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SHOULD A BAPTIST CHURCH
TOLERATE CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC?
Laurence
A. Justice, Pastor
When people are
saved by God's grace they naturally respond with
music as an expression of their joy, praise and
worship. For most Christians it is almost
impossible to think about worship without thinking
of music. When Christ Jesus saves a person, He
gives that person a new song, a song which no
longer has the themes of this world such as lust,
drinking, cheating, and drugs; and which no longer
has the style of the world's song, melancholy,
sensual, strident, and discordant. In the last
several years a radically different type of music
has found its way into many of our churches. This
music is known variously as sacred pop, Christian
rock, new sound, and contemporary Christian music.
The difference in contemporary Christian music, or
CCM as we shall henceforth refer to it, and the
music which characterized Christianity in all the
previous centuries is this: CCM borrows the style
of the world's music; the heavy beat and the
straight, breathy tones of the singer, and brings
this style over into the music of the church. CCM
has the same musical style as the music of the
world with the difference being that the music
style has been joined with religious lyrics and is
thus called Christian music. One commentator on
this new music has said that the church musicians
today have rushed to use the new sound rather than
staying with the traditional hymns. I am convinced
that this assessment is correct and that all kinds
of problems have resulted from the introduction of
CCM into our churches. Through several years of
study and observation I have concluded that there
are a number of very important reasons why
Baptists should no longer tolerate the use of this
type of music in our churches.
CCM
DESTROYS THE REVERENCE OF WORSHIP
The style of
CCM, including the hard rock beat, the loud
volume, and the sensual vocalization, is not
conducive to the sense of awe and majesty and
greatness of God which is necessary to
worship the High and Lofty One who inhabiteth
eternity. It does not produce the peace and quiet
reverence which all who find themselves in the
presence of God experience. As a matter of fact,
those who use CCM seem to know only one level of
volume in their music. LOUD. I recently preached
in a
church
which had two loud speakers on the platform facing
the preacher and by the time the song service was
over and I got to preach, I had a splitting
headache and was practically a nervous wreck
because of the loud, raucous CCM. That CCM
destroys the reverence of worship is not just one
man's opinion. Just a casual observation of any
service where CCM is used will bear this out. This
has certainly been the case at the Falls Creek
Baptist Assembly in Oklahoma in recent years.
Falls Creek is the world's largest religious youth
camp with up to 30,000 teens attending annually.
The music director leads the congregation in some
contemporary song or the soloist sings some
hard-driving, sensual, nightclub type tune and a
mood is created, but it is not one of quiet
reverence and awe. Rather it is one of near
frenzy. In some services you can not hear the
preacher with any concentration because after the
music the young people are so worked up that they
are totally out of control as far as any reverence
for the presence and worship of God is concerned.
Good music, Christian music, traditional church
music springs from and contributes to a sense of
quiet reverence in the presence of the great God
with whom we have to do.
THE
MESSAGE OF CCM CENTERS IN MAN RATHER THAN GOD
The themes of
music in the Bible are God and Christ and
redemption. The first recorded song in the Bible
is the Song of Moses in Exodus 15:1-19. This song
praises God for bringing Israel through the Red
Sea. It begins with fourteen third person
references to God such are He, God, Him, the Lord,
His, etc. Moses then shifts from singing
about
the
Lord to singing
to
the Lord
using second person references such as O Lord,
Thy, Thine, Thou, and Thee. He uses 34 of these
second person references to God in the next twelve
verses. The actions and characteristics of God
make up most of the content of Moses' song. The
themes of all the great music of Christianity
through the centuries have been the glorious
person and work of God and His Christ. Hymns such
as "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty," "O God
Our Help in Ages Past," "All Hail the Power of
Jesus' Name" speak of the great objective themes
of the cross and the blood of Christ and the
resurrection and heaven and righteousness. CCM, on
the other hand, is largely introverted,
subjective, and self-centered in its themes. It is
"I" centered and "me" centered. Christian music
should point people to God. It should be
theocentric rather than egocentric.
THE WORDS
OF CCM ARE OFTEN SHALLOW AND DOCTRINALLY UNSOUND
The message is
often made up of one or two rather innocuous
phrases repeated again and again throughout the
song. The shallow themes are such as this: "if you
have troubles simply take Jesus and you won't have
any troubles at all." Not only is this a shallow
message, it is not true. Many times CCM replaces
the words God and Christ with the words "He" and
"Him" thus leaving to the listener's imagination
who is being praised and sung about. "He" could be
Buddha or Baal or Elvis Presley or anyone. Why are
we afraid to use the name of God and of Christ in
our so-called Christian music? Much of CCM is
characterized by theological inaccuracies. Not
long ago I heard the contemporary song "We Are His
Hands." Biblically this is a grossly inaccurate
theme. Men and women are not the hands of God nor
are we his eyes or ears or feet. The sovereign God
of the Bible does not depend on us or need us to
do His work. If God wanted to, He could make the
stones cry out to preach the gospel. He is not
limited by the hands of men. CCM is opening the
door for Pentecostalism to enter our churches. The
message of both the words and the style of CCM is
very conducive to Pentecostalism in our churches.
We are greatly inconsistent in preaching against
Pentecostalism while at the same time allowing the
Pentecostal-like hand clapping and toe tapping of
CCM in our services.
THE
WORLDLY STYLE OF OF CCM DOES NOT
AGREE WITH
THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST
Certain styles
of music completely apart from the lyrics of the
songs carry certain messages. The music of
military marches, love songs, and lullabies all
carry certain moods and certain messages. The same
is true of rock music. Unchristian lifestyles can
be characterized by certain kinds of music. What
kind of music do drug users listen to and play? It
is not usually classical music or traditional
hymns. There is a close relationship between rock
music and drug use. Music with a beat appeals in
varying degrees to the lusts of the flesh. It
often stirs the sex passions. Several tests and
studies have demonstrated this fact. Many church
music directors seem to think that the style of
music can be separated from its mood and message.
They seem to think that the style of music is
neutral and that only the words carry the message.
So they have wedded music which characterizes an
unchristian lifestyle to "Christian" words and
have come up with CCM. This music combines words
about God and heaven and love with the style of
music which usually relates to drugs and
sensuality and rebellion. Rock music teaches
rebellion and illicit drug use and immoral sex.
How can the words of salvation and peace and God
be united to this? In CCM the style of the music
preaches one thing while the words often preach
another. In scriptural church music the message of
the style of the music must preach the same thing
as the message of the lyrics. Scriptural church
music is sacred music. It has a message in it and
a style about it that
the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world
without end."
Our music ought
to be a matter of worship and not entertainment.
The church of Jesus Christ is not, and should
never be in the entertainment business.
CCM
PROFESSIONALIZES AND COMMERCIALIZES CHURCH MUSIC
We now have
taped tracks for soloists and choirs, big gospel
music concerts with ticket sales, and lots of talk
about our performers and performances. We have
contracts and copyrights and royalties for
songwriters and singers. Some time ago I received
a letter from a youth director advertising a
Christian rock group calling itself "Undercover."
This rock group was going to put on a concert in
that youth director's church. The letter stated
that tickets to that concert were $5 in advance
and $8 at the door. Does this sound like worship
or like show or entertainment business? CCM no
longer has the spontaneity of genuine worship. It
is all so professional and commercial! The great
Christian hymns which have really lasted and which
have been such an immeasurable blessing to God's
people through the centuries were written by men
and women who deeply loved the Lord Jesus Christ.
They were not professional song writers or
performers who wrote for money or performed for
money. Many of them were preachers who wrote from
the overflow of their personal study of God's word
and of their private worship.
CCM
SACRIFICES MUSICAL INTEGRITY
With the coming
of CCM we no longer have much, if any, emphasis on
musical artistry and skill in our churches. We
have surrendered to the shallow, the easy, the
fun, the sing along, the feel good rather than
seeking to teach and to train and to improve
musical talent and skill. Our singers now lean on
the microphones and amplifiers because they have
not been disciplined to project their voices in
order to be heard. Proper use of the human voice
requires very little amplification. Much of what
passes for singing is not singing at all, but
rather could be characterized as yelling. The
singers utilize the straight harsh tone of the
nightclub singer rather than training and
cultivating their voices to be more skillful and
pleasing. A lady in Oklahoma City told me that one
day while a woman in her church was singing a solo
in the loud straight tones of CCM a siren went by
outside and the sounds of the siren and of the
singer became almost indistinguishable. Our church
instrumentalists are being neglected and ignored
and downgraded in importance because many music
directors and singers no longer need them. They
use taped accompaniment made in a studio instead.
Church music ought to emphasize and strive for the
very best music and musicianship. We ought to
major on improving the level of musical skill and
musical integrity in our churches because nothing
but our very best is worthy of the worship of the
King of kings!
CCM
DIVIDES THE CHURCHES
It divides the
young people who mostly like CCM from the older
adults who mostly do not like CCM. It divides the
contemporaries from the traditionalist. Unity in
the church is extremely important. Paul says in
Ephesians 4:3 that we are to endeavor to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One of
the great benefits of singing traditional hymns in
the church is that doing so unites us in spirit,
in message, in activity during this singing of
praises unto our God, and worship in His Word to
follow. I know of a large Baptist church which has
been steadily losing its older members during the
18 or so months since the pastor brought in CCM.
This music did not bring in the crowds as he told
the church it would. Instead it brought division
in that church and that preacher is gone. One time
I spoke to a certain denominational worker about
my great concern over the use of CCM in some
denominational activities. The man was obviously
incensed by my comments and he replied that maybe
I should just join a more fundamental
denomination. This response just illustrates the
very divisive nature of CCM.
CONCLUSION
How has CCM
found its way in and become so firmly entrenched
in our churches? The blame lies largely with
pastors who have failed to provide the high
standards and strong leadership necessary in
insisting on Spiritual music in our churches. Some
pastors have just caved in to CCM even though they
know it is wrong. As pastors and music directors
discover things in our worship and in our churches
and in our lives that are out of line with the
revealed will of Christ
they must act
to bring these areas under the sway of His
Lordship and this includes the music they use in
their churches.
printed by
Bethel Baptist Church - Watchman Press
1902 NW Columbia Ave
- Lawton OK 73507-5609
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