skillfully

some friends on my facebook
have begun to spark a conversation
about "The deception of Christian Rock Music"
or even Christian contemporary music.
now my heart is set that this music industry is in so many ways
fruitful, God-glorifying, and truthful.
admittedly, like all other musicians out there
no one musician or band is perfect in their music or theology.

yet we hear of all these fundamentalists who criticize Christian rock
because for some strange reason:
1) ALL rock artists do drugs
2) ALL rock artists have sex with many women
3) ALL rock artists party too hard
4) and my personal favourite, ROCK MUSIC IS FROM THE DEVIL.

my question to all of this is:
1) how many Christ-proclaiming artists have they observed to come to this conclusion?
2) how many Christ-proclaiming artists have they observed to come to this conclusion?
3) how many Christ-proclaiming artists have they observed to come to this conclusion?
4) where in the Bible did you read that?

then the topic of
"if your music is too heavy on the music (in terms of how much rhythm there is, etc)
then it muffles out the spiritual content, if any."


now this is where i begin to really sit and observe.


first of all, music was supposed to be observed
in such a manner that people were supposed to
dig up the lyrics, read them, observe them and let them soak in.
now we live in a world where we take the lyrics as they hear it
and it puts artists in a space that limits us.
if we insist that the lyrics must be easy to understand
then that means the singer must be EXTREMELY good at anunciating
and the lyrics must often times be simple, almost TOO simple.
to me, this is a bit of a problem, because things become repetitive
the worship music industry is an example of that.

this is not to say that worship music is lame or talentless
but let's face it, so many songs out there sound the same.
their purpose still stands, and i can still resonate with their lyrics
but it sometimes becomes dry when you hear 10 different worship songs
singing the same thing.

an example of a band that i believe steps outside this box is Oh, Sleeper.
great metalcore band that loves God.
their lyrics reflect it, surprisingly.
their last album "son of the morning"
comes off as controversial, if taken at the surface level.
but if you dig deep into the lyrics, the meaning behind the album cover
then you begin to find that the meaning behind it all is
"God is eternally victorious."

and let's face it, Jesus was an icon of controversy when He was on Earth.
but when the people began to really see Him for who He was,
then that's when things began to change inside of them.

secondly, David writes
"Sing a new song to Him;
    play skillfully on the strings, with a joyful shout."
-psalms 33:3
with every Christian musician being so drastically different musically
because of the vast range of genres
we are to give our absolute best in the music we make.
in metal music, this calls for our best in playing guitars and drums. this demands creativity, which sometimes means adding to the music.
in rap music, this calls for our best in rhyme, flow, and beat. again, creativity.

there are obviously more examples, but they all ultimately demand
our utmost creativity and skill for God.
not just half-hearted pieces of "i'm-not-gonna-try" music.


now i do admit that we sometimes put music ABOVE God, which is
idolatry, very obviously.
but is that the fault of the musicians, or the listeners?

the same concepts go for every piece of God-inspired media.
seek God first and foremost, let His truth be your lyrical output
allow people to dig into the music. sometimes, surface messages will dry up
give your all and be creative into what you are playing.
if you can do more for the music you make, do more.

just my two cents.