Secular songs might be ok for worship?
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NiobiumTragedy
Glorious Tragedy
Ideas like this make me want to run head first into a brick wall. Why take a song that has nothing to do with religion and completely vitiate the meaning the original writer had for it?
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Qyöt27
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This.
Now, I can understand - and would be fine with - using songs that talked about other topics relevant to the church and/or faith and didn't necessarily even wax theological or pontificate about things, but for directed worship, absolutely not. Stick to hymns for that unless you want to write something original and not ape all the P&W output that's come before you, or do awful re-lyricing of Top 40 material.
Actually, I think that church bands need to be a lot more daring and willing to step outside of what genres they perform, and instead go for things which are theologically deep (which one can do without hitting some sort of quota) or espouse a need for thinking through one's faith, along with being much more musically substantial than overplayed pop song chords, but I know the chances of that happening are slim-to-none.
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WannaWitness
Shining God's Light for a Lost World.
Yes, it should, but I do not detect that "You Raise Me Up" is "man-centered". I don't know how the original artist intended it, but I read a totally different message into it, a song of thanks and praise from the point of view of believers who are overjoyed beyond words at knowing that God gives them strength in their trials, or "raising them up to stand on mountains". There is a time and place for such songs, which sound to me something similar to what I read in Psalms. I have even heard someone sing it on a TV talent show, and a secular person, upon hearing it, recognized it as inspirational, with the remark "I felt like I had been in church" (and the tone was not sarcastic, either).
I don't wish to debate. You can have your opinion, and I can have mine. From here, we can agree to respectfully disagree with one another, and realize that we are both followers of Christ who happen to have different perspectives.
God bless.
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JCMJ friend
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I think yes maybe we can use some nice secular songs to worship such as wing beneth my wings reminds me of the verse in the bible which says we are under the shawdow of our fathers wings ,he looks out for us,Heal the world by Michael Jackson teaches us unity and to aim for world peace love and wholeness,saviours day by cliff richard,your simply the best by Tina Turner as Jesus is the best,yes maybe one or two but mostly no.
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MacFall
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Honestly if I heard a secular song being played in worship I would grab my stuff and walk out of the church right then. How can one worship in spirit and in truth to a song written by a non-believer for the purpose of praising something other than God?
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JCMJ friend
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Non believer?Actually Michael Jackson and Cliff Richard are/were very religious,but if you only like worship music then thats fine,for those who like pop thats fine too,I say God bless it all ,however their are some artist you need to be careful with as there have been known to have bad hidden messages in them,i judge it on purely whetether that artist loves God or not whether they have any form of love for God.
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MacFall
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Plenty of thoroughly wicked people have been "very religious" throughout history. Jesus said that we would know his followers by their fruit, not by how religious they are. And the fruit of the life of Michael Jackson was humanism, excess, and perversion. He never made a confession of faith (except to say that he liked the teaching of Muhammed), and never wrote songs to glorify God. There's nothing wrong with enjoying his work for its artistic merits, but using his songs for worship would be contrary to the purpose of worship. The same applies to other secular artists, and for that matter, to any song written by a Christian which was meant to entertain rather than to glorify God.
Again, there's nothing wrong with enjoying music for its own sake, but worship is a sacred thing, and music written for any purpose other than God's glory is by definition profane. No reason should need to be given for why the two must be kept separate.
Again, there's nothing wrong with enjoying music for its own sake, but worship is a sacred thing, and music written for any purpose other than God's glory is by definition profane. No reason should need to be given for why the two must be kept separate.
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Obzocky
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I think it is perfectly plausible to use secular songs for worship purposes, the song itself is not nearly as important as what the individuals singing it have in their hearts.
Just a personal opinion though, I know a lot of people do not feel comfortable with this, the beauty of being an individual and the reason so many different worship styles exist.
Just a personal opinion though, I know a lot of people do not feel comfortable with this, the beauty of being an individual and the reason so many different worship styles exist.
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NiobiumTragedy
Glorious Tragedy
By that thought process, I'm going to start suggesting our church sing a couple Marilyn Manson songs... because it's about what's in our hearts, you know. I can think of a few that I could twist around to work well.
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Obzocky
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By that thought process, I'm going to start suggesting our church sing a couple Marilyn Manson songs... because it's about what's in our hearts, you know. I can think of a few that I could twist around to work well.
Well, you know what, I say go for it. If we take the words, break them down to being just words instead of attaching our feelings for the song-writer to them, they'd be perfectly fine
I'll admit i'm far too laid back about this sort of thing though, could probably do with a bit more steel in my bones
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Music is all about feelings and the soul. If a secular song makes a person want to worship God or if someone wants to use a secular song to praise God, then great!
I ask that a moderator please consolidate this post with the above one.
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JCMJ friend
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We are all wicked sinners only by faith and love for Jesus can we be saved.It hurts me to see this because only God knows our hearts and who loved him,we are all in the hands of God we cannot judge our brothers and sisters and as long as you love Jesus you are saved.Yes I have actually seen Michael profess his love and faith for God and i dont believe everything the media says just as i we take no notice of what the pharises say about our lovely Jesus.peace by the way
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