Football freak - I just checked out your page and you give me such hope for your generation!!!  You have blessed me today without even knowing it!!  God bless you and your family!

Now, I know your question was for Sooz, but I have to say Casting Crowns has lyrics that touch to the core.  I will have to investigate further now, but off the top of my head I see them as scripturally ok - please correct me if I am wrong...

FF, I'm sorry, but I don't keep up with all the bands.  I do love Casting Crowns, though.  "East to West," and "Prayer for a Friend" are very moving. 

My suggestion to you is to not blindly take anyone's word for it.  Get into The Word and find out for yourself.  If the song in question has some key ideas you'd like to be more sure about, go to www.biblegateway.com and do some research. 

To use the example I used, Trading my Sorrows, you might type in "joy" and "sorrow" or "trials" in the search box there and see what pops up.  My guess is that you'd find many of the scripture references I used in my blog.  Hold the song lyrics up to the light of God's Word as a standard. 

If that seems too complicated, ask a leader in your church to help you do the research.  If they are in leadership, they should be willing and able to help you with this.  

As an old fogey, I love listening to Hillsongs praise music.  Much of their music is awesome!  Every once in awhile, though, they release a song that doesn't ring true with scripture.  I wish I could think of one right now, but I'm drawing a blank.  I know it's happened, though; I just can't remember the details.  Old age strikes again!  Just because some of their songs miss the mark doesn't mean there aren't other songs written by that talented team that hit the scriptural nail squarely on the head. 

Sometimes bands get caught up with making nice rhymes or pretty lyrics and make a mistake.  That doesn't mean all of their music is out of line.  It just means they need to spend more time in God's Word, the Bible.  Completely dismissing all music from a band should only be necessary if the band's theology is completely messed up.  That is not usually the case with people who love our Savior enough to commit their careers to praise Him through music. 

My best suggestion is to read your Bible every day.  Most people suggest beginning with the book of John.  I'm a big fan of the book of James, but whatever you read will be helpful.  (2 Timothy 3:16) Over time you will find that, as you listen to music, scripture will come to your mind that either affirms the lyrics of the songs or refutes them.  It happens to me all the time! 

That's not the easiest way, but it is the best way.  Some of the best advise I ever got was this:

Sometimes you know what you are doing is the right thing to do because it is the hardest thing to do. 

Committing to reading the Bible and making an effort to apply the principles found in it is a challenge that can be difficult at times, but it will reap you infinite rewards!

~Sooz

Kathy, great minds think alike!  I sang that same song in Sunday School as a preschooler.  It was fun to sing it faster and faster until we all collapsed into a laughing pile on the floor.  But, alas, not accurate from a biblical standpoint. 

Phooey.  Now I've got that song stuck in my head!  ;-P

As a Catholic Christian there are a lot of Christian songs that have a theology to them that I wouldn't call sound.  On the subjust of suffering you wrote:

I have commented in the past here about some songs that we sing in church, but somehow don't seem doctrinally sound to me. For example:

"I'm trading my sickness, I'm trading my pain, I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord."

While I like the thought, it doesn't jibe with what scripture says. We can't just lay down our sickness, walk away from it and have only the joy of the Lord to contend with. Sometimes, no matter how much we'd like to dump pain on the side of the road and leave it there, our suffering instead becomes a part of our lives and, hopefully, a part of our witness. We can, however, rejoice in our suffering (Romans 5:3-5), knowing it will mature us in our faith. We can also count our trials (i.e. suffering and pain) as joy (James 1:2-4) for the same reason. But that is not the same thing as laying down our sickness and pain.

I totally agree with you.  We can offer up our suffering which brings us closer to Christ.  Not "lay  them down for the joy of the Lord." as you have suggested the song says.  We don't trade our pain for the Joy of the Lord.  The pain can co-exist in our Joy of the Lord and is given meaning when we join our sufferings with the suffering Christ endured for us.

Great Post Soozanne!

"If God didn't say it was true [in sacred scripture], it isn't?"

Paul,

I see what you are trying to say here, but I would have to disagree, slightly.  There are many things that God did not directly say in scripture, but we can know them to be true through His natural law.  God is the creator of natural law.  For instance, what is your view of artificial contraception?  Did God design a woman's natural fertility?  I see these commercials on television trying to eliminate a woman's menstrual cycle.  But what is the sciences behind these products?  And more importantly, are they going against God's natural law?  There actually are scripture passages in the old testament that allude to contracepting as being morally wrong, but most protestant denominations today do not see a problem with contracepting.  Is this because it is not directly mentioned in the Bible or do we need to "just get with the times"?  These are honest questions, we as Christians, need to ask ourselves and should pray about. Should we classify these as small "t" truths and classify the truths explicitly mentioned in scripture as big "T" truths?

Apologies for getting off of the main topic...
 

OOH!  New Chimers In! 

Quick point:  In a perfect world, or even in a world only slightly less lazy and sin-inflicted than our own, we would definitely form our theology directly from scripture. 

However...

We are in a lazy, sin-inflicted world.  It is much easier to learn about Christ and Christian living through singing along on the radio than to actually set aside time to read and consider scripture.  That is part of our nature - to look for the easiest way to do something. 

Besides that, the simple act of listening to music, watching television programs, reading books, etc, etc, influences the way we perceive the world, God and each other.  It is how we are wired.  That's why we have to be careful about what information we allow into our lives.  It is really easy to assume if a song is labeled "Christian", then it's fine.  It is easy to assume the same thing about books and even movies. 

As a child especially, I know my ideas about faith, Jesus, heaven, etc, were influenced greatly by the songs we sang at church.  In my innocence I assumed if we sung it in church, it had to be true.  I think most people do that. 

I don't think we have to have a problem with someone who does that.  I think we might want to take a second look at the writers of those songs and the churches who sing them, though.  We live in a world of damaged people who need help and encouragement.  It would be nice if the church (as in Us, the people, the body) could be a place where they can find that help. 

Discernment is a learned behavior.  That often necessitates a teacher.  Older teaching the younger and all that...Titus 2:1-8

That would be us.

Thank you for your response Paul.  We'll let this get back to the main topic of music. God Bless.

By the way, Matt Maher's new CD "Empty & Beautiful" came out yesterday!

Jen,

I wish I could reach through this computer screen and hold you right now.  You sweet, sweet thing!  I'm praying for you, little sister!  When you find your way back to Bakersfield, you'd better come lookin' for me so I can hug you for real!

If you ever want to talk, I'm here.

~Sooz