Christian Music

El Pirata · 09-06-2007, 12:31 PM

Why, if you are a Christian, must you listen only to Christian music and not, "Earthly" music. The way I see it, they are both derived from the same place. I mean even the music that plays in churches has some of the same style of playing as normal music. Do they intend to replace normal music and just add different lyrics?

I mean, lets take a good ol' Mexican/Hispanic church, I almost guarantee you are going to hear some corridos in there (dum DA dum da dum DA) and the only difference would by in the lyrics. I see that even some Christian groups that play music, dont even necessarily write their songs around God, some just sing about life in general. In conclusion, if the only difference between normal music and Christian music, is the religion for which it is intended for and with lyrics that dont differ that much from normal music, then what is the purpose to listening to Christian music only?

Alot of normal bands sing about life in general and what is going on with them, or some great story, really great poetry and whatnot, and a lot of times do not contain foul language, yet they are demonized because they are not Christian.

I do not see why I should limit myself to just limiting to Christian music, if there is other music that is not Christian out there that actually has a good message or contains great poetry. Mind you I am not counting other genres which actually do focus on all the negative aspects of humanity, I actually dont care too much for that music. Anyways, come forth people and discuss.

**Laina** · 09-06-2007, 01:07 PM

For the most part, I detest the Contemporary Christian genre. Though they might have a "good message", the songs are unoriginal and of poor quality. Very rarely does the industry come out with a group that actually has talent, and usually those bands get taken over by the mainstream. (Like Switchfoot, Relient K, etc.)
As far as I'm concerned, if you're making music or any kind of creative art "for God", you should just be concerned about the quality just as much if not more than the message. If you're using creativity as a form of worship, shouldn't it be your very best and perhaps even BETTER than the works of people who are just creating for money or for other purposes?
Though maybe the original intents were for something good, the contemporary Christian music industry is no different than any other music today: it all boils down to making money. Though I'm sure some artists do have good intentions, the majority of them just want to use the members of the Christian religion who will only listen to "worshipful" music to get rich.

And why should you listen to only Christian music? It's easy. You shouldn't. If you asked most people who have this belief if they would listen to classical composers like Beethoven and Mozart, they would probably say yes. Oh wait, guess what? They're secular composers!
I suppose if someone wants to just listen to Contemporary Christian, that's their choice. But as soon as they try to say that everyone else should follow their music choice, that's when there's a problem.

I could go on and on about this really, but those are my basic thoughts on the subject.

**Opunaya** · 09-06-2007, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laina

For the most part, I detest the Contemporary Christian genre. Though they might have a "good message", the songs are unoriginal and of poor quality. Very rarely does the industry come out with a group that actually has talent, and usually those bands get taken over by the mainstream. (Like Switchfoot, Relient K, etc.)
As far as I'm concerned, if you're making music or any kind of creative art "for God", you should just be concerned about the quality just as much if not more than the message. If you're using creativity as a form of worship, shouldn't it be your very best and perhaps even BETTER than the works of people who are just creating for money or for other purposes?
Though maybe the original intents were for something good, the contemporary Christian music industry is no different than any other music today: it all boils down to making money. Though I'm sure some artists do have good intentions, the majority of them just want to use the members of the Christian religion who will only listen to "worshipful" music to get rich.

And why should you listen to only Christian music? It's easy. You shouldn't. If you asked most people who have this belief if they would listen to classical composers like Beethoven and Mozart, they would probably say yes. Oh wait, guess what? They're secular composers!
I suppose if someone wants to just listen to Contemporary Christian, that's their choice. But as soon as they try to say that everyone else should follow their music choice, that's when there's a problem.

I could go on and on about this really, but those are my basic thoughts on the subject.

You know, that's funny...I always wonder why those bands didn't donate all their money to the church or missions or whatever...I mean, keep enough to live off of, sure, but not to be RICH. Isn't that, like, exploiting God or whatever?

El Pirata · 09-06-2007, 01:13 PM

Man you hit it right on the nail! I thats exactly how I feel too. I think the fact that my parents only wanted to make me listen to Christian music as a child led to actually not listen to music at all, I am actually at the point where I can enjoy little to none of the contemporary christian music out there. It has affected me to they point where I actually own like 2 or 3 cds and I dont even know many good groups out there, normal music that is. Its very true though, the quality of the christian music is very lacking.

**Laina** · 09-06-2007, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Opunaya

You know, that's funny...I always wonder why those bands didn't donate all their money to the church or missions or whatever...I mean, keep enough to live off of, sure, but not to be RICH. Isn't that, like, exploiting God or whatever?

Pretty much, yeah. Haven't you ever seen the South Park episode where Cartman makes a Christian band?

El Pirata · 09-06-2007, 01:15 PM

ooo I need to see that one!

**Nøz** · 09-06-2007, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laina

Pretty much, yeah. Haven't you ever seen the South Park episode where Cartman makes a Christian band?

*raises hand*
Oh oh Me me!
I have

Quote:

Originally Posted by El Pirata

Man you hit it right on the nail! I thats exactly how I feel too. I think the fact that my parents only wanted to make me listen to Christian music as a child led to actually not listen to music at all, I am actually at the point where I can enjoy little to none of the contemporary christian music out there. It has affected me to they point where I actually own like 2 or 3 cds and I dont even know many good groups out there, normal music that is. Its very true though, the quality of the christian music is very lacking.

Use your internets and download random shit till you find something you like

El Pirata · 09-06-2007, 01:18 PM

Ive been thinking of buying random CDs of groups, like a friend of mine does and do that till I hit something good, but I need a job for that, which I kinda lack at the moment

**Laina** · 09-06-2007, 01:23 PM

I would totally make you a mix CD if I could. I have a little bit of everything under the sun. ^_^
Also, a good way to preview music without having to buy it is on myspace. Just look up random artists and listen to what they have uploaded.

**Opunaya** · 09-06-2007, 01:35 PM

There is one song called Underdog from an AMV I have that I love, though I never realized it was Christian until I listened to it all the way through when I downloaded it.