Be Careful Little Ears What You Hear
Music is powerful. You can probably still sing songs you learned as a child. You could hear a couple of words to the lyrics of a song that was big 25 years ago, that you haven't heard more than a couple of times since then, and you could still rattle off the lyrics.
Music is powerful. There's an old maxim that is tossed around by theologians "lex orandi, lex credendi" (which means something like "the law of praying/worship is the law of believing." In other words, the word and way in which you worship is both determined by and simultaneously determines what you believe.
So the words of a song, used in worship, will both be determined by what is believed, but will also shape what is believed.
Music is powerful. Perhaps that is why Christian music artists are given such powerful voices in the Christian community today (that and the fact that the celebrity driven culture has infected even the church).
There's no way to cover everything concerning the Christian music industry (good and bad), but my point here is that before we give extra weight to the words of a celebrity musician, perhaps we should consider why they are not the best voices from which to get our theology.
1. They are not trained theologians.
I know this sounds snooty and that's not at all the intent. Some of the best theological minds that I have met in my life never graduated from High School, so it's not as if one must go to seminary in order to be worthy of having a voice. However, many Christian music artists are just that...Christians who are wonderful musicians. They love their Lord, but some have very little knowledge of the Bible. Some don't really understand Law and Gospel at all. Some will twist Scripture to fit their agenda. Some simply sing what they're given.
For instance, recently the lead singer of Jars of Clay was tweeting things that were taken to be in support of same sex marriage and questioning the authority of Scripture. Later, he walked back a great deal of what he had tweeted.
There was a great deal of buzz about all of this, but my question is, "Why are we getting our theology from musicians instead of pastors?"
2. They are (often) not grounded in and accountable to a local church
Musicians are on the road...a lot. They travel from place to place. They live in somewhat of an alternate reality. Many of them go from one group of adoring fans to another. There might be roots somewhere, but the less that they are home, the less rooted they become. They aren't really accountable to a home congregation, because they are rarely there.
This is far more important that most people realize, because without the support and admonition of other Christians to whom one is accountable, we all will tend to make our own god in our own image.
Now, I'm certainly not saying that listening to Christian music is bad or that Christian musicians are inherently untrustworthy, but what I am saying is that we should take them for what they are and not try to make them what they are not. They are not pastors, they are musicians.
Music is powerful. There's an old maxim that is tossed around by theologians "lex orandi, lex credendi" (which means something like "the law of praying/worship is the law of believing." In other words, the word and way in which you worship is both determined by and simultaneously determines what you believe.
So the words of a song, used in worship, will both be determined by what is believed, but will also shape what is believed.
Music is powerful. Perhaps that is why Christian music artists are given such powerful voices in the Christian community today (that and the fact that the celebrity driven culture has infected even the church).
There's no way to cover everything concerning the Christian music industry (good and bad), but my point here is that before we give extra weight to the words of a celebrity musician, perhaps we should consider why they are not the best voices from which to get our theology.
1. They are not trained theologians.
I know this sounds snooty and that's not at all the intent. Some of the best theological minds that I have met in my life never graduated from High School, so it's not as if one must go to seminary in order to be worthy of having a voice. However, many Christian music artists are just that...Christians who are wonderful musicians. They love their Lord, but some have very little knowledge of the Bible. Some don't really understand Law and Gospel at all. Some will twist Scripture to fit their agenda. Some simply sing what they're given.
For instance, recently the lead singer of Jars of Clay was tweeting things that were taken to be in support of same sex marriage and questioning the authority of Scripture. Later, he walked back a great deal of what he had tweeted.
There was a great deal of buzz about all of this, but my question is, "Why are we getting our theology from musicians instead of pastors?"
2. They are (often) not grounded in and accountable to a local church
Musicians are on the road...a lot. They travel from place to place. They live in somewhat of an alternate reality. Many of them go from one group of adoring fans to another. There might be roots somewhere, but the less that they are home, the less rooted they become. They aren't really accountable to a home congregation, because they are rarely there.
This is far more important that most people realize, because without the support and admonition of other Christians to whom one is accountable, we all will tend to make our own god in our own image.
Now, I'm certainly not saying that listening to Christian music is bad or that Christian musicians are inherently untrustworthy, but what I am saying is that we should take them for what they are and not try to make them what they are not. They are not pastors, they are musicians.
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