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Rachel? I think this is me you were answering.Rachel, please, I did not intimate that other people are not sinful!
I work among inner city kids RIGHT NOW, every week. I am telling you, these days they ARE more cruel than the kids you grew up with. It is not just some kids playing kickball in the street. In MY city they play kickball with people in the street.
The kids we encounter (who we bring to Sunday School every week, love, and minister to them, teach them the gospel, EVERY WEEK) THESE kids are hardened, bitter and angry.
The inner city is not just poor, it has become neglected by God's people and so the kids ARE becoming more heathen than many other groups.
Rachel, perhaps you need to look at more cultures before you decide there is no merit in any one over another. There are drug cultures, would you say they are just as good as the church culture? Probably not.
But please, do not take what I said as my being holier than thou. I work with these kids and I know who they are. Do you? We are trying to take them from where they are (without God) to where God wants them (saved and walking WITH God).
That last is a challenge to make you think, not an accusation.
Not all "cultures" in our country are good, and not all forms of music are good. There is Godly music and there is unGodly music.
You did claim that urban kids are more heathen, and you are wrong. Yes I do know all about them, yes we do work with them. Yes I have lived there as well as in predominately upper class white neighborhoods. The difference is the white "heathens" have the means to hide their sins better. No "culture is "good" without Christ as the center, not even "suburban or upper class".
Actually, rap is not "ALL rhythm". It is WORDS that rhyme to the rhythm, and you may claim that the rhythm dominates, or whatever, but clearly, it would not be rap without the words. Even the other forms criticized for "rhythm" still do usually have a lot of melody and harmony. People focus on a few extreme styles, to paint the whole genre with a single brush stroke.Let's get to what music really is, and the study of it will show you (hopefully, if you are willing to take it to heart), that there are unGodly forms of music just as there are Godly forms.
First of all, strictly looking at music....forgetting lyrics for now......there are three basic parts to music.
Melody
Harmony
Rhythm
All three are a valid part of music. Our God is a balanced God....."Let all things be done decently and in order", He is not the author of chaos, etc.....
So, let's agree that God would want balance and order in His music, as well. Anything, when out of balance or out of the natural order that GOD has ordained, has thus been perverted by the world and no longer qualifies as godly. This would then apply to music as well.
Ok, music speaks to us as human beings, on levels that not all of us understand, and no one understands completely. Howver, basically the Melody speaks to our spirit, the Harmony speaks to our soul(emotions, intellect, will) the Rhythm speaks to our body(the flesh)
It is not Godly to totally deny the body and all physical things, correct? Is there a music that does this?
Yes.
There is a music that is ALL Harmony. Basically no melody and absolutely no rhythm. It has no direction, no body to it, very ethereal. Out of balance. This is the music that the New Agers have made so popular. Emotion leads this music, and God tells us that our emotions are not supposed to lead us. While emotions are important they should not be first.
Now, is there a music that is ALL Rhythm?
Yes, that would be rap....the "music" that is being discussed here. It is ALL body, no melody and no harmony at all. It puts the body first, and the Bible tells us that we are to put our bodies into subjection. The body is not supposed to be leading us (carnal Christianity has this problem, we all have a problem in this area.) While the body is important it is not supposed to be first, not even second, it is to be last in line.
So what is this rightly "balanced", but "led by the spirit" style then? The old hymns? Perhaps many of these, the way they are played in conservative, old time Churches, rather than being the "balance", are simply the third counterpart to the other two extremes you mentioned. All "melody", with rhythm and harmony deliberately minimized, somethies almost to nothing, for fear that those two things lead to too much "pleasure ("the flesh"). Perhaps this is what led people to rebel and go to the opposite extreme in the first place.Lastly, there is music that is melody led. It speaks to our spirit, the part of us that is supposed to be in charge, under the control of the Holy Spirit.
When judging music, each individual song, we should keep these things in mind. There are variations of unbalance, but the spirit should always be in control, the emotions providing color and "harmony" to our life, and our body in subjection but providing an underlying support system that is used for good.
But the claim that all of the styles that are being condemned crosses the line and "appeals to the flesh" to the sense that is it comparable to drinking and cursing, and being "unpleasing" to God, has not been proven. It is argued from taking the "testimonials" of some, and then projecting it onto everyone else, whether we have experienced it or not.You can get into lyrics after all this is in balance. Lyrics can take an in-balance tune and turn it into an unGodly venture. BUT, lyrics are really secondary. They canNOT take and OUT OF BALANCE song and turn it into a GODLY song. You canNOT have one thing balanced and the other UNbalanced and still have it be pleasing to God. This would apply in all areas of our life.
I can't say that Im living a Godly life if I cuss and drink and do drugs while Im at home, but I still go to church on the weekends. "Hey, I go to church!" is not going to excuse the parts of my life that are wrong.
In the same way, if a tune (song) has good lyrics but it speaks solely to the body and ignores all the other parts than itis out of balance and is not pleasing to God.
No, it is you (Aaron) who doesn't know what "spirit" and "flesh" are. In four years, you have never been able to prove what they are to any of us who have debated with you. Once again, we only go around the cycle. (and welcome to The Cycle, bapmom!)Keep posting, bapmom! Eric has been told exactly what you've said many times. Music is judged by it's appeal, which really is the ultimate meaning of music, and he agrees. He just doesn't understand the differences between the spirit and the flesh.
People who take issues like this (where they are basically denouncing their bretheren as doing something "offensive to God", whether they force or "push" them or not) ALWAYS omit that last definition of "legalism"!Bapmom: //Again, please do not call me a legalist when you don't really understand what the word means. "legalism" means that the person is claiming that one must live a holy life in order to
a)get saved
or
b)remain saved
This is a heresy, of course.//
OF course, it is a heresy. It isn't what we
usually mean here by 'legalism'; it is only the worse form.
A less worse form is to give to much effort toward rules and forgetting our relationship to Christ and to one another.
If anyone is guilty of manipulation and imposition, the CCM crowd takes the cake. From the beginning, they have horned in on traditional worshippers forcing their preferences and beating down any who would object. Traditional worshippers are maligned as manipulative, judgmental, legalistic, man-centered, pharisaical, and the list goes on.Originally posted by Elnora:
It is extra biblical man made rules that one Christian tries to impose on another through manipulation or a false sense of guilt.
...
Pushing those standards on others is legalism.
That's par for the course when debating with the CCM crowd.Originally posted by bapmom:
My word Elnora! Where are you getting this?!
http://www.baptistboard.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/11/1135/5.html#000068Originally posted by Eric B:
No, it is you (Aaron) who doesn't know what "spirit" and "flesh" are. In four years, you have never been able to prove what they are to any of us who have debated with you. Once again, we only go around the cycle.
Yes, both have been guilty of the same thing, to some extent. (No, you cannot flip it over and ignore the guilt manipulation and forcing the traditionalists have done, using their "seniority" to boot!)If anyone is guilty of manipulation and imposition, the CCM crowd takes the cake. From the beginning, they have horned in on traditional worshippers forcing their preferences and beating down any who would object. Traditional worshippers are maligned as manipulative, judgmental, legalistic, man-centered, pharisaical, and the list goes on.
Where did anyone in this thread say that they prefer the music in the opening post of this thread in Christian worship?If anyone is guilty of manipulation and imposition, the CCM crowd takes the cake. From the beginning, they have horned in on traditional worshippers forcing their preferences and beating down any who would object. Traditional worshippers are maligned as manipulative, judgmental, legalistic, man-centered, pharisaical, and the list goes on.
So let me ask you a question. Is it God's will that the church use the style of music that Elnora prefers in Christian worship?
Told you....that you were just spittin in the wind here.Originally posted by Elnora:
Wow! Since trying to repost I see you all are having a heyday. I go back and now Aaron says, quoting me, that this is typical of the CCM whatever crowd horning in on traditional Christian music.
babpmom say I said I like rap therefore liberal when I said way back that I PERSONALLY DON'T!!
Do you all talk just to hear yourselves? Because you certainly have not paid attention to a thing I said. Now you are ready to get mad and START YELLING!!!
You have done that from the start, obviously with such lack of listening skills, it is a waste of time to try to rationally discuss this.