# Intriguing Article



## py3ak (Dec 15, 2011)

I really enjoyed reading this article about CCM in the 1990s. The author says that she stopped calling herself a Christian because it no longer meant anything, and concludes that in trying to be trendy the church lost the only advantage it had.

Guernica / Sniffing Glue

It is a useful indictment, from a now outsider, of how a contentless and unprincipled Christianity simply doesn't have the resources to be cool. If we sell our souls pursuing that idol, we will find her an unattainable mistress who bankrupts us and leaves with someone else.


----------



## seajayrice (Dec 15, 2011)

Interesting essay although I'm unsure as to its import. Thankfully I have forgotten those bands a long time ago. That said, I don't know what to do with the 9" stack of 1980's Vineyard CD's sitting on my desk. One can approach the article from two distinct vantages. One; when you cast a broad net there's a lot of by-catch. Two; sappy appeals to emotions are not what saves and sanctifies the elect. If the writer loves God, she'll be back and then the articles importance is largely that crappy music masquerading as sanctifying truth was a stumbling block for her. Should she prove unregenerate, then the articles weightiness is what and to whom?


----------



## Unoriginalname (Dec 15, 2011)

I dug the article. It was a pretty good piece on the nonsense of "Christian" marketing


----------



## SolaScriptura (Dec 15, 2011)

I just wanna rock-n-roll all night, and party every day.


----------



## SolaScriptura (Dec 15, 2011)

Joshua said:


> You're too busy, Friend.



True that.


----------



## Unoriginalname (Dec 15, 2011)

Because of my age I probably missed the big wave of CMM but I do remember going to a youth group once (I only went there once) where there was a very telling poster. The poster was more of a chart actually. The chart had every imaginable type of teenage music listed on it and "christian bands" that played that genre. Each band had a silly little description underneath it that said something to the affect "if you like X nonchristian band you are going to love Y terrible ripoff."


----------



## PuritanCovenanter (Dec 15, 2011)

I have stacks of music from the 80's and still enjoy them. I still listen to Keith Green, John Michael Talbot, Craig Smith, David Zaffiro, AD, and my beloved Maranatha Singers along with my Hymns Triumphant CD's.

I read the whole blog and get the gist of it I think. But what is this girl going to do with the question Jesus asked, "Who do men say that I am?" So, she says she doesn't want to be called a Christian any longer because of her spying out some methodology of seeking to be relevant. That is dumb in my estimation. I didn't disassociate myself from being called a Christian when Swaggart, Jim and Tammy Faye, or TBN types started making a mockery of the faith. Some things are notable in the article. Some of these bands did try to be an influence in the lives of others. They tried to stand for the cause of Christ. What is this young lady trying to do? Okay, she stopped wanting to be known as a Christian. Well that is dumb. Why doesn't she just help the cause of Christ by being what she ought to be in front of her peers and family? Why doesn't she try to show what a Christian is instead of denouncing the name. Why is she allowing the name to be stolen? Abandoning the name is not the solution either. She had some good observations but has made a poor choice of application.


----------



## a mere housewife (Dec 16, 2011)

> Despite all the affected teenage rebellion, I continued to call myself a Christian into my early twenties. When I finally stopped, it wasn’t because being a believer made me uncool or outdated or freakish. It was because being a Christian no longer meant anything. It was a label to slap on my Facebook page, next to my music preferences. The gospel became just another product someone was trying to sell me, and a paltry one at that because the church isn’t Viacom: it doesn’t have a Department of Brand Strategy and Planning. Staying relevant in late consumer capitalism requires highly sophisticated resources and the willingness to tailor your values to whatever your audience wants. In trying to compete in this market, the church has forfeited the one advantage it had in the game to attract disillusioned youth: authenticity. When it comes to intransigent values, the profit-driven world has zilch to offer. If Christian leaders weren’t so ashamed of those unvarnished values, they might have something more attractive than anything on today’s bleak moral market. In the meantime, they’ve lost one more kid to the competition.



I think it is just the testimony of an unbeliever, in the specific context of Christian music, to this effect:

'The elect people was meant to be a magnet to all the earth, drawing all others into the knowledge of the Lord. The reality has proved to be very different, with his people religiously (Isaiah 2:5-21) and socially (Isaiah 2:22-4:1) sadly conformed to the world rather than being the point of its transformation . . . ' (Alec Motyer)


----------



## py3ak (Dec 16, 2011)

On a somewhat related note, Carl Trueman gives advice on preserving your pastoral star power.


----------



## Frosty (Dec 16, 2011)

I remember that poster!




Unoriginalname said:


> Because of my age I probably missed the big wave of CMM but I do remember going to a youth group once (I only went there once) where there was a very telling poster. The poster was more of a chart actually. The chart had every imaginable type of teenage music listed on it and "christian bands" that played that genre. Each band had a silly little description underneath it that said something to the affect "if you like X nonchristian band you are going to love Y terrible ripoff."


----------



## fredtgreco (Dec 16, 2011)

Thanks for the link, Ruben. I think this article is very useful, and is helpful for pastors. Our first reaction often is to mock someone who writes such an article. The second is often to mock the musicians. Our third is to mock the churches that use the music.

A better reaction would be to hear the substance behind the circumstances, and use it in a Biblical to advance the Kingdom.


----------



## a mere housewife (Dec 16, 2011)

I almost added this earlier, but I'm hesitant to speak to these church things. Yet as discouraging as it is to hear about these corporate problems, I thought that there is something I/we as individuals can do -- indeed I think the solution is largely one of individuals. From Motyer again: 'Is our church known locally primarily as a place where God's Word reigns supreme? If asked, would a non-member describe us as 'those people who love the Bible? . . . It is only as we, each of us, yearns for the Word that the whole company will bear the mark of the Word, and experience its power to draw others in.' 

(In that sense Randy is right that this woman has thus far, while her criticisms are very cogent and well made, made the wrong choice as an individual, if she wants to be part of the solution to the problem she has identified. But I pray that state of things in her life is temporary.)


----------



## KMK (Dec 16, 2011)

I missed the 90s somehow. Between a career, marriage and babies I have never heard of these things. To me CCM is Resurrection (not Rez) Band and Michael Omartian.

However, I agree with the premise that 'coolness' is a Siren. It is what concerns me about many ministers today.


----------



## Peairtach (Dec 16, 2011)

I never got too much out of contemporary Christian music, not that I've listened to much. 

I'm not against Christian bands/artists/concerts, as long as they're kept in their place.

Once it enters the regular worship services it's crossed the line, anyway.

We should have a clear distinction between worship and entertainment, which is greatly helped by the RPW, even more so if hymns and musical instruments are left out.

A worshipful spirit should be cultivated during worship services and at other times, which isn't helped by the entertainment-worship or worship-entertainment mentality.

To refer to our Lord as "JC" seems blasphemous.

This girl was immersed in Christian music, although it's rarely mentioned in the Gospels or the Epistles.

We can only pray that this lady comes to a true faith in the Lord.


----------



## Afterthought (Dec 17, 2011)

Intriguing and sad. Also, sadly, many Evangelicals tend to reflect this kind of music's blurring of the secular and sacred with their lives: one can hardly tell whether they are Christians or just some moralistic person who believes in a Deity that purportedly is the Christian God yet has little impact on their lives. I agree with many of the comments here; hopefully, she'll find authenticity _and_ truth in the Reformed faith rather than going EO or something similar.


----------

