Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: crf@ginger.princeton.edu (Charles Ferenbaugh) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Some thoughts on "Christian Music" (was Re: Petra Praise) Message-ID: Date: 15 Jan 90 21:07:25 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Princeton University Lines: 48 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article nick@lfcs.edinburgh.ac.uk (Nick Rothwell) writes: >Would somebody care to define "Christian Music" for me...? Perhaps I >missed some of this discussion. I could suggest that any Christian has >a view of the world and its affairs, and a view of human feelings and >emotions, which isn't shared by non-Christians, and so any music made >by a Christian is Christian music, regardless of form, style or >lyrics. The trouble with talking about "Christian music" is that different people do indeed mean different things by it. I can think of at least five ways I've heard it used: - any music that uses Christian imagery - any music dealing with Christian issues, the human condition, etc. - any music done by a Christian - any music done by a Christian, in which their Christian world-view plays an important role - music done by a Christian for the purpose of glorifying God and/or building up others in their relationship with God Note that these are in a sort of hierarchy (most general first, most restrictive last) and the boundaries may be fuzzy. IMHO, the proper definition is the last one. As pointed out in an earlier article (which I've now misplaced; sorry) any music done for selfish reasons, whether by a Christian or not, is missing the point. There is a definite purpose for music: the glorification of God and the edification of others (see Colossians 3:16). So now that I've established a definition (still open to debate), we can deal with the question, is Christian music any better than other music? Of course I mean good Christian music vs. good other music; comparing garbage to anything is hardly fair game. As Nick observed, there is plenty of good music out there by non-Christians, whether it's good just by virtue of musical quality and beauty, or good due to dealing with life in a positive way, or both. Although care must be taken, such music is worth listening to (remember Philippians 4:8: "... whatever is pure, whatever is lovely... if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.") However, Christian music has the advantage that those who are performing it know God, the source of beauty and truth, in a more direct way than others do, and thus can incorporate beauty and truth into their music more consistently than others do. Those are my thoughts. I'd be glad to hear anyone else's reactions... Grace and peace, Charles Ferenbaugh