A Raw Acidness

"Then I realized that things like labels or CD’s can’t be “Christian”, only people can be “Christian.”  Christian means being a follower of Jesus.  Music can’t follow Jesus.  Only people can.  That means there is actually no such thing as Christian music.  That would be like saying that a house is agnostic because an agnostic built it.   A house is a house.  Words are words. Music is music.  This also means there is no such thing as “secular” music.  It’s all just music.

I think this idea of secular music being evil is probably not as prevalent as it was in the 90’s.  But I’m not actually sure it’s for the best reasons… Let me explain:

I’m not sure that the American Church hasn’t just faded into the culture more.  A lot of us used to be “not in the world” in our attempt to be “not of the world”, and now a lot of us are both “in the world” and “of the world.”  Scriptures teach us that we are to be “in the world, but not of the world.”

So, I’m not sure that our reasons for being in the world, listening to their music, watching their shows…etc are really rooted in anything deeper most of the time than that we do not care that much anymore.  I don’t think that’s healthy either.

Ideally, I think Christians should seek to maintain a purity of mind and heart that is “not of this world.”  We should be aware of what we drink in and how it affects us.  For me, I have realized that if I listen to too much Christian radio, I end up getting cynical and angry.  So I don’t listen to it.  If I read too many books that are really anti-faith, I tend towards the same line, so I limit my intake of that stuff as well. But I also try to open my mind and heart to the potential voice and beauty of God that is all around me and very present even within the unexpected places in our culture.

For example, I personally have seen and experienced FAR more of the beauty of God in the films of the master filmmakers of our culture than in the movies labeled as Christian.   There are films and plays and pieces of literature and art and music that are drenched with the creativity and majesty of the Creator that are made by artists who would call themselves “atheists.”  They can’t help where they got that creativity from, even if they’d like to try.

On the other side of the coin, for those who may be cynical towards the “Christian” markets, we must remind ourselves that even in things labeled “Christian”, the beauty of God can be found.  Perhaps we can even find the beauty of God reflected in music of hypocrites and Pharisees.  Perhaps even on Christian radio.

This constant tension of trying to live in the world but not of it is a tricky one, and it’s easy to get the two ideas mixed up.  There’s nothing wrong with singing songs about Jesus, and trying to sell it to Christians.  At least I hope not, because that’s what my job is…  And, believe it or not, I do love a lot of Christian music actually.  But my hope for myself and the Church today is that we could learn how to recognize and be formed by the true, the good, the beautiful that is reflective of the presence and voice of God in the world around us, both inside and outside of the church.  And secondly, that we would recognize the pollution of the world that is present in much of the human art as well, both inside and outside of the church, and learn how to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world."