The Salty Peanut Gallery

This is a rant about music. I have this problem with music that requires very little talent to write or perform. I have no patience for it whatsoever. Yet that seems to be what is permeating the airwaves these days. Where have all the songwriters gone? Are there no real poets anymore? I also have no patience for what I like to call “cookie cutter vocalists”. You know the kind that the big record companies market because they have a certain sound that they think will sell, thus creating a world where everybody sounds the same. The voices are interchangeable since it’s more about producing a sound then it is fostering individuality. And then there are the “copycat vocalists.” You know the kind. They don’t have a sound of their own so they barrow other people’s sound. Look, if I wanted to hear Alanis Morissette I’d listen to one of her albums, not someone else trying to sound just like her.

But here is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to contemporary Christian music. It has to do with this trend we’re seeing toward singing “love songs” to Jesus. Somehow songwriters today have decided that declaring our love for Jesus should be an important part of worship. Here are some examples of what I’m talking about:

“I’m so in love with You”
“You are everything that I live for”
“I want to stay in Your warm embrace”
“Oh the love between you and I”
“Nothing left to lose loving you again”
“I am yours and you’re mine”
“All I really want is for your love to hold me”

Would somebody please show me the biblical precedent for this kind of touchy-feely worship? Where in scripture does it say that we are to honor the Lord with superficial love songs? Are there any examples of this being done say in the Psalms or possibly in early church worship? The answers is no, at least not in the way that it is being done today. So the real question is, how SHOULD Christ followers go about proclaiming their love for the One who created the universe and who gives eternal life? What is God’s love language so to speak?

Jesus gives us the answer in John 14:15: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Our greatest expression of love is in our obedience to Him. God has spelled out in His word His expectations of us when it comes to morality and wisdom. When we surrender to His will for our lives we demonstrate the true extent of our love for Him and in turn we find happiness and blessing. So if you really want to sing about your love for God, sing about that, not some shallow gushing of emotion. Sing about obedience and surrender to the One we love.

I WANNA OBEY!
by Daniel Chafin Bryant
copyright 2008 ASCAP

i want to plant joy
i want to plant peace
i want to plant hope
yeah, i want to be free
i want to be kind
i want to obey
i want to grow stronger
each and every day

because i’ll reap what i sow
and what i sow is gonna grow
Lord i pray for Your strength again today…
and may the seeds that i sow
Lord, bless You as they grow
as i trust You, Jesus
all along the way…
i wanna obey!

i’m gonna reap joy
i’m gonna reap peace
i’m gonna reap hope
yeah, i’m gonna be free
i’m gonna be kind
i’m gonna obey
i’m gonna grow stronger…
each and every day

though my sins be as scarlet
You have washed me white as snow…
You have set me free forever
You’re my joy…
my peace…
my hope!

I WANNA OBEY!

Update 03/02/2011: Three years later I’ve decided to revisit this subject. See Forgiven the Greatest for a followup.

Dr. Gilbert Omenn is worried. He is professor of Internal Medicine, Human Genetics, and Public Health at the University of Michigan. Recently Dr. Omenn was attending the release of a pro-evolution book Science, Evolution and Creationism, where he voiced his concerns about electing a president who doesn’t believe in the theory of evolution.

“The logic that convinces us that evolution is a fact is the same logic we use to say smoking is hazardous to your health or we have serious energy policy issues because of global warming,” said Dr. Omenn. “I would worry that a president who didn’t believe in the evolution arguments wouldn’t believe in those other arguments either. This is a way of leading our country to ruin.”

Let’s pause for a moment and consider the audacity of these remarks. Exactly what kind of logic does it take to convince you that evolution is fact? There are reasons why evolution is only referred to as a theory (I know evolutionists bristle at this thought), namely that evolution cannot be proven scientifically. Then there’s the whole issue of evolution contradicting certain basic laws of nature, such as genetics for example, or the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which simply states that over time things tend to become more disordered not more ordered.

But for me the really mind boggling part is the suggestion that “a president who didn’t believe in the evolution arguments…is a way of leading our country to ruin.” Now I wonder, logically speaking, is there any precedent for such a statement? Has there ever been in our nation’s history a leadership that didn’t believe in evolution? Let me see. How about the FOUNDING FATHERS! “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are CREATED…” Apparently Dr. Omenn was absent the day they taught US history.

It just goes to show that the Apostle Paul was right. “Professing to be wise, they became fools” – Romans 1:22. You see God is the author of all that is true. When we remove God from the equation what we have left is logic based upon faulty reasoning. “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.” Let’s let the Almighty be our source of truth and wisdom.