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Why does Christian music sound like Romance songs

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  • Why does Christian music sound like Romance songs

    Something about contemporary Christian music irks me. Especially that its songs seem like love songs to Jesus a Love story of sorts.

    I can't even listen to my local Christian music station without those cheesy songs playing. Hence they seem only Good for sermons which seem to thunder with the voice of God.

    I worship the king of kings, conqueror of sin, death powers and authorities parading them in victory(Colossians 2:15). Who saves and battles the forces of darkness. No contemporary worship song reflects this

    https://web.archive.org/web/20140823...stament-motif-

    Thus ends my rant.

  • #2
    Yes, there is the whole "God as my girlfriend" genre of CCM that is annoying. The famous one that pops up to me is How He Loves.

    Source: How He Loves

    He is jealous for me,
    Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
    Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
    When all of a sudden,
    I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
    And I realize just how beautiful You are,
    And how great Your affections are for me.
    >>>>>>>

    And we are His portion and He is our prize,
    Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
    If his grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
    And Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen(or sloppy wet) kiss,
    And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
    I don't have time to maintain these regrets,
    When I think about the way...

    © Copyright Original Source



    I mean, I get distracted by it. Sloppy wet kiss? His love is like a hurricane? And I wonder what people coming from the outside think about these lyrics. Like, are they reverent enough? Is God just the same as your girlfriend/

    But then I read the wikipedia article and feel like a bad person:
    Source: Wikipedia

    McMillan wrote "How He Loves" following the death of his best friend, Stephen Coffey. Coffey was a youth minister for MorningStar Ministries. On November 1, 2002, during a church prayer meeting, Coffey prayed out loud "I'd give my life today if it would shake the youth of the nation." That very night, he was in a multi-car accident and died of serious injuries.

    Meanwhile, McMillan was recording in a studio in Jacksonville, FL when he received a call that two of his friends had been critically injured in a car accident. Later that evening, he received another call from his father who informed McMillan that Coffey had died. The next day, McMillan wrote "How He Loves" as a tribute to Coffey and out of a need "to have some sort of conversation with God" where he could speak to his frustrations and emotions over his best friend's death.

    According to McMillan, the love that he's singing about in "How He Loves" is not a pretty, "Hollywood hot-pink" love. It is a kind of love that is willing to love even when things are difficult and messy. He says, "This song isn't a celebration of weakness and anger. It's a celebration of a God who would want to hang with us through those things, who would want to be a part of our lives through those things, and, despite who we are, He would want to be a part of us, our community, and our family. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_He_Loves

    © Copyright Original Source



    Surely all of thee romance-like songs don't have the same origins, though.
    sigpic

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    • #3
      I DO enjoy the "Modern Hymn Movement", though!
      The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

      Comment


      • #4
        I actually like CCM. And I get mildly peeved at people like in the OP who think that God isn't about emotions at all. I could reel off bible verse after verse where someone wept for God, or where God desires to love us. There is a balance between the Kingship of God and the familial relationship He died to provide for us.
        That's what
        - She

        Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
        - Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)

        I may not be as old as dirt, but me and dirt are starting to have an awful lot in common
        - Stephen R. Donaldson

        Comment


        • #5
          I think some of the NEW songs are just plain dumb.
          The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
            I think some of the NEW songs are just plain dumb.
            My son was singing Toby Mac's "Steal my show" in the car yesterday. I don't care how bad a song is, if it can get children thinking about God, then it is worth a listen.
            That's what
            - She

            Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
            - Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)

            I may not be as old as dirt, but me and dirt are starting to have an awful lot in common
            - Stephen R. Donaldson

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Bill the Cat View Post
              My son was singing Toby Mac's "Steal my show" in the car yesterday. I don't care how bad a song is, if it can get children thinking about God, then it is worth a listen.
              Would you say the same thing if it had bad theology?
              The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                Would you say the same thing if it had bad theology?
                I can poke theological holes in MOST songs, whether CCM or hymns. I'm far less concerned about questionable theology than I am heretics singing (Philips, Craig, and Dean) or heathens drawing their attention away from God.
                That's what
                - She

                Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
                - Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)

                I may not be as old as dirt, but me and dirt are starting to have an awful lot in common
                - Stephen R. Donaldson

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Bill the Cat View Post
                  I can poke theological holes in MOST songs, whether CCM or hymns. I'm far less concerned about questionable theology than I am heretics singing (Philips, Craig, and Dean) or heathens drawing their attention away from God.
                  I'll stick with the Great Hymns of the Faith with deep rich theology, thank you!

                  The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    You are a strange man, prodder of bovines...
                    That's what
                    - She

                    Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
                    - Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)

                    I may not be as old as dirt, but me and dirt are starting to have an awful lot in common
                    - Stephen R. Donaldson

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Bill the Cat View Post
                      You are a strange man, prodder of bovines...
                      Truer words, my friend... truer words.....

                      The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I'm more interested in black Gospel than I am a lot of modern CCM type stuff. I mean, even there, there's a lot of bad theology, but the type of stuff I like, a lot of the lyrics are heavily into showing our reliance on God and his power, or they're pure praise songs that seek to give him glory, or they're empowering and talk about how with God all things are possible. That sort of stuff really motivates me and encourages me. I used to listen to a secular podcast that spun old gospel albums going back to the 30s, and that was really awesome too just from a music appreciation point of view. If you like the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou with some of that chain-gang type of hymns, its really amazing stuff.

                        Non-black Gospel Christian music I like usually doesn't attach a CCM moniker to itself. Stuff like the Psalters, a band that combines a lot of klezmer, and bluegrass, and folk, celtic, and middle eastern, and even punk into their sound are extremely unique, even compared to secular bands. And Christian musicians like David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horse Power and Woven Hand, or Daniel Smith of the band Danielson, or Sufjan Stevens can't easily be boxed, and/or may not even label their music necessarily "Christian". They just happen to be musicians who do music that have lyrics that occasionally focus on their personal faith.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I have always found CCM to be a bit too sappy for my taste. I'm a Metalhead so that might have something to do with it .
                          "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." ― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Basically every song by Michael W. Smith, can't stand them.

                            Comment

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