Here is an interesting article that I found on misquoting the Bible. My question to you is; how often do we as worship leaders embellish on the Bible with our songs/lyrics/prayers? I think this is a conversation worth having. Here are a few streams of thought:
1. Artists can use imagery that can help us understand the Bible in a better way. We are not saying that these lyrics are from the Bible so we should not have to worry about what people will do with them.
2. Songs that are moving toward infamy can aid Christians in pulling their theology off of the Biblical texts and on to the song texts as "Biblical". Ex. "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me" - How many times have you heard this quoted and used to back emotional/spiritual arguments.
3. Should worship leaders/musicians be held to the same theological standards as the teaching pastors? Are they in some way less responsible for the theology of the congregation or are they also responsible for the doctrine and theology that they communicate, or fail to communicate?
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/05/thats-not-in-the-bible/comment-page-55/
2 comments:
Luke, Ryan here. Good thoughts. I'll be concise.
1. Imagery is good, communication of that imagery is good too. As one of the most spotlighted roles in a church the worship leader is greatly responsible as to what people will do with any language we use as leaders. emotional/visual/poetic. we have to create a good environment that is as least distracting as possible for the congregation and faithful to good theology.
2. I think that amazing grace has good theology, and so long as people are using the biblical references as their backup and authority and not merely the hymn then i think it's good to find and use good theology put poetically in our lives. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on this
3. Yes they should be held to the same standards. And no they are no less responsible.
Yeah, I used Amazing Grace for is quatability and for how well it is known among even non-christ followers. But, like you said, SO LONG AS people use the bible too in thier arguements. My real point in this was in reference to and birthed out of the linked article which shows that people are quoting famous sayings and proverbs which they think are actually in the bible. If we were to create the most incredible lyrical/musical hook that spread like wildfire across the world should that be Scripture or merely spritual in lyric. I guess my arguement culminates into a higher calling for songwriters (and worship leaders who choose songs) to stay biblical rather then step into Christian Emotionalism/Spiritualism because it feels/sounds good.
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