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ORIGINAL: humbleinspirit

Hmmm, now I am not so sure about Rich Mullins not being signed. Afterall, she was an Amy Grant discovery.

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ORIGINAL: mutinywxgirl

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ORIGINAL: humbleinspirit

Hmmm, now I am not so sure about Rich Mullins not being signed. Afterall, she was an Amy Grant discovery.

She?????

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ORIGINAL: StephK

He didn't play the game though that major label artists have to play today. He went back to college in order to teach music to impoverished kids. He would have been more of an indie type today IMO.

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1) Nothing musical-wise in Christian music, though comparable, will ever be superior (Especialy to Megadeth).

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ORIGINAL: WesleyGlenn I define secular music as music that is not centered on Christ. I also figured this question had been hashed and re-hashed a million times and ways. I'm just new here and trying to get a feel for people. I see things in a "black and white" perspective. Either something is for God or against God. Matthew Chapter 12 v. 30 reads, "He who is not with me is against Me,..." So, I feel that if it is not for God it is against God. I'm talking about the lyrics and meaning behind songs. That's part of the reason that I can only listen to Christian music. I still hear some stuff that's on the radio now because of my brother. He'll be blasting stuff when I go to see my family. But I don't own a single secular CD, I threw about 300 away and gave about 50 to a friend because I owed him some money. I haven't had any for about 4 years now. When you say that you listen to "good" music, what do you mean? Some people consider Tool and Slipknot "good" music, sad to say. And StephK, you shouldn't let the fall of others be your reason for turning back to listening to whatever. When we stand before Christ, we'll be standing alone. There will be no one to blame for our decisions except ourself.

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ORIGINAL: Covaan_Meshuga

Regarding Christian music, it has always taken its cues from "the world." Are we asking Christian music to rewrite modern music history by stepping out of society's music that the composers and performers have been in all their lives? I don't think it is possible. We are all influenced by our culture. That's just the way it is -- the way it always was from the beginning.

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ORIGINAL: ccol4him1968
I'm not an angel.

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ORIGINAL: Kyrillos

Are we to subscribe as Christians to a strict formula that anything that does not constantly reference the holy name of Jesus Christ is somehow "secular" or "bad"? That is the feeling I get reading some of these responses. I respect that view, but I do not share it. Certainly, explicit praise is absolutely necessary and beautiful, but so is art that affirms the values we have as Christians, whether or not the songs themselves specifically talk about our Lord.

So I'm not sure how to answer a question like this. I listen to music that affirms the totality of my human experience as a Christian. Sometimes that is praise music (never CCM, since I was raised on it and it's too bland for me), but sometimes it is not. What is most important to me is what sort of morals the song might impart.

I call you Emiye [my little mother], but you deserve better
Because for nine months you clothed me with your flesh
I never came down off your back until I could crawl
And now I have grown up, without knowing the extent of your hardships
Your beauty has faded, you have withstood everything
You worked as a servant without complaining, you endured it all to raise me
You smile over your misfortunes, when inside you are burning
I can't give you as much as my heart would like
My arms are too short, may God reward you

That's the translated lyric of a song by an Ethiopian artist (a Christian, incidentally), Alemayehu Eshete. He sounds to me like a man who takes very seriously the commandment to honor one's father and mother. Many of his other songs deal with "secular" topics like dancing, being in love, feeling nostalgia for his childhood, etc. Always in respectful and clean terms, and with good moral lessons, but without a mention of God in the majority of them. So what am I, as a Christian, supposed to think of him? I think that the moral lessons to be found in his songs are completely in keeping with those found in the Bible, he just sings mostly secular material because in his culture there is a very strict divide between secular and religious music, and it is apparently inappropriate to attempt to do both. So some people feel called to do one, and some the other. Other artists switch from secular to religious music at some point.

There are hundreds of such artists out there. Why should I shun them? A good message is a good message just as surely as a bad message is a bad message. God has given us plenty of guidance and reason to be able to tell the wheat from the chaff.

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I only drink milk from a Christian cow myself.

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ORIGINAL: freakofnature

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I only drink milk from a Christian cow myself.

I heard that cows are born hindui? Doesn't that keep them alive longer? Where on earth did you find a Christian cow? And if a Hindu cow converts, isn't there a death warrant issued for that cow?

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ORIGINAL: Kyrillos

Are we to subscribe as Christians to a strict formula that anything that does not constantly reference the holy name of Jesus Christ is somehow "secular" or "bad"? That is the feeling I get reading some of these responses. I respect that view, but I do not share it. Certainly, explicit praise is absolutely necessary and beautiful, but so is art that affirms the values we have as Christians, whether or not the songs themselves specifically talk about our Lord.

So I'm not sure how to answer a question like this. I listen to music that affirms the totality of my human experience as a Christian. Sometimes that is praise music (never CCM, since I was raised on it and it's too bland for me), but sometimes it is not. What is most important to me is what sort of morals the song might impart.

I call you Emiye [my little mother], but you deserve better
Because for nine months you clothed me with your flesh
I never came down off your back until I could crawl
And now I have grown up, without knowing the extent of your hardships
Your beauty has faded, you have withstood everything
You worked as a servant without complaining, you endured it all to raise me
You smile over your misfortunes, when inside you are burning
I can't give you as much as my heart would like
My arms are too short, may God reward you

That's the translated lyric of a song by an Ethiopian artist (a Christian, incidentally), Alemayehu Eshete. He sounds to me like a man who takes very seriously the commandment to honor one's father and mother. Many of his other songs deal with "secular" topics like dancing, being in love, feeling nostalgia for his childhood, etc. Always in respectful and clean terms, and with good moral lessons, but without a mention of God in the majority of them. So what am I, as a Christian, supposed to think of him? I think that the moral lessons to be found in his songs are completely in keeping with those found in the Bible, he just sings mostly secular material because in his culture there is a very strict divide between secular and religious music, and it is apparently inappropriate to attempt to do both. So some people feel called to do one, and some the other. Other artists switch from secular to religious music at some point.

There are hundreds of such artists out there. Why should I shun them? A good message is a good message just as surely as a bad message is a bad message. God has given us plenty of guidance and reason to be able to tell the wheat from the chaff.