After returning home victoriously from a rather diverting game of Puerto Rico followed by an unsuccessful go at Settlers of Catan this evening, I found myself pondering (completely randomly) how much (little?) thought seems to go into the lyrics of modern worship songs sung in churches. I discovered a rather entertaining (to me) blog with lots of good links critiquing such things:
http://badlyricsmakebadtheology.blogspot.com/
I just did a cursory perusal of this one and it doesn’t seem to be done out of a self-important attitude, just a simple desire for music to be grounded in solid theology. However, I will say a couple of the posts seem a little nit-picky even for me:
Why do we “need” Jesus?
We believe in God / and we all need Jesus
‘Cause life is hard / and it might not get easier
I guess I might have trouble meriting heaven by myself, so I need help of some sort from Jesus. In this song, is he my savior, or my example or friend or therapist or life coach or what??
Overly obsessive attention to nuance notwithstanding, I do agree with the author’s general sentiment: that bad lyrics make for bad theology. Another way of putting it might be, similar to “you are what you eat”, you believe what you sing.
Rabbit Trail: Peruse is one of a small list of words in English which has two definitions, one being the opposite of the other. Peruse may mean a detailed investigation, or it can also mean a quick overview. Another word which has two opposite meanings is cleave; two things may cleave together, e.g. a man will cleave to his wife, or you can cleave a melon in half; interestingly enough, one cannot “uncleave” or “decleave” a melon. I’m sure there are other ones but I can’t think of any right now. Anyway.
Regarding bad theology of worship music, one song that has always bugged me to death is this one by Shane Barnard:
You said “Ask and you will receive”
Whatever you need
You Said “Pray and I’ll hear from heaven and I’ll heal your land”
You said, Your glory will fill the earth like water to seas
You said “Lift up your eyes the harvest is here the kingdom is near”
You said ask and I’ll give the nations to you
Oh Lord, thats the cry of my heart
Distant shores and the islands will see your light
as it rises on us
You said “Ask and you will receive”
Whatever you need
You Said “Pray and I’ll hear from heaven and I’ll heal your land”
You said, Your glory will fill the earth
like water to seas
You said “Lift up your eyes the harvest is here the kingdom is near”
You said ask and I’ll give the nations to you
Oh Lord, thats the cry of my heart
Distant shores and the islands will see your light
as it rises on us
Ask and I’ll give the nations to you
Oh Lord, thats the cry of my heart
Distant shores and the islands will see your light
as it rises on earth
This song is a smattering of different scriptures from all over the Bible- some of which aren’t even translated right, being paraphrases- which when put together paint a really distorted picture of God’s work on Earth through the Church, the prospects of success and failure of that work, topped off by a rosy, puppy dogs and ice cream view of the end result of it all. And to make things worse, it completely disregards the intended meaning behind the scriptures it seemingly elucidates.. it is riddle with exegetical error.
For one thing, Habbakuk 2:14 (a notoriously misconstrued verse which in my experience has been purported to mean anything from universalism to predestination to premillenial-dispensationalism) does not have anything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ going out to all the nations. It’s about a specific incident of God’s wrath poured out on idol worshipers causing the nations around them to repent. Read the context, people:
| Hab 2:12 |
“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed And founds a town with violence! |
| Hab 2:13 |
“Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts That peoples toil for fire, And nations grow weary for nothing? |
| Hab 2:14 |
“For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea. |
| Hab 2:15 |
“Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, Who mix in your venom even to make {them} drunk So as to look on their nakedness! |
| Hab 2:16 |
“You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose your {own} nakedness. The cup in the LORD’S right hand will come around to you, And utter disgrace {will come} upon your glory. |
| Hab 2:17 |
“For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, And the devastation of {its} beasts by which you terrified them, Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants. |
| Hab 2:18 |
“What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, {Or} an image, a teacher of falsehood? For {its} maker trusts in his {own} handiwork When he fashions speechless idols. |
| Hab 2:19 |
“Woe to him who says to a {piece of} wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ {And} that is {your} teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, And there is no breath at all inside it. |
| Hab 2:20 |
“But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.” |
People might argue that this incident did not cause the knowledge of God’s glory to fill the Earth, but this is obviously prophetic/ apocalyptic language, examples of which are used throughout the Bible all the time. This is just one example the ridiculousness of this song. I could go on and on about it. And the sad thing is, I like the song- it’s really not bad as worship music goes- it’s just too bad the lyrics are so odiously distracting.
Is it too much to ask for theologically-sound Christian music to be sung in churches and para-church organizations? Am I being too demanding of our creative sisters and brothers? I don’t want to be a jerk or a party pooper.. really I don’t. I just think that putting what seems like zero effort into the meaning behind music lyrics ought to left to people who have nothing important to sing about.
What really worries me is that this casual attitude seems indicative of the general mode in much of the church toward theology and the study of scripture today- and it doesn’t seem isolated to one generation either. Maybe this has been the case for most of the last 2000 years and I shouldn’t get too hung up on it. But then again a relaxed adherence toward scriptural truth by even small groups of people contributed to the existence of such things as slavery, Nazism, the beginnings of Islam and Mormonism, and gnosticism.
I wouldn’t lay the responsibility of these unfortunate occurrences at the feet of Shane Barnard, Chris Tomlin or Amy Grant though. That’s just over the top. But it’s worth paying attention to such things.
