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The Great New Debate – Worship songs under fire By Les Rees- Partridge
THE GREAT NEW DEBATE
WHEN IS A SONG NOT SUITABLE FOR WORSHIP?
Over the last decade, the Christian Church has been flooded with new worship songs and it sometimes seems hard to keep up with the many that have been created. Organisation such as Bethel and Hillsong, and musicians such as Darlene Zschech and Matt Redman are constantly adding to their catalogue. Interestingly, there are increasing articles on the internet imploring us not to use certain songs, with a whole list of reasons why we should abstain from them. Some of the reasons are arguable, others make sense ,and some make no sense whatsoever. I have listed some of the songs that we are being urged not to sing and invite you to form your own opinions. See what you think. But please remember, the remarks are not necessarily mine but those who would have them banned. This is merely to create debate.
1. IN CHRIST ALONE: The argument given is that this song contains bad theology. The problem are the words “Till on that cross, as Jesus dies, the wrath of God was satisfied”. Many churches do not accept the theology of personal substitution, which is the belief that God has a burning rage bent against mankind that is mitigated by Jesus. The Presbyterian Church in the USA have banned it from their hymn books.
2. SHINE, JESUS, SHINE. This song, say the critics has no theology at all and can at best be describes as ”Jesus is my mate” music. The words are heavily romantic and downright uncomfortable. Remember that loving Jesus is great ,but he is God, not an intimate lover.
3. BLESSED BE YOU NAME. Theologically nice, but there is very little content about the character of God. The bridge “You give and take away” seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the song.
4. AS THE DEER. The song has simply terrible poetry and “the apple of my eye” is just a decontextualization of Psalm 42 and just plain weird.
5. ONE THING REMAINS. There is no mention of God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. The words could just as well refer to anyone. An outsider would have no idea who this song is about.
6. OCEANS. Much of it is me, me, me and seems to live in self-indulgent purgatory, without any concrete statement of faith.
7. HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD. At first, it sounds good but theologically speaking it goes around for about five minutes without actually saying how great God is. It’s very bitty.
8. TRADING ALL MY SORROWS. Gives the idea that replacing our pain and sorrow with joy is a simple act. When it isn’t, we can feel ashamed and alienated, neither of which is the objective of worship. It also sends the message that sorrow and joy and mutually exclusive in the life of a believer.- That you cannot have one without the other.
9. HOW GREAT THOU ART (Yes, your read correctly). The line “When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation, and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart reeks of escapist theology. Christ isn’t coming to take us home, but to renew and restore this world. N.T.Wright suggests replacing “Take me home” with “and Heal this world”, it might just fix it.
10. THE OLD RUGGED CROSS. The Cross is our most precious symbol, but the sentimental sappy poetry comes dangerously close to worshipping the wood instead of the one who was nailed to it.
So, there you have it. Some of the arguments I find it hard to agree with, perhaps you have other ideas. I would be interested to know which songs YOU feel should be banned from worship.
Les Rees-Partridge.
Les Rees-Partridge the author of this post is an accredited minister with the Baptist Union and is a worship team member at east hill Baptist Church
