I’ll admit I’m not the greatest discerner. My husband, however, is blessed with discernment, apparently God gave him enough for both him and me.
Sometimes I find myself rockin’ to a “secular” Christian song (intended contradiction) and Michael will dryly ask if I’ve listened to the words. Not really. I’m wrapped up in the “feel” of the music. But do the words to this Christian song represent and support all that is true? Are the lyrics Biblical based or does the mere mention of God qualify it as Christian.
There isn’t a more vital time of the year to get the message straight than Christmas. Yet
how many of the Christmas songs actually have a “Christ” aspect to them? Worse yet, how many of the ones that are “obviously” about Christ are actually Biblical? There are some songs I can hum but have no clue what the actually words are (like “O, Christmas Tree”).
This morning while reading my Google Reader blogs I came across this post Monday music: “O Holy Night” — the rest of the story
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Daniel Phillips did a fantastic job writing so I’ll let him do the job here:
The carol we sing is not true to the original wording of the French song Minuit, chrétiens, c’est l’heure solennelle, written as a poem in 1847 by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure (1808-1877). Cappeau said he wrote it during a coach ride. Adolphe Adam, who wrote the music to Cappeau’s poem, was Jewish, which led to the song being rejected by French clergy. However, Minuit, chrétiens was embraced by laity, and continued to be sung.
In America the Minuit, chrétiens fell into the hands of John Sullivan Dwight, who was an abolitionist and a Unitarian (among other things). That is to say, Dwight advocated the abolition of slavery, and he rejected the Biblical truths of the Trinity, of the deity of Christ, of the Gospel — that is, the lost hopelessness of man in sin, and of Christ’s penal, substitutionary atoning death as the sole path to reconciliation with God through faith alone. In other words, Dwight would not have affirmed Christmas, the historical Christmas, as narrated and interpreted in the Bible alone.
Interesting. So, here is the part that screams Dwight and not Roquemaure:
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease
And here is what Roquemaure wrote:
Love unites those that iron had chained.
Who will tell Him of our gratitude,
It’s for all of us that He is born,
That He suffers and dies.
People stand up! Sing of your deliverance,
This has made me aware of my naivete. Where I think I am following Paul’s words to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” I fall right into it by the lure of the music. There is always room for improvement. I’ll never be as refined as God desires (not in this life). It’s posts like these that remind me I’m to constantly be aware of the sights and sounds that enter my home.
Afterall, it’s not just me that’s affected, my children are listening too. Songs like “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and “Santa Baby” are horrid! Yet, just as equally damaging are songs that seems theologically sound but misses the mark by a inch…which is really a deep chasm in the eyes of the Lord.
