casting crowns imo sounds like their singing about how life would be so much better if God guided them every second of the day without a trial or 2
I don't get that from the music.
For instance, "Praise You in the Storm" starts like this:
I was sure by now
That You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining
And ends like this:
As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away
I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth
It's not un-Biblical, and it's realistic. We suffer, we wish we didn't have to, and we strive to praise God anyway; He is our strength to bring us through anything. Of course we don't want to suffer; even Jesus didn't
want to suffer. (Though He decided we were worth it.)
they make it sound like a sin to be an american.
Apparently I've missed this. Can you explain?
And why is it only "Christian themed" if the whole point of many of their songs--and songs by many Christian bands--is how we relate to God, how we need to relate to God, and how we should relate to the world as God's people? Why is that a bad thing? The rest of the world sings about how
they relate to the world, which often involves sex, drugs, lots of alcohol, materialism, and violence. They sing about how they relate to
their god, which is often one of the above. That's better?
I'm not opposed to all non-Christian music; some of it is atrocious lyrically, which I believe should be avoided because of its corruptive influence (among other reasons). Other non-Christian music is not opposed to Christian morals or principles, even if it isn't specifically Christian.
An example: I love some of Abba's stuff, but they do have songs I don't listen to. But Dancing Queen is one of my absolute faves, and the lyrics aren't opposed to Christian morals (unless you believe dancing is inherently sinful). They are, in fact, totally unrelated to any particular religion: She's seventeen, it's Friday night, and she loves to dance. In fact, she looks for lots of chances to dance. She's the dancing queen. Again, unless you believe dancing itself is wrong, the lyrics are in the clear.
I even dance to Middle Eastern music...but we always check a translation to make sure the lyrics are okay first. After all, we wouldn't want to dance to a call to prayer (which is often some very pretty music) or any inappropriate lyrics. Our last song (tonight's show) went something like this:
I dream of you every night, you are my heart's joy, my life is joyful as long as I'm with you. (Summarized, of course.) Totally unspecific as to religion or morality.
Christian music isn't the only music that's okay. And it shouldn't be given a free pass just because it's Christian. But there's a lot of really good Christian music out there, both worship and otherwise.
