As far as saying their music is a mockery is known as judging. Christ said "By their fruit you will recognize them..." Matthew 7:16. The above REZ example is just scratching the surface on how these bands live. By the lyrical content in their music you can all see good fruit (studying the scriptures). They sing about experiences the non-Christian could not experience and also are very technical about the Gospel using words I've hardly heard spoken in church. We shouldn't judge someone we never took the time to investigate. Read Matthew 7:1. It is very dangerous to question someone's love for God or denying it exists period. I'm not going to hide the fact that some of these bands and performers aren't genuine but when you recognize their fruit (after careful study) and it's bad you stay away from them. Just because one band is bad does not mean that they all are. These are the bands that ruin it for everyone else. Just because one church member (as an individual) is bad doesn't mean the entire church (as individuals) are bad. Or just because the movie "The Last Temptation of Christ" was bad doesn't mean that all Bible movies about Christ are bad and we should stop watching them all. In most cases, the performers that are extremely successful like Amy Grant, Sandy Patti etc. who are selling millions of records are usually the ones watering down their messages and living compromised lives. When Christ becomes fashionable you have to wonder about it. Jesus said that He came to bring not peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34). He stirred up controversy wherever He went and told His disciples that because the world first hated Him it will hate us also (John 15:18-25). With music, as with all things, we shall know them by their fruit. A lot of people judge CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) as corrupt based on a bad exmaple or examples. That would be fine if there was only ONE band or performer to judge CCM by but that is not the case. There is MORE criteria involved here. That is like judging Christianity by one congregation (which some do, sadly). I realize Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:6 says, "Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?" but he is talking about the evil moral influence in a bunch of closely related believers rather than performers in a huge melting pot. Of course there are texts in the Bible on judging! We are called to do so according to Scripture in order to test everything to see what is good and what isn't. But as the word "judging" implies we are to EXAMINE people and doctrines rather than just assuming something which Matthew 7:1 implies.

Argument #5 - "Would Jesus do it?" - The best thing to do is to follow His example in life and love. See Matthew 22:36-40. Obviously, Jesus followed and searched the Scriptures and left an example based on that. See Matthew 28:19, 20; John 14:15. So we too, should study the Scriptures and His life through the Scriptures (which we are doing) while inviting the presence of the Holy Spirit (not human "wisdom") to come to a spiritual conclusion. John 14:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 2:14. When studying God's word it is important to leave our degrees at the door...

Argument #6 - "The Lyrics are irrelevant no matter how good they are in this type of music" - This argument doesn't make Biblical sense. When the Bible speaks of music and spiritual songs it focuses directly on the word of Christ and the music is secondary. Colossians 3:16 says: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." As far as the music being bad goes read argument #2. The claim made in argument #6 does not weigh the balance at all. One way of looking at it is that if you flip this statement around it is like saying that if you have music you like personally the lyrics are still irrelevant. Am I assuming that they could be singing about anything as long as the music is good. I don't think so. Jesus says in Matthew 12:37: "For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." If somehow lyrics can become irrelevant through music of any kind, what is their function? Why are they there at all? Most people underestimate the power of God's word. See Isaiah 40:8.

Argument #7 - "But science concludes..." - Science can benefit man and our understanding of the world but only when used with the Bible and not apart from it... i.e., we must make sure that it doesn't contradict or oppose what is already laid down by our Chief Cornerstone, that being Christ Himself! 1 Corinthians 3:11, "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."

Actually I have found that science, the science that can be proven that is, and the Bible can actually go together. Let me illustrate a few examples. First, I will take one from the science of embryology. Job 10:10 and 11 reads, "Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?" These words were written around 3,500 years ago. It is speaking of fertilization and how the body forms in the uterus. For years it was thought that people were formed in a different order, first the bones, then the flesh, and lastly the skin. But now through modern science (the same science which created electricity for guitars and amps) we can observe the formation of the child in the womb. And now we know that the child is formed according to the order set in the Bible.

Also, Kircher discovered that the blood of a dead person was lethal in the year 1658. People performing autopsies have to be very careful while handling blood. This too was mentioned in the Bible before scientists found out about it. See Revelation 16:3. And there are many more examples.

We should be extremely careful when determining how science relates to Biblical topics, especially those already laid out. In November of 1847, Dr. Simpson of Europe had an idea to use anesthetics, not only for surgery which was first introduced by Dr. Crawford Long in March 1842, but also for childbirth as well. Many people protested saying it was not Biblical and against the plan of God. They said that the Bible said that in pain should a woman give birth.

If you read Gensis 2:21 you will see that putting someone to sleep during an operation as well as the steps involved in surgery are outlined. We must pray and ask the Holy Spirit to be our guide as we look into these things, especially in these last days. Take heed of what Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:7, "always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth." This is especially true with science. As we see now, even the church itself is fooled into believing some of their ideas, especially evolution, or "theistic evolution" as some call it. The same thing can be said regarding music.

Even when things appear to be right we must be all the more cautious not to let personal opinion or a lack of study come into play. We are encouraged to "...live by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7. Again, especially true in the last days. Although Paul says we are to avoid even the appearance of evil he also said to beware of the angel of light! There is a fine line there.

When it comes down to it, the Bible and the Bible alone must be our rule of faith. See Acts 5:29 and Isaiah 8:20. We musn't use science as a scapegoat to prove what we feel we cannot generate from Scripture. For a good start on the use of musical instruments in the Bible read Psalm 150.

On the other hand, I agree we must not ignore science altogether based on my prior statements. God has created us with brains (obviously) and the ability to reason, learn and discover. For more detailed information on actual scientific case studies regarding Christian music as well as a host of other arguments in great detail here is a good link. Click here.

Religious Limbo, How Low Can You Go?

The thing that is really sad about this whole situation is how low people will go to prove (or try to) their point. Especially when a person or a group of people take a person's life and pull out a negative thing about the person's life to try and show that what they're into is bad. Everyone (especially when they are a relatively new Christian) will always have something bad in their lives they are trying to work on. It is called the process of SANCTIFICATION and is an on going process. Phil. 3:12-16. To just pull the sanctification train to a halt and pick something out to show that what the person is into is bad is very judgmental to say the least. For the sake of illustration I will use healthful living (Prov. 23:2). Just because someone isn't adequately following the health message laid out in the Bible doesn't mean I could use that to show whatever that person is into is bad. As long as the person is improving step by step. That shows that they are getting closer to God. The Christian no matter how long they have accepted Christ will always have something in their lives. It is especially bad when the person doing the condemning has more sin in his/her life than the one they're condemning. They are actually condemning themselves according to Romans 2:1-3. An example of this is when a person who listens to secular music condemns someone for listening to Christian music that has passed the scriptural tests in every angle. Matthew 7:3 says, "Why do you look at the speck in your brothers eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye." Now in this case the speck could be what you THINK is wrong (Christian rock) and the plank could represent secular music...or any other related sin for that matter.

Of course, the condemner will also do this with the life of the performer as well which is a lot easier due to the fact that they are in the public eye (with a lot of similar people trying to get something on them to try and prove their point), and that it is a lot easier to see the sin in their lives because we are living in the same time frame as they are. Have you ever considered and thought for a moment about the lives of the writers of the hymns? Romans 3:23 says: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Did you get that? ALL have sinned! The writers of the hymns sinned just the same as we do. The Psalms David wrote after his sin with Bathsheba like Psalm 3 for example, when he fled from his son Absalom and Psalm 51 which includes his genuine repentance (which is a major factor in anyone's lifestyle in order to test them...but when it boils down to it only God knows the heart... 1 Thessalonians 2:4; Galatians 2:6), are just as valid as his other ones before the incident. But please, do not get me wrong. I am not saying that no matter what they do we can listen to them. See Romans 6:15. There is a right and a wrong way to handle these matters. To put a long story short, we must carefully examine these things according to Scripture and not be so superficial. See also the second paragraph of argument # 4 on the first page.

"The All-Inclusive Text"

It is also very interesting when a person will demand of someone a single text in which to prove that what they are saying is right. These same people seem to forget that when you test a particular subject or study a certain doctrine from the Bible you must study that subject or doctrine from every angle or else you will risk coming to a false conclusion due to lack of information or verses used out of context etc. 2 Timothy 3:16 says "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness." Notice that the first word of this verse is all. If the Bible was meant to be studied with only one verse per subject each verse would be a few pages long and there would probably be only less than 100 verses. To further my point I will give you an example. Let's say we are studying with someone who doesn't know anything about the Sabbath and they're quite skeptical. You might start with Exodus 20:8-11 to show them that the Sabbath is actually on the seventh day. But would you stop there? I don't think it would be as convincing as it could be to the person you're studying with (they would probably want more answers from the Scriptures to other questions about the Sabbath that they might have). One question might be about the Sabbath being changed (Dan. 7:25). You might use another text to prove that the Sabbath is still in existence roughly 70 years after Christ's crucifixion at the fall of Jerusalem by the Romans (Matt. 24:20). There are scores of other verses also. If you could find one verse that included all of this I would be the first to congratulate you! Our Bible tracts and lessons would be pretty short if we only used one text. This is what we call the chain reference system. Let us not be superficial and less noble about the Bible like the Thessalonians but be like the Bereans and actually have the humility to study and not to think that just because we feel a certain way or were told or raised that way that we are right (Acts 17:11). It is not good to put a faithful Bible student on the spot when there are hundreds of pages to be explored.

Also, some might try and use this tactic to pin their opponent thinking that because Christian rock was invented in the twentieth century that they will not be able to find one. This is basically another form of religious limbo... How low will you go? Even though Christian rock wasn't around in Biblical times doesn't mean we cannot test it through scripture. Jack Daniel's whiskey wasn't invented back then either but the principle is there... Don't drink it! The same thing with cigarettes. Are you not going to drive a car because they weren't in the Bible? If you have studied all my other arguments in detail (especially #3) you will see this. Because if we can't test things like T.V. etc. through Scripture what are we doing with it? God doesn't work that way. There is nothing man has invented or will invent that cannot be tested by or through the Scriptures. Don't discredit the Bible!

Challenge - I have honestly and sincerely prayed and studied on this subject. If you can prove every point I made wrong with just as much scripture and evidence (from above), I will consider changing my views. Everyone I know who listens to this music has actually grown in their Christian experience and has gotten closer to God. How can something that brings you closer to God be wrong? Take heed the Proverb, "A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions." Proverbs 18:2 NIV (underlining supplied). All comments and/or questions are welcome and I hope you enjoy the rest of the links.