Music Mondays #3: The Theology of Lyrics

(and yes, I know I skipped a week. shhh!)

An odd thing happened to me after I started seminary, and it's all Al Mohler's fault. On my first day of Systematic I, he told us that his goal was to make us think theologically about everything. And now, I do.

Especially music. I can deal with musicians who make no faith claims at all who write music that I have philosophical/theological disagreements with, but artists who tag themselves with the name Christian should be much more careful with their lyrics. And I know there are some things that Christians are going to disagree with -- write a song about the Rapture and odds are good that you're going to upset more people than you make happy, for example. But there are basics that we all do agree on, and those basics shouldn't be messed with in the lyrics to Christian songs.

Which brings me to today's rant. Ever since Radio U's transmitter here locally stopped transmitting (the risks of listener-supported radio), I've been listening to KLove. NOT my first choice, but I've gotten used to listening to CCM, especially since my iPod fried on me. There's one song that I absolutely have to change the station for whenever it comes on -- Point of Grace's "How You Live (Turn Up The Music)."

Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
Let it all out
You won't regret it
Lookin' back from where you have been
Cuz it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

Now, I have no problem with turning up the music, and normally I do, in fact, turn it up pretty loud. I do have a problem with the whole "it's not who you know" attitude, because when you come right down to it, that's exactly what it's about. It's all about who you know -- which is a line from another song that, ironically, Klove used to play, and probably still would if someone asked.

How we live has no relevance if we don't know Christ. In fact, the Bible teaches us that how we live cannot please God at all. How we live apart from Christ is irrelevant -- it is, in fact, all about who we know.

Now, I don't expect songwriters to be theologians, though some of the best hymn writers in Christian history were theologians (Luther, Wesley, etc.). I do expect them to realize that their songs are not just fluff pieces for the entertainment of the masses -- that there is some significance in what we sing when we sing to God. So maybe they should have some familiarity with basic Christian doctrine, so that they don't write songs that contradict it.

Posted by Warren Kelly at November 12, 2007 04:33 PM | TrackBack