Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: geac!aeshq!peter@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Peter Mielke) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: reply to amy grant posting Message-ID: Date: 10 Nov 89 07:26:27 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Environment Canada Lines: 37 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu ASPRINGMAN@eagle.wesleyan.edu (DAYSPRING) writes: > few Christian musicians (Keith Green, John Michael Talbot, Don Fransico, > Michael Card, Michael Kelly Blanchard, Glad, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Integrity > Hosanna, Praise (Maranatha music), and Bach). He has taught me a lot about the > responsabilities of the musician. These are some foundational points... > 1) All music should be by and for God. That is, it should be from God and > given to the musician by spiritual revelation. Yes, music should be from the > heart, but that heart should be fixed on Jesus. > That also means that all music should be praise or instruction or > outreach (and that's the tricky one). Does this mean no more songs/compositions just for the fun of it? Take for example the secular cantatas of J.S.Bach (one of them having to do with some mythical gods and someones birthday) or Randy Stonehill singing about junk food. Even singing "Happy birthday" to take it to an extreem. Or what about the composters that wrote church music but lead an different lifestyle (like Mozart). > 2) God is not pleased by secular music. How do you define secular music? > 3) Music _does_ have inherent spiritual meaning. Even wordless music. > Therefore, musicians (and Christians in general) can and should discern by the > Spirit whether or not each song they play is 1) of the Lord and 2) appropriate > at the time. How would you tell in wordless music (e.g. music by Jean Micheal Jarre, transcriptions of works by Bach by Wendy/Walter Carlos)? -- Peter Mielke {utgpu,mnetor}!geac!aeshq!peter Environment Canada Atmospheric Environment Service "You want to know what weather it is? Look out your window!"