Christian music

So what exactly makes Christian music Christian? Or, what should make Christian music Christian?

Well, generally, I believe people think of Christian music as music that sings about God (or something relating to God).

Okay, Okay, hold up here..... botheration.

I was originally going to write this post--or at least I started with the intention of writing it--about how Christian music doesn't necessarily have to be about God, i.e. praising him, singing about how he did something, etc. But now that I think about it... everything written by a Christian should have a premise that God exists. Obviously, because that is the truth, and like I said in my last post, all art should correspond to truth.

So... can we sing about anything besides God? The first question that probably comes to mind (I guess it shouldn't be the first one we think of but I'll explain that later) is, 'Is it sinful or bad to write about this?'. Take trees for example. Say you wanted to write a song about trees. Or Cheetos and Doritos. I dunno. At first glance, there seems to be nothing really 'immoral' about it. I mean... does there?

You could think about it like this though. Your writing a song about trees (or Cheetos and Doritos, take your pick), so basically, you're glorifying said thing. Glorifying said thing... starting to sound a bit like idolatry. The very reason we exist (I hope you already know this, but in case you don't...) is to glorify God. Now by writing a song about something other than God, doesn't it sort of seem like we're praising creation? Glorifying what God made, instead of the creator himself?

Just thought I'd put in a little disclaimer... I'm making up all of this as I go along so... I don't really hold an opinion at this point. Thought I'd let you know.

So. Idolatry. God. It seems to me that the safe way is to write songs of praise. That's the safe way. But there's also a good way to praise creation. Instead of glorifying it for what it is, glorfy God for making it. Or if you're writing a song about say... the evil of the world (now why does that sound familiar... heh. Maybe I'm just making excuses) then make sure that the song points up instead of down. Sorta like what I said in my last post. Instead of saying everyone's evil and the world is hopeless and we're all gonna die (which incedentally isn't true)--we should give everything we write an upbeat note. A note of the redemption offered through Jesus Christ.

So in the end, do all songs have to be about God? I guess I sort of made a loop, and came back to my 'no' answer. But it's not quite as strongly 'no' as I originally thought. We have to make sure that we still have the understanding that God exists, and that there's hope. Especially if we're writing about something not really relating to God (like Cheetos or Doritos).



Sidenote: if you're wondering why I kept mentioning Cheetos and Doritos, well, I really haven't any good reason to give you. I suppose I just am having sort of a cheesy craving at the moment....

The Modern Art Culture

Well. I said I'd post on something interesting. At the moment I'm at a loss for interesting things, so I'll just post on a verse. The verse is this, James 4:4, and my NASB reads:

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Boy. That hits you hard doesn't it. By trying to be a friend to the world, you are making yourself an enemy to God. Powerful. I don't think I can really 'preach' on this, but I think you can probably see for yourself where that verse applies to you.

The book of James is sure packed with powerful stuff for such a short book. You should read through it sometime.

I'm reading this book called "It Was Good Making Art to the Glory of God". It's a bunch of collected essays on making art from a christian worldview. One of the big questions is what should our art be about, or what should it depict, etc. Basically, it should depict all things beautiful. If you think about it, mainstream art and media go for shock value. But when you see something shocking over and over again, you become desensetized. So to be shocked, the artist has to crank up the shock value another notch. The world's art arena has been cranked pretty high up there on the shock value. And that's not a good thing.

So to be a good artist, you have to shock people. Now that's all good and well (actually it's not, but I felt like saying that), but you can only get so shocking. And the things that shock people are a pretty bad lot. I mean come on, do you think extreme language, gorey grisly violence, graphic depictions of sex... do you think those are glorifying to God? Fine. Maybe you do. but I don't.

So now the question becomes what should we depict in our art? The first thing that comes to mind is beauty. The problem is, when I say beauty, roses, happy smiling people, children playing merrily, a pretty sunset... these are the things that come to mind. Now I think we should focus more on beauty as opposed to chaos, unorderliness, revolting things etc, but we can't just focus on the beautiful, because we live in a fallen world. We live in a world where evil is rampant, so it looks corney and false and goody-goody when people depict a perfect world in their art (By the word 'art' here I don't just mean paintings... I mean music, literature... the creative arts in general).

To make art that resonates and gives the consumer a sense of beauty, you have to depict truth. You have to depict the world as it is. But there's a fine line here, because some people will say there's no hope and everyone's evil and we're all gonna die (unfortuneatly I think I kind of conveyed that in my song Dark Illusions... I rather regret that now. But look on the bright side, the music's cool [if a bit repetetive]). This is not I repeat not conveying the truth. Yes there is sin, and yes we're all evil, but there's an overlying sense of hope and redemption to creation. God is loving, kind, and merciful.

Nothing Important

Well well well, I haven't posted in quite a while. You might think it's because I'm lazy, but actually I was in California on vacation (Okay, fine, I'm lazy anyways, but still...). For the first week and a half we visited family (we also went to Disney Land). The next week I went to a Christian retreat called Mount Hermon for a week. When we (me and my family) lived in California about 8 years ago, we would go up to this retreat every year. But this time around, I attended the senior high camp, which included grades 10-12. I was by myself for an entire week in a place I'd never been, and not a familiar soul within miles. It was great. I wasn't expecting it, but it was actually a really spiritually building experience. One of the speakers was amazing. Pastor by the name of Dave Jung. He did all his messages on the armor of God (mentioned in the last chapter of Ephesians). I will have to talk a bit about that sometime, but I'm to tired at this point. We arrived at our house in Connecticut around 7ish today. Boy it's great to be home.

One day when I was at my cousins house, I was tinkering around on the piano, and of a sudden, out of absolutely nowhere, I wrote a song. Eh, I guess I tend to do that all the time, but I recorded it today. Just finished uploading it to youtube a minute ago. So you can check that out at the bottom of the post (I don't know how long I'm going to be rambling on for).

Hum. Do I have anything else important to say?

Nope. So. I shall tell you about something interesting tommorow.

On Writing, Practice, and Talent

Well. I haven't done a good old post for quite some time. I am sitting here at the computer (which I hope you would have already guessed) trying to think of something to write about. Words fail me.

I'll start off with writing. People always give you sets of rules to follow (I'm talking specifically about fiction here). Do this, do that, make sure you don't do this, and make sure you do that... you get the idea. I was reading a book about writing a couple days ago, and one thing it said struck me like a sledgehammer striking a watermellon. The book, which by the way has been in print since 1965, said that you shouldn't listen to anyone elses rules. What's right for them might not apply to you or your specific scenario. Rules begin by taking away options and limiting you, something you definately don't want to do in writing. You must develop your own rules, and the way you do that is by writing. Practicing.

Speaking of practicing...

Everyone always says practice is the key. Practice enough and you'll become good. Say you practiced something 10 hours a day,7 days a week, 365 days a year. Could you be the best in the world? An interesting question: how big of a role does natural God given talent play in skill? Well to tell the truth, I think some people are just good at some things, and other people just naturally stink. I think this might sound weird to many people because of the way today's culture works. It's all about everyone can do everything, we're all equal, we're all winners, we can do it if we practice.... To tell the truth, that is not the truth. At all. God has given us all different level's of skill and talent. God doesn't dole out equal amounts of talent or intelligence to everyone, precisely measuring how much he gives to everyone. Truth be told, it's just the opposite. But then you have to step back and ask, "Is intelligence or talent or skill at something good?" Think about it this way, just because you're not as intelligent as Mozart or Einstein doesn't mean God doesn't love you, and it certainly doesn't stop you from your purpose as a human being (praising and glorifying God).

Ah. I just thought of a good topic for my next post....

Subscription

I just found this cool thing/program. If you want to subscribe to my posts via email, the just click the little thing at the bottom of this post. All you have to do is give it your email address, and it will email you my posts every time I post them. Nifty little thing. Don't ask why you'd want to get my posts by email. I don't know why. But I thought I'd give people the option.

Another Day

And here's another song. I think it turned out OK, even if it is a bit repetetive. I like the piano for the verse. That part was fun to make.

Here's the link to youtube if you can't see the video below:

Another Day

Another Song

Here is another song. I actually recorded it a while ago, right after the Dark Illusions one. I'm working on another which is almost finished, and I will post it when I finish. I find it quite fun writing music, and the singing adds a lot to it, even if I *do* have a terrible singing voice.

If you can't see the video I embeded on this page, then you can watch it on youtube. Here are the links.

Dark Illusions

Lost