I told you I would put any questions or opinions I had while you were gone here, so here goes:
This is what you said from September 07, 2005-
"So why all these songs with I and me. Even if its somethign like "Lord, I praise YOU" Why does the Lord even notice "praise" from a sinful person. I put praise in parenthesis because can we even praise God on our own?"
No! of course not. We cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ OR come to Him. How can we praise someone we cant even believe in? So now that that's completely clear, to the other part. God notices our praise because of Christ. The curtain was torn in the temple when Jesus died because the barrier sin put between ourselves and God had been conquered. Thanks to Jesus, we are both saint and sinner. Here's where i get unsure: do the praises of His saints (notice how it's HIS doing) please him? We know we can do nothing to make God love us any more or less. At least that's what I was taught. But does that mean that even through Christ on the cross we cant do anything to please him?
About the I's and me's in CCM. I completely agree. We do put too much emphasis on us, when it should be at worship of all times that all emphasis is on God. But look at the Psalms:
9:1 I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart
16:8 I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
34:4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.
88:9 I call to you, O Lord, every day; I spread out my hands to you.
89:1 I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.
147:1 Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
I will praise, I have set, I sought, I call, I will sing. Could be wrong, but im pretty sure the Psalmist wasnt saying here that the praising was his doing seeing as later in verse 51:15 he says "Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise." He uses I a lot actually, all (as far as i can tell) without being a heretic. Like i said before, i think you're right about most of the contemporary songs. Im just saying, just because a song says I or me doesnt mean it's disrespecting all that God's done for us.
I hope i havent misinterpreted anything that you were saying. Let me know if I was! Hehe by the way, have you ever heard "Who Am I" by Casting Crowns? I like it, and seems pretty solid to me in what it's saying. Let me know if im missing something?
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
would care to know my name,
would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
would choose to light the way
for my ever wandering heart?
Not because of who i am,
but because of what you've done.
Not because of what i've done,
but because of who you are!
I am
a flower quickly fading
here today and gone tomorrow
a wave tossed in the ocean,
a vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I'm calling,
Lord you catch me when I'm falling,
You've told me who I am:
I am yours.
Who am I,
that the eyes that see my sin
would look on me with love
and watch me rise again?
Who am I,
that the voice that calmed the sea
would call out through the rain
and calm the storm in me?
Then it repeats the two middle things. Aaanyway, that's just what was on my mind.
2 comments:
Does God notice our praise? We haven't changed. Still stuck in our sins and rebelling against God. The Father notices the praise of Christ because we were clothed with his righteousness at baptism! The curtain was torn to show that there was no more barrier. Christ tore it in two not so that WE can somehow be worthy, but to show that Christ was righteous for us! Thanks to Jesus God sees a saint and not the sinner. Yes, the praises of His saints do please him, But when we say the praises of his saints It's Jesus doing them, not tainted by sin in anyway. Right, we can do nothing to make God love us any more or less. It is all his doing. Still with Christ WE can do nothing. It is all Christ's doing.
Onto the Psalms: first of all we must remember who's words those are. All those words were inspired by the Holy Spirit. We should praise God. "Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify your glorious name evermore praising you and saying: Holy, Holy, Holy..."
We do praise God. But for what purpose? Most of it is for our benefit (i.e. singing of hymns.. doctrine about him. Not about our trying to "lift his name on high" or loving him so much.)
As far as most CCM songs go... some of them I have absolutely no problem with. I just do not think that they should be used during church. All music creates emotions. The question is does the music style, volume, instruments add to the text, or distract to it. Most CCM has very "flashy" music to try to make up for the lack of text there. (As I have seen in Troubs especially)
Everything in the Church should be done in reverence.. I really don't think that standing up and waving hands in the air, or having musicians up in front showing off shows much reverence for God.
As far as the song goes.. I think it is very week. It doesn't really talk about our salvation, There is no Cross. It just says that we aren't worthy.. there really is no Gospel in it.. at all.
Look at some of the hymns that come to my mind. "A Mighty Fortress" Right there Gospel in the first three words. He is our Fortress.. as look on to the rest of the hymn you see the Gospel just keeps coming.. and then "Thy Strong Word didst cleave the Darkness" Again Gospel in the first line. Jesus destroyed the Darkness.. Sin, Death, and the Devil.
I probably sound like a hypocrite because I'm in troubadours but I sin a lot, I really don't want to be hearing about what I should be doing. I don't want anything to do. Christ as already done it all for me!
Pax Christi!
How bout another post.. even though i don't post much.
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