|
TWO HEAVENS #2
IF I DISLIKE IT, IT MUST BE WRONG
There are four words today which are ripping through
the world of church. Four words are pitting one Christian against another,
dividing parent and child, husband and wife, youth group against senior-citizen
group. And the four words are these: "I HATE that music!"
I mentioned yesterday the phenomenon being experienced right now in churches
everywhere — where congregations are splitting into SECTIONS. The traditional
worship service is over HERE, maybe at 8:30 in the morning. Then at ten,
in THIS building, there are drums and keyboards and enough electrical
wires and cables and speakers and monitors and flashing lights to accommodate
a Madonna concert at Madison Square Garden. And the Fanny Crosby fans
walk by, see the amps and feel the vibration of the beat as kids sing:
"All Things Are Possible." And they say to each other: "I
HATE that music."
Of course, maybe the people who like contemporary music are saying about
the slower stuff, "I hate THAT music." Meaning that it goes
both ways.
Well, today my own shoulders are sagging just a bit, because one of the
sources we generally turn to a lot here on the Voice of Prophecy has just
absolutely failed us. I mean, he has let us down completely! Fortunately,
I'm not talking about one of the writers in the Bible. But the late, great
Christian writer, C. S. Lewis, has been a valuable resource over the years.
So often we've turned to great classic books of his like Mere Christianity,
or The Four Loves. And his insights, just about 99.9% of the time, are
so solid, so blessed by God with wisdom and biblical integrity. You regular
listeners have come to appreciate him as well, I'm sure.
But now, as we talk about the biblical issue of music and worship, I find
that Mr. Clive Staples Lewis COMPLETELY lets us down. Because this brilliant,
dedicated, wise Christian scholar . . . simply . . . HATED . . . ALL .
. . Christian music! All of it! He hated all of it! If it had drums, he
hated it. If it had pipe organs, he hated it. Piano — hate. Stained glass
— hate. Orchestra — hate. Long hymns . . . he hated them. Short ones —
hated ‘em. Praise songs — not invented yet when he was alive, but he would
have hated them. For whatever reason, this Cambridge- and Oxford-educated
and bred "don," this brilliant little man looked down his nose
at ALL church music and hated all of it. He honestly thought ALL of it
was lousy.
Maybe you're saying: "Oh, come on. Melashenko, you're overstating
it." All right. Let me share with you from his own pen what he has
to say. In an interview dating back to 1944, which admittedly is before
Michael W. Smith and Sixpence None the Richer came along, someone asked
him:
"Is attendance at a place of worship or
membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of
life?"
That's a very appropriate question, you know, as millions
of us mutter out in the parking lot: "I HATE that music!" But
C. S. Lewis, with all his Ph.D's makes this admission — word for word:
"I disliked very much their hymns [in church],
which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music."
Ouch! Is that a stinger? "Fifth-rate poems set
to sixth-rate music." Week after week, he would sit there in the
chapels or cathedrals of England, and sigh to himself about the songs.
He just thought they were junky, inferior music. It set his teeth on edge.
Another time a well-meaning person asked him what he thought could be
improved about church . . . and boy, how we all light up with THAT kind
of a survey. And again, this great Christian writer, whose words are usually
such a beacon to us, kind of sniffed:
"What I, like MANY laymen, chiefly desire
in church are FEWER, BETTER, and SHORTER hymns; ESPECIALLY fewer."
Very clearly, here was a man who often said to himself
or to others: "Dash it all, I HATE that music."
We're going to return a bit later this week to our pompous, nose-in-the-air
friend Mr. Lewis and see if he himself decided to quit going to church
because the music was so bad. There are some very valuable lessons we
can learn from a confession he makes later in the same interview, so stay
with us. But for right now, I want to share three responses to the issue
of: "I hate that music." More specifically, we want to think
about THIS very human reaction: "That music is WRONG because I hate
it." Or "evil." Or "should be banned." All around
the world, good, sincere Christians are convinced that music being played
in their church is displeasing to God and that the amps ought to be unplugged.
Here are the three points, and the first one is a concession. Friend,
I can only speak for me as I read MY Bible and spin MY CDs and go to MY
church. But yes, I'm convinced that there is music being played today
that is antithetical to, or AGAINST, the principles of true Christian
worship. Is there rock-and-roll music that is wrong, that is tainted by
sinfulness? I believe there is. Is there music that displeases God? I
believe there is. Is that music sometimes played in church? Sometimes,
yes.
I mentioned yesterday a brilliant, warm, encompassing article in my denomination's
church paper, the Adventist Review. Bill Johnsson, the editor, after reaching
out to these various groups, concedes:
"I have no doubt that some music in ADVENTIST
churches has gone beyond the bounds."
He goes on to point out that some of the "(quote)
praise music" being sung today in our churches is — as it seems to
him — "shallow . . . in both tunes and words."
A much stronger opinion is being registered right now by another book
floating around in my denomination just now. According to this writer:
"Rock and roll is not just a musical style,
but a revolutionary religious movement." A bit later: "Rock
music is not just another musical genre that can be sanitized to worship
God and proclaim the Gospel. A closer look at the rock scene reveals that
rock and roll embodies an endtime apostate religious movement of open
rebellion against God and the moral principles revealed in His word."
And later in the same volume comes this criticism:
"The mixture of good and evil in rock music may well represent an
effective SATANIC strategy to use the good lyrics to lead some Christians
to accept more readily the evil ones."
Now friend, we can't solve the issue of what music
ought to, or ought NOT to, be played and sung in our churches. Not on
this radio program, and not in ten years of MORE radio programs. Our issue
here is: what do we do when we HATE church music, and is it possible that
some music OUGHT to be hated? From where I'm sitting today, the answer
to that first question must prayerfully be a yes. There IS music that
does not belong in a Christian setting, a worship experience where we
want Christ to be uplifted, God to be exalted, and the Holy Spirit to
be present.
But question number two is this: Is it possible to believe that music
is wrong, or sinful, or inappropriate — perhaps not because we know enough
to KNOW that for sure — but simply because we don't LIKE that music? Is
that possible? Is it possible to quickly go from "I hate that music"
to "EVERYONE should hate that music. That is BAD music"?
In the very well-written Christianity Today article I mentioned yesterday,
entitled "Triumph of the Praise Songs: How Guitars Beat Out the Organ
in the Worship WARS," Michael S. Hamilton makes this point:
"Every complaint about worship music, no
matter which style, CLAIMS to be rooted in theological principles. Yet
in EVERY critique, the theology aligns PERFECTLY with the critic's own
musical taste."
Now, what's he saying here? A critic says: "The
rap music genre is inherently evil. It has no place in church." Question:
"Do you personally LIKE rap music?" Answer: "Heavens, no.
I HATE it." Ah. Is that a coincidence? The point is that not LIKING
something and condemning it might often go hand in hand.
Right here I might argue with the writer of this article just a bit. I
have no doubt that there are musicians who — to pick an example — have
succeeded in the rock-and-roll culture. For years they've liked it, performed
it, lived and breathed it. And then, as God moves upon their heart, they
feel led to reject at least some forms of the very music that all their
lives they have enjoyed and had an affinity for. In their inward souls,
they LIKE it still . . . and yet they see the fruits, the results, of
some kinds of rock music, and spiritually ask God to help them put it
out of their lives. That would be a tough battle, and yet one we all should
consider in our own lives.
Still, friend, as the noise of battle surrounds us in our church parking
lots, and in our youth fellowship halls, it might be well for us to join
C. S. Lewis in realizing: "Just because I don't like this music .
. . isn't an ironclad guarantee that it's wrong everywhere, every day,
for everyone."
Bill Johnsson, in his editorial, writes about this NEW music:
"This is sound from somewhere else, which
I do not understand and but FAINTLY appreciate." But then he adds:
"What I appreciate is the fervent love for Jesus that I see in the
young people who DO understand and appreciate it. I covet their spirit
of commitment to Christ and His mission. Seeing them, knowing them, I
cannot write off their music, dismiss it with simplistic taglines."
There's a lot more to come, so stay with us.
|
