It all started with a tweet by Bart Millard the lead singer of the Christian group MercyMe in which he described Bruno Mars half-time Super Bowl performance as "awesome". Immediately there was a backlash to his comments on Facebook. I must confess that I didn't bother to go check out the comments because I didn't want to get depressed reading the nasty comments by people who say they are Christian about another Christian. So I generally left well enough alone. However I did read his own comments after the whole thing where he talked about how we all needed grace and it should be something we as Christians extend to each other. From his comments I would assume people questioned how a Christian could think a secular musician who sings about sex and drugs is awesome. I also guess some questioned his faith in Christ and his ministry.
I'm not a musical person but I do love music. Unlike normal people like us who only listen to the lyrics of a song, musicians enjoy other things like arrangement, the tune, performance and so many other things about a song. Therefore to people listening to the same song, when a fellow musician irrespective of what genre of song he sings, describes another musician as "awesome", there is tendency on our part to not only think he is endorsing the musician and his song but also his message and his lifestyle as well. Which is when I remember a song like "It Wasn't Me", you're not going going to hear me describe Shaggy as "awesome". For those who never heard the song, it was about a man who cheated on his girlfriend and then when he was caught, he told he ....., you get it. It Wasn't Me.
Like I said, musicians see things differently from the way we see things. Also, I think we should give everyone the benefit of the doubt and at times be able to separate the good from the bad. Michael Jackson had a lot of legal problems but I would be lying if I said I didn't like his songs. Songs like Man In The Mirror will always be great songs. Is it wrong to like his songs? Personally I don't think all his songs are bad unless they were promoting sex or something awful. I think we should be able to separate the good messages from the bad. Also, while we might have a problem with a secular artistes music, I do not believe we have to take it out on somebody who expresses his appreciation of another musician. Do I like Miley Cyrus or her music presently? No. But there's a possibility that along the line she might have a message that I might like in one of her songs. Should I disregard it just because of her past record? I think not. Some might argue that we have no business listening to secular music and I will concede to that. But you will agree that we mostly live in a secular world and unless you live in a cave, you will come in contact with something secular sooner or later.
As Christians we have a nasty habit on getting on our legalistic high horses and from the high altitude attacking other Christians and we call it correction. Correction without love is simply an accusation followed by punishment. God has extended grace to us all and we should extend it to each other. Impeaching a person's faith and belief in Christ just because he expressed appreciation of another musician's performance is just wrong and the people that did it should be ashamed of themselves. Christ did not die just for us to accuse each other. He asked us to love one another. Even to the point of death. He said that's how people would know we are his. By love. Not hate and criticism.
I'm not a musical person but I do love music. Unlike normal people like us who only listen to the lyrics of a song, musicians enjoy other things like arrangement, the tune, performance and so many other things about a song. Therefore to people listening to the same song, when a fellow musician irrespective of what genre of song he sings, describes another musician as "awesome", there is tendency on our part to not only think he is endorsing the musician and his song but also his message and his lifestyle as well. Which is when I remember a song like "It Wasn't Me", you're not going going to hear me describe Shaggy as "awesome". For those who never heard the song, it was about a man who cheated on his girlfriend and then when he was caught, he told he ....., you get it. It Wasn't Me.
Like I said, musicians see things differently from the way we see things. Also, I think we should give everyone the benefit of the doubt and at times be able to separate the good from the bad. Michael Jackson had a lot of legal problems but I would be lying if I said I didn't like his songs. Songs like Man In The Mirror will always be great songs. Is it wrong to like his songs? Personally I don't think all his songs are bad unless they were promoting sex or something awful. I think we should be able to separate the good messages from the bad. Also, while we might have a problem with a secular artistes music, I do not believe we have to take it out on somebody who expresses his appreciation of another musician. Do I like Miley Cyrus or her music presently? No. But there's a possibility that along the line she might have a message that I might like in one of her songs. Should I disregard it just because of her past record? I think not. Some might argue that we have no business listening to secular music and I will concede to that. But you will agree that we mostly live in a secular world and unless you live in a cave, you will come in contact with something secular sooner or later.
As Christians we have a nasty habit on getting on our legalistic high horses and from the high altitude attacking other Christians and we call it correction. Correction without love is simply an accusation followed by punishment. God has extended grace to us all and we should extend it to each other. Impeaching a person's faith and belief in Christ just because he expressed appreciation of another musician's performance is just wrong and the people that did it should be ashamed of themselves. Christ did not die just for us to accuse each other. He asked us to love one another. Even to the point of death. He said that's how people would know we are his. By love. Not hate and criticism.
JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a
division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You
can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal
No comments:
Post a Comment