The Rant Vault 1

   I'm deciding to mix it up a bit today. I find myself often frustrated with myself and the Church (that is, the whole body of Christ). These past couple days God has been unloading on me from His Word. It's been super refreshing, challenging, and overall super beneficial. Too often it isn't like that and I'm beginning to understand why. It's my lack of wanting to be intentional.
   So my first "rant" in this "The Rant Vault" series is on Christian music. You know, the kind you here on the radio, whether it be 104.5 in Starkville or 88.1 in Bradenton. The stations that any non-Christian would automatically recognize just by the melody. I would also like talk about praise music. The songs we sing in church. From "Blessed Be the Tie That Binds" to "Desert Song."
   Let's talk mainstream Christian music first. The hits through the ages and the ones we can't get out of our heads (as hard as we may try). I remember the following school year after I had received salvation I chose to totally put out all secular music from my ears because I felt sanctification would come quicker through my effort to only listen to Christian music. Surprisingly, I was able to keep it up for almost a year. The one thing I realized through it all was how stocked-up I was with pride. I had become super legalistic and was blind to the fact that there is no such thing as pure evil (except the enemy) in this world and no such thing as absolute good (except, of course, Christ). In fact, looking back on that year, I was becoming frustrated with what seemed to be religiously empty music.
   Now you've raised some red-flags. How can Christian music be empty? Something I overlooked until this past May at a conference was that we as Christians put out a totally false message of how our lives are. Yes, we are redeemed and set free from the sin that once entangled us and left us hopeless, but we still struggle with the king of this world and constantly battle temptation (often giving in). That is right, I, Johnny Weichel, deal with sin each and every moment of my life. But if I were to write a worship song about my life, it wouldn't be filled with only rainbows and butterflies.
   If ever a perfect Christian song existed (one that presents an accurate picture of our lives), it would start out with who we were before Christ. Then the song would progress through our sanctification (becoming more like Christ), including the failures, bumps, bruises, and victories. The end would be a triumphant picture of ourselves entering through the gates of heaven to exalt the name of God forever and ever (glorification).
   Most of the pictures painted by Christian music are those with no blemish or fault. No scars seem to mark the muse. In fact, most songs out there totally ignore the fact that we live in a fallen and broken world. This harms us in the end because when hardship comes we can't look to God and still see His goodness. We learn to only characterize God through His eternal goodness and love instead of realizing He is also full of white-hot wrath and perfect justice. My challenge to any Christian artist: write a praise song about the wrath of God. I think we have plenty about His love.
   On top of all of this, we ALL were made in the image of God. This being said, EVERYONE glorifies God (intentionally and unintentionally). At Summer Conference this year I did a two day seminar on how we as Christians aught to respond to art. I'm only scratching the surface of the 3 hour lecture, but I wanted to talk about how we can look at secular art and see God. Since we reflect this image of God, all art has good aspects, from "Fireproof" to the "Saw" movies. Each took skill to create and, while one may have less gore than the other, for us to claim "Fireproof" as the better movie is foolish. We're really just picking favorites. I've noticed a pattern in the majority of Christian art: cheesiness. This all goes back to the fact that we ignore the fall of man. Why not create movies and set the example for Hollywood? Why shouldn't the world point to our art and say, "we need to be like that?" Let's set the standard and point people to Christ on the way.
   Now on to worship music. I myself attend a more "charismatic" church here at State. Charismatic in the sense that the music is a little louder. People free-worship (sing lyrics other than those in the original song) and raise their hands. Not to say that if you don't do these things you aren't worshiping God, I just prefer it to the worship I grew up in. It all comes down to the condition of the heart.
   I find it easy to get caught up in the noise of worship. I'm learning to examine my heart, and if I find I'm getting caught up in the sound or not knowing what the words I'm singing mean I'll stop and pray. Also, I'm beginning to realize the importance of confession and repentance before worship. It clears my conscience and many times in the Old Testament God chose to ignore the sacrifices of Israel because they weren't genuine. They were not cleaning their hearts before giving to God what he deserves. Even so, when I go to a church where we sing from a hymnal I get caught up in worship that seems just as fake as the worship I often give at my own church. Both feel forced and often times mundane.
    As far as a resolve, I would love for anyone who reads this to leave encouraging comments. I'm sure I have misspoken in some, maybe all, ways. Seeing as this is a public post, please feel free to either send me a message on Facebook (John Alden Weichel III) or leave a comment.