said:
I tend to agree that always singing "love Jesus, "..blah, blah blah, can get pretty redundant, and lose potential listeners.
This proves my point perfectly. By attempting to make your message and your music more "user friendly" you are masking the reality of your intent. If you don't do this, you know you'll "lose potential listeners," so you go ahead and make the religious content as palatable as possible to the widest audience, just to "spread the word" so to speak.
mixmkr said:
I'm just actually blown away by the fact that He has provided a means to discuss this with someone on the other side of this planet. Malaysia...too cool.
As long as the 'He' is Al Gore.
H2H,
I agree, everybody needs mixing help and usually gets it around here. As outspoken as I am about Christian rock and as much as I try to avoid it personally, I am all for getting it mixed right!
Nothing's worse than poorly-mixed crap!
