# Worship song :Friend of God



## Mayflower (Sep 7, 2007)

I heard last time this song called "Iam friend of God...iam a friend of God, he calls me friend....."

Any thoughts thoughts concerning the lyrics or is it a me centred song ?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U0fdcIhXzw&mode=related&search="]YouTube - Passion 2007 - Friend of God[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwunCJArK0A&mode=related&search="]YouTube - Saddleback Church Worship - Friend of God[/ame]


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## jaybird0827 (Sep 7, 2007)

Mayflower said:


> I heard last time this song called "Iam friend of God...iam a friend of God, he calls me friend....."
> 
> Any thoughts thoughts concerning the lyrics or is it a me centred song ?
> 
> ...


 
I think you answered your own question by the way you describe the song. 1st person singular personal pronoun appears 3 times - does your description characterize the entire song?


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## Calvibaptist (Sep 7, 2007)

Can't stand it. Besides it is sung by Phillips, Craig, and Dean. I always wonder which manifestation of God they are talking about at that point.

On another note, that song has been the subject of lyrical faux pas recently. I heard that two kids were sitting in the minivan listening to the song and the one sang, "I am a friend of God, he calls me Frank." The other one yelled at the first and said, "No, it's 'He calls me Fred'."


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## Calvibaptist (Sep 7, 2007)

jaybird0827 said:


> Mayflower said:
> 
> 
> > I heard last time this song called "Iam friend of God...iam a friend of God, he calls me friend....."
> ...



The lyrics go like this:



> Who am I that You are mindful of me?
> That You hear me when I call
> Is it true that You are thinking of me?
> How you Love me
> ...


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## JonathanHunt (Sep 7, 2007)

Excuse me while I vomit.

Thank you.

That was horrible. You ruined my day. Now let me get back to the true worship of the church of Bawb.

JH


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## swilson (Sep 7, 2007)

My first thought was: how man-centered can you get.
However, after reading the entire lyrics, it does show amazement that God is our friend, (Christ did call his disciples friends), not so much a tone that somehow we deserve to have that relationship with God.
I still don't like it because the idea of saying 'God is my friend' I think belittled God - let Him call me friend, not visa versa.
But I dislike the song a little less having read the entire lyrics, but....I'd never sing it!!!

I took part in an Apologetic Conference a few months back; organized and run by Calvinists. The worship music at the start was lead by a singer songwriter who was one of the friends of one of the organizers....singer was arminian.....

One song of his was this chorus:

You can go to heaven, but you don't have to
You can choose
You can choose
You can choose

__________________

I did get sick.


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## Calvibaptist (Sep 7, 2007)

swilson said:


> One song of his was this chorus:
> 
> You can go to heaven, but you don't have to
> You can choose
> ...



Boy, with powerful lyrics like that, who needs old stale hymns like "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" and "Rock of Ages?"


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## JBaldwin (Sep 7, 2007)

I much prefer something like "Jesus what a Friend for sinners"


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## Southern Presbyterian (Sep 7, 2007)




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## panta dokimazete (Sep 7, 2007)

Psalm 8:3-5 

3When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Revelation 15:3
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds,O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways,O King of the nations!

John 15:15
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

.............

In proper context, it's not a bad song...


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## Anton Bruckner (Sep 7, 2007)

Mayflower said:


> I heard last time this song called "Iam friend of God...iam a friend of God, he calls me friend....."
> 
> Any thoughts thoughts concerning the lyrics or is it a me centred song ?
> 
> ...


this is a beautiful song, in the superficial sense. I used to play it back when I was in a mainstream Evangelical Church.
This song is Biblically based, but because of the superficiality of contemporary music, it does not get heavily in to doctrine as the Psalms do.


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## Calvibaptist (Sep 7, 2007)

Slippery said:


> Mayflower said:
> 
> 
> > I heard last time this song called "Iam friend of God...iam a friend of God, he calls me friend....."
> ...



There is no question that within mainstream contemporary Christian music, this song is well-liked. It annoys me with it repetition and general lack of depth, but I'm slowly becoming an old fuddy-duddy.

But what really bugs me is *who* popularized it. It was recorded by Phillips, Craig, and Dean. They are all Oneness Pentecostal pastors. By definition, they do not believe in the Trinity and are, therefore, heretics. That the Christian community would swallow this just because they have good harmonies is sad.


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## panta dokimazete (Sep 7, 2007)

Calvibaptist said:


> But what really bugs me is *who* popularized it. It was recorded by Phillips, Craig, and Dean. They are all Oneness Pentecostal pastors. By definition, they do not believe in the Trinity and are, therefore, heretics. That the Christian community would swallow this just because they have good harmonies is sad.



P,C & D recorded it, but Israel Houghton and Michael Gungor actually wrote it, right? Guilt by association?


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## panta dokimazete (Sep 7, 2007)

hmmm - make of this what you will:



> Houghton is a worship leader for Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston


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## panta dokimazete (Sep 7, 2007)

JBaldwin said:


> I much prefer something like "Jesus what a Friend for sinners"



I like - Have Thine Own Way, Lord - with more modern chords.


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## dalecosby (Sep 7, 2007)

Would it offend anyone for me to say that songs like that are nothing more than bastardized love songs?

I have noticed that is I put my wife as the object of the song, most contemporary "Christian" songs would fit nicely.


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## Southern Presbyterian (Sep 7, 2007)

dalecosby said:


> Would it offend anyone for me to say that songs like that are nothing more than bastardized love songs?
> 
> I have noticed that is I put my wife as the object of the song, most contemporary "Christian" songs would fit nicely.



Hmmmmmm....... now there's a thought. This bears some meditation. I shall cogitate upon this for a while.


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## panta dokimazete (Sep 7, 2007)

Hang on a sec - what is wrong with singing a song of love to Christ? We are the Bride, right?


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## Anton Bruckner (Sep 7, 2007)

jdlongmire said:


> Hang on a sec - what is wrong with singing a song of love to Christ? We are the Bride, right?


Christian songs, albeit worship songs should follow the template of the Psalms in terms of intellectual, emotional spiritual and doctrinal content.

While this song is good in a contemporary sense, it is done very superficially when one compares it to the Psalms and the great hymns of history. But then again we should not blame contemporary culture. If mainstream evangelicalism is shallow it follows that the music will be reflective of the depth of the church or lack of it.


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## Mayflower (Sep 8, 2007)

Calvibaptist said:


> It was recorded by Phillips, Craig, and Dean. They are all Oneness Pentecostal pastors. By definition, they do not believe in the Trinity and are, therefore, heretics. That the Christian community would swallow this just because they have good harmonies is sad.



Do you know maybe the somgs and lyrics they personally wrote, because iam very interessed if there are songs (written by them) being sing in the churches.
I saw on one cd. that they have foreaxmple have on their records: Here iam to worship, come now it's the time to worship, but as far as i know, they are not written by them.
So i only need famous songs written by them!


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## swilson (Sep 8, 2007)

We should be careful not to compare song lyrics with the Psalms...the Psalms after all are the very inspired Word of God; that is a high standard to hold a modern day lyricist to....but, point taken, however.


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## JonathanHunt (Sep 8, 2007)

Slippery said:


> Christian songs, albeit worship songs should follow the template of the Psalms in terms of intellectual, emotional spiritual and doctrinal content.




 The Psalms are the Standard. Some recent research by one of my former Pastors shows how the old-time hymnbooks fairly closely mirror the Psalms in terms of subject, content, and proportion of each topic. Very interesting. That balance is slipping today.


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## Anton Bruckner (Sep 8, 2007)

JonathanHunt said:


> Slippery said:
> 
> 
> > Christian songs, albeit worship songs should follow the template of the Psalms in terms of intellectual, emotional spiritual and doctrinal content.
> ...


Bingo. This is how it should be, but today the Christian artists are following the template of the secular songs.


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