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Does contemporary Christian music build up a lasting Christian faith?

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Here’s an interesting account by a young woman who became secular by becoming very involved in Christian music and then jumped to secular music because it was better music.

Excerpt:

“Who’s in the House” is a hip-hop track about the presence of the Lord. Through megaphone distortion, Carman rapped a few lines: “You take him high / you take him low / you take JC wherever you go,” then led into a call and response hook reminiscent of ’80s-era De La Soul. “Tell me who’s in the house? JC!”

If you’re wondering what teenager in her right mind would listen to a forty-year-old Vegas showman with a Jersey accent rap about Jesus, the answer is: me. In junior high, I saw Carman in concert three times. The Standard was the first CD I ever bought. I rocked out to Carman on my Walkman on the way to youth group and dished with my girlfriends about what a hottie he was. At the concerts, I bought his T-shirts and posters, and when he called out “Who’s in the House?” I made my arms into letters, YMCA-style, with the rest of the crowd and shouted “JC!”

I was homeschooled up until tenth grade, and my social life revolved around church. I grew up submersed in evangelical youth culture: reading Brio magazine, doing devotions in my Youth Walk Bible, eagerly awaiting the next installment of the Left Behind series, and developing a taste in music that ran the gamut from Christian rap to Christian pop to Christian rock.

And she ends with this:

Basically, CCM caught on to the number one rule of coolness: don’t let your marketing show. The best bands—the successful ones, at least—learned to gloss over the gospel message the same way TV producers camouflaged corporate sponsorship. Explicitly Christian lyrics prevented DC Talk from crossing over to the secular market in the ’90s; today it’s difficult to imagine their unapologetic faith making it in the Christian circuit.

This trend spreads beyond CCM into many areas of evangelical culture. The church is becoming increasingly consumer-friendly. Jacob Hill, director of “worship arts” at New Walk Church, describes the Sunday service music as “exciting, loud, powerful, and relevant,” and boasts that “a lot of people say they feel like they’ve just been at a rock concert.” Over the past ten years, I’ve visited churches that have Starbucks kiosks in the foyer and youth wings decked out with air hockey tables. I’ve witnessed a preacher stop his sermon to play a five-minute clip from Billy Madison. I’ve walked into a sanctuary that was blasting the Black Eyed Peas’s “Let’s Get it Started” to get the congregation pumped for the morning’s message, which was on joy. I have heard a pastor say, from a pulpit, “Hey, I’m not here to preach at anyone.” And yet, in spite of these efforts, churches are retaining only 4 percent of the young people raised in their congregations.

Despite all the affected teenage rebellion, I continued to call myself a Christian into my early twenties. When I finally stopped, it wasn’t because being a believer made me uncool or outdated or freakish. It was because being a Christian no longer meant anything. It was a label to slap on my Facebook page, next to my music preferences. The gospel became just another product someone was trying to sell me, and a paltry one at that because the church isn’t Viacom: it doesn’t have a Department of Brand Strategy and Planning. Staying relevant in late consumer capitalism requires highly sophisticated resources and the willingness to tailor your values to whatever your audience wants. In trying to compete in this market, the church has forfeited the one advantage it had in the game to attract disillusioned youth: authenticity. When it comes to intransigent values, the profit-driven world has zilch to offer. If Christian leaders weren’t so ashamed of those unvarnished values, they might have something more attractive than anything on today’s bleak moral market. In the meantime, they’ve lost one more kid to the competition.

So, I’d like to look at whether listening to contemporary Christian music is a good way to build a strong faith that lasts.

Should people sing about things that they don’t know are true?

I would not be comfortable singing about a state of affairs that I did not know was true. And yet, that is exactly what happens in churches and youth groups. Young people are brought up to sing about a story without any evidence that the story is true. Imagine what that does to a person – what are they thinking about the purpose of the singing? They don’t know these things are true, but they sing anyway! And as they grow up, the church makes it a badge of honor to speak only about what the Bible says, and never links what the Bible says to anything in the real world. Naturally, as soon as children hit the university, they fall away. Their questions about the problem of evil, the problem of suffering, the problem of world of religious pluralism, the hiddenness of God, justice of Hell, etc. were never answered.

I think this anti-intellectual approach is really damaging. The impression of Christianity that young people will have is that truth doesn’t matter, that you can sing about something just to be part of a group, and for emotional pleasure. Then with the end-of-the-world fiction and other Christian fiction – all for enjoyment, and all not connected to knowledge. How does any of that connect to the real world? When young people are taught that being a Christian has no connection to reason, evidence or the real world, then their Christianity doesn’t survive leaving the safety of their home and church. If Christian parents wanted their children to be able to integrate their faith with what is taught at the university, then they would have to do better than singing, end-of-the-world fiction, praying about romantic relationships, and so on.

Christian music reinforces the idea that Christianity makes you feel good

The problem with Christian music is that a person listening to it can quickly develop the idea that what Christianity is about is having happy feelings, because people feel happy when listening to music. I’ve noticed that a lot of Christians leave the faith because they have this idealized notion that the world should be a happy place, where no one ever feels bad. Then they find verses in the Bible that are exclusive and judgmental, and they leave the faith because Christianity is too “mean”. This is especially the case with young women who are inclined to doubt God’s existence because of the problem of evil and the doctrine of Hell. If young women are not aware of the reasons why Christianity is true, then the experience of being perceived by others as “mean” can cause them to abandon their faith. Social pressure is an enormous factor in the behavior of women – they want to be accepted and liked by everyone.

Those emotions of compassion and intuitions about happiness are not compatible with hard verses of the Bible and exclusive Christian doctrines. Many people If we teach children that happiness and doing good things are what Christianity is about, then eventually they will dump it when the open profession of their faith causes them to have bad feelings and to lose friends. I think Christian women especially feel pressure to jettison Christian rules when it comes to dating and marriage – because they want to be happy, and they think that the rules shouldn’t stop them from pursuing happiness. If they don’t know why the rules are there (truth) then they will just reject anything that conflicts with their intuitions, emotions and desire to be happy. If the purpose of life is to have good feelings about yourself, and to have everyone like you, then Christianity is not the answer. If the purpose of life is to know the truth and to live according to it, then Christianity is the answer.

English is not a subject that is very friendly to Christian beliefs

I note that she seems to have studied English at the undergraduate level and is currently studying it at graduate level, which I think is significant. English is well known to be a hotbed of postmodernism, deconstructionism, feminism and socialism on campuses. She would therefore be under enormous pressure there to abandon her faith, especially in order to get good grades. Nothing that she did as a young person would equip her to deal with the pressure from peers and teachers when challenged on her Christian faith. Singing, reading fiction, Bible reading and prayer do not help a young person who is confronted by peer pressure and secular left professors holding the grading pen – especially in English where marking of essays is subjective.

My first career choice was to be an English teacher – I won simultaneous awards for English and Computer Programming in high school (public school, not homeschool). But then I took an early university course in English, while still a high school student, and realized that it had been compromised by feminism and postmodernism and other untestable ideologies. Personally, I think that mathematics, computer science and engineering are much safer fields for Christians to study. My background is in computer science, and I have an undergraduate and graduate degree in that area. These areas are safer because it is much harder for the professors to inject politics into the curriculum, so that students don’t have to be forced to accept things on faith, without any critical thinking or debate. Math features answers that are right or wrong regardless of politics, and programming features programs that either run or not, regardless of religion.

It’s not a good idea to stay a student all your life

To be a Christian, it helps to be able to have your own source of income so that you can buy books and debates to learn with. I have been working in the field of computer science for 15 years, starting in middle school, and have saved pretty much everything I’ve earned. I saved about half of what I make. I never take money from the government, although I accepted scholarships from the university because I just considered it a reduction in tuition. The problem with getting things for free is that you get what other people give you – in this case, the government and the university. If you want to rebel against the secular leftist zeitgeist, you have to have arms to rebel with – and arms cost money. William Lane Craig debates and F.A. Hayek books cost money. And you can’t depend on the government or the university to provide you with those.

Our CCM woman seems to have been a student all her life. She doesn’t have the skills or the money to make it on her own. She has to agree with them in order to get tuition, student loans, etc. – in order to live away from her parents. This would be another pressure on her to turn away from her Christian faith. She is trapped by not having any marketable skills that would allow her to earn a living without having to agree with anyone’s views. Students also have the things they read handed to them – it’s much harder for her to find the time to read things that the professors don’t want her to read – and she could never bring those things up in class safely anyway. A lot of people who thrive on being told that they are good prefer to stay in school where it is easy to just do whatever the (secular left) teacher says in order to get good grades.

Avoid women who do not know why they believe what they say they believe

I just want to reiterate to Christian men that they should be asking questions of Christian women before falling in love with them, to make sure they know why they believe what they say they believe. Here are some questions to ask to find out if a woman is a solid Christian that should help men to detect women like the one who wrote the essay. This post may also be useful. Christian men: be careful with women like this who look good, but who fall away. Don’t get hurt.

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20 thoughts on “Does contemporary Christian music build up a lasting Christian faith?”

    1. Please share it! Link to it. I am starting to feel guilty about not putting it up on a Monday or Tuesday where more people will see it.

      Oh, I just updated it again. I can’t seem to leave it alone.

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  2. This was very useful for me right now, wk. Some nice Christian girls have caught my attention recently and it’s good to be reminded of questions that I need to ask before I get more interested. Thanks very much for writing this post :)

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    1. You’re welcome. This is something I think we all struggle with. I do think it matters whether people that we like are willing to be curious about studying what they believe and why. I don’t think that cultural Christian stuff is an adequate substitute.

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    2. Though I have to say some contemporary Christian music is great. Check out ‘Sons of Korah’, ‘Shane and Shane’ and ‘Casting Crowns’. Lyrics of all three are usually fantastic, the first two often use direct quotes or passages from the Bible for their lyrics.

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      1. I like Newsboys, they have the best lyrics for apologists, but that’s not saying much!

        I heard good things about Casting Crowns.

        UPDATE: Sons of Korah: WWWWWWOOOOOWWWW!!!!

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        1. I think you would like the new Casting Crowns video ‘Courageous’:

          I’d also recommend Mercy Me. If you really want to broaden your horizons, I’d suggest Christian rapper Lecrae. I have not yet actually heard his music, but his lyrics absolutely blew me away.
          -Neil

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  3. I concur, good post. I was especially struck with by “reading end-of-the-world fiction” as something Christians seem to do today, and that seems to be part of the problem.

    I haven’t been to church in quite some time and when I did, about 1 year ago, I didn’t recognize what I saw. I’m a Baptist and was used to a lot less—how do I put this—showmanship at Church. It was and has always supposed to be a place for worship and not entertainment, backed by PowerPoint presentations and boogie-down music. After sitting through a rather bad songstress concert which they’d put up in place of a preacher, I decided I’d had enough and not been back since. I’m now looking for a church, but I really don’t feel like it. Especially since I’ve gotten more interested in apologetics, I’m afraid I won’t find a church where this is highlighted and will quickly become discouraged again. My last church certainly did not; in fact, I don’t think the preacher ever once used logic to buttress any of the sermons he gave. I don’t think he was even capable. In this, I think CCM is right, the Church is majorly responsible for what’s happening to it.

    I recently read an article about the Cisco situation with Frank Turek who blames the Church for producing people who cower and run from confrontation in the face of the homosexual 5% of the population. Yup!

    It used to be that the Church was where a man interested in a “good” girl would almost certainly find one. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that this is no longer the case: when the Church is secularized, the people care less about following the Lord. There simply doesn’t exist a difference between Church and Society. Why should I go to Church when the music and entertainment outside is so much better? This is especially true for women who, by their nature, follow trends, more than most men. This is a massive generalization, I know, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some validity to it.

    This, by the way, is one of the reasons I’m going to tell my son and am telling any unmarried man who will listen that attempting to court women in the way we used to—with chivalry and other White Knighting behavior—will result in getting hurt every time. Modern women, swimming in the high seas of ultra-feminism, are no longer worthy of such and if the Church is going that way, as it seems to be, then the women in Church are, sadly, no longer worthy of such either.

    Which is why I support wholeheartedly WK’s insistence on qualifying the women you meet (although I completely disagree with his White Knight behavior in providing flowers to them—flowers and diamonds are in the same category: they have no intrinsic value and are used by many women as a way to have the courting man qualify themselves, by wasting resources. It is very different for women in your life, like your WIFE, and your female relatives). That said, it is just as important that, as men, we ARE qualified ourselves before we start seeking qualified mates. WK is going about doing this very well, but if he makes a mistake in the choice of a mate, guess what Society will do to him through female-instigated—70% of the time—divorce? All that he’s been stockpiling will go 50% towards the undeserving divorcing wife and his children, if there are any, will suffer greatly as a result.

    Men and women, biologically and hence psychologically, speak completely different languages. I believe this is the way God designed us: Eggerichs quotes Paul about how men require respect and how women require love. To forget this is to try fitting square pegs in round holes. The Church does nothing to help in this regard, lost as currently is in a forest of irrelevancy. Christian men are NICE GUYS who have been bred to be anachronistic White Knights in a age which has no use for them. Jesus Christ was not a NICE GUY, remember that.

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    1. “I haven’t been to church in quite some time and when I did, about 1 year ago, I didn’t recognize what I saw. I’m a Baptist and was used to a lot less—how do I put this—showmanship at Church.”

      Agreed.

      “Especially since I’ve gotten more interested in apologetics, I’m afraid I won’t find a church where this is highlighted and will quickly become discouraged again. My last church certainly did not; in fact, I don’t think the preacher ever once used logic to buttress any of the sermons he gave. I don’t think he was even capable.”

      I am thinking of quitting my job and moving because there is no apologetics in this town.

      About the flowers. Flowers mean something to a Christian woman, if they are the right kind, and given with the right message:
      https://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/what-is-the-meaning-and-purpose-of-white-roses/

      I would never buy jewelry for a woman, except a wedding ring, and it would be plain. And the wedding would be inexpensive as well. But my wife would drive a Jaguar and carry an expensive Sig Sauer P226. But that’s completely different! Those things are useful.

      If only someone who had received white roses could reply and explain how they made her feel within the context of being a Christian woman in a culture like this? Anyone?

      “This is especially true for women who, by their nature, follow trends, more than most men. This is a massive generalization, I know, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some validity to it.”

      This is incredibly true, and it’s one of the reason why I write SO MANY posts critical of women on this blog. They are the ones who are taken in by socialism and feminism and other ideologies in order to fit in with the crowd. Men just follow their lead in order to get sex. It’s one of the reasons why I highlight Michele Bachmann and Ann Coulter (especially) so much. To give them an example of how not to conform. Chrsitian women have two strikes against them: 1) they are DOMINATED by the desire to be happy, which rules out studying apologetics, etc. and causes them to reduce faith to prayer, Bible reading and youth group, and 2) they are absolutely incapable of resisting the secular culture and the trends of postmodernism, relativism, secularism and feminism. It’s a lonely time to be a Christian man right now.

      One other thing that I’ve noticed is that women are enormously tempted to cash Christianity out as being “A good God wants people to have happy feelings”. I’m listening to an episode of Unbelievable right now, and the apostate woman is explaining how she grew up SEEPED in Christian culture and surrounded by pastor and missionary relatives. But what got her in the end is the idea that God wasn’t doing a good enough job of making people happy. Another thing women struggle with is Hell. They make these decisions through their feelings and then the feelings drive them to make claims that there is no God – because he isn’t nice enough for them.

      I agree and disagree with you about chivalry. I agree that it should never be given to 99% of women. But when you find one of that 1% who can handle it and respond, then it’s amazing how you feel – loving someone upward. Most women can’t respond to chivalry though – they aren’t prepared for it through study and holiness.

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  4. My thoughts.

    1. I think a good part of the problem is as alluded to – the church sees that the world is successful at attracting people, and it tries to copy the world’s methods. But those methods are based on the offer of instant gratification. How that can possibly square with a message of “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me” is quite beyond this little guy’s brain.

    2. It’s easy to “be a Christian” when most everyone in your social circle is. Much harder out in the wide world. I have two family members who, I think, suffered that fate.

    3. There’s a lot of anti-intellectualism in the church. I also think there’s a lot in the world. Most people have probably never heard of the cosmological argument, for example, and if they did, they would probably think, “Oh, that’s too hard for me, I’m not a cosmologist or a philosopher.” I also suspect the habit of not thinking about things long or deeply leaves most people vulnerable to facile appeals to emotion.

    4. I see the message coming through all too strongly that belief in the Gospel is chiefly a means to an end, the end being a healthy, wealthy, happy middle-class existence with a fantastic spouse and amazing children. That’s quite wrong for a whole bunch of reasons, which I won’t detail now, and has the additional weakness that teenagers and young adults see that as boring anyway. “What? You want me to turn into Mum and Dad without having any fun first?”

    5. I wonder how many people are actually encouraged to think about defending their faith. (Yes, I know 1 Peter 3:15, but who knows how to apply that verse in practice?) And I have the strong suspicion that if I went to most pastors and said I was having doubts about, say, the reliability of the Scriptures, I’d probably receive a response touching on one or more of (a) reading the Scriptures more often, (b) praying more, or (c) dealing with some sin in my life. Quite how “reading the Scriptures more” would help me if I’m questioning their validity escapes me. Even as I’m typing this, I’m thinking that pastors probably aren’t really trained to do apologetics either. I suspect they’re trained to deal mostly with emotional matters, not intellectual ones (see also #3). A related problem is when we try training people to respond to every kind of challenge with a proof-text.

    6. What should people like us be doing to better equip young Christians to face their challenges, besides writing extensive blog posts and comments?

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    1. I suggest getting involved in your local church and then ask about teaching a class, or volunteer with the youth group and teach them. I’ve done both. People at my church loved it when I went through The Case for the Resurrection by Habermas and Licona, and then they felt really encouraged when I taught Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig. And for the youth group, I used all that material, simplified it, added a few different topics, and taught it to the high schoolers. And they understood it. Just try to be the point man on apologetics, if you can. And when it goes well, they’ll ask you to do some more. Or you ask when you can do it next. It’s just that right now many people don’t know where to start. Help them – they need it.

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      1. Funnily enough, I was thinking along somewhat similar lines this very morning. Thank you for the constructive feedback.

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  5. I wrote about 3 drafts of this post and just got frustrated because I was rambling about all kinds of details. So I’m going short point-form now.

    I play in a band and tour professionally. Anti-intellectualism aside, this woman is both right and wrong.

    Touring bands have to be concerned about image, Christian or not, or they won’t be taken seriously in the scene they’re trying to break into.

    They have to be concerned about making money because on average, a good band will go 3-5 years of touring, and LOSING money, before they start to break even. If your band sucks, prepare to go a lot longer without making money.

    My band is a Christian band, we tour with Christian and non-Christian bands.

    I’ve seen Christian bands use silly catch-phrases that kids will be into to sell shirts, and it disgusts me. I’ve seen them be more concerned with making money than spreading God’s love, and it makes me sad.

    I’ve seen some very authentic Christian bands preach from the stage and make a real difference in kids’ lives. I’ve seen them use very “explicitly Christian” lyrics and still enjoy a high degree of success in both Christian and secular scenes.

    It’s important to find ways to connect with kids and give them what they want commercially, but it’s important to not be overly concerned about those things to the point that you forget about bringing your audience closer to God.

    My band doesn’t preach from stage. We let our music and lyrics do the talking. We are always around after shows to interact with fans, talk about whatever they want, sign stuff for them, pray with them, whatever they need. We are accessible and authentic, normal guys with flaws like anyone else who have the gift of being able to travel and play music.

    I can’t remember what else I was going to say. There might have been more.

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    1. I’m sorry if I made you feel upset. I think CCM is fine, but not when parents think of it as a substitute for apologetics and worldview. I.e. – if parents think that listening to music is an adequate foundation for adulthood, that’s a mistake. And I know you aren’t like that.

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      1. Oh, no. I’m not upset in the least. I wholly agree with you. The thing is the woman in the post makes a whole lot of points that look like they attempt to pass the blame so that she’s not responsible for losing her faith.

        I’m just trying to save some face among those in the music industry who actually do have their hearts in the right places. Like I said, I’ve seen Christian bands who are 100% concerned with their ministry and are successful, and I’ve seen “Christian” bands who prefer to make shirts with hip little catch-phrases on them to make lots of money, say their same little speech from stage every night, and spend the rest of their time hiding from their fans and talking crap behind others’ backs.

        My main point is I don’t think this woman was prepared while growing up to test everything, and see if it holds true. She fell victim to the glitz and the glamour the industry undoubtedly tries to sell people, and is now writing off all of Christianity just because someone else got it wrong.

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  7. This is one of the reasons why I left mainstream and went traditional (liturgical as well). No happy-clappy music or feel-good sermons. Theologically-sound hymns and a structured service with a strong law and gospel sermon are the way I roll.

    I don’t think “debate” books are necessary. I’ve found all the material I need within the Bible. If you haven’t got a good foundation you’re going to get walked all over and a debate book isn’t going to do anything for you.

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    1. Reading the Bible is not exclusive with debates. You should re-read 1 Pet 3:15 and take the obligation to be prepared more seriously. After all, there are many things you do better in life by building on top of the Bible with other knowledge – like investing or buying a home.

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