[OnEaglesWings]

I was wondering...do you guys think that Christian songs represent an accurate picture of the Bible and of God's will? Sometimes it seems like they make it way too rosy...like it's super easy to be saved and everything...I don't know, it just seems like a lot of them don't quite represent the big picture. Just looking for your opinions.

[Nomes]

Yeah, I think I know what you mean, and I agree! It's like...yeah!

Lots of the time songs are like...yeah, God is so tops and life is so tops beacuse God is so tops. And sometimes that's true, but a lot of times it's not rosy and easy and peachy christian stuff. A lot of the time it's hard, and it's about struggling to follow and stay true to God.

I like skillet's "locked in a cage"
I wanna be locked in a cage
I wanna be strapped in a chair hey hey
I wanna be where you are
if my insanity comes hey hey hey
Locked up inside your...

I wanna break my legs
in case the thought to escape hey hey
keep the hammer out of my reach
when my pounding impulse comes hey hey hey

And it's like...sometimes as christians, we have to force ourselves to do what God wants us to do. It's not all rosy and tops and stuff. you know! But I guess people write songs about how they are feeling. So I guess it depends on the writer. But yeah, I think you'll find songs that are the other "Extreme" of what you're talkinga bout.

I don't think this post made sence, but it's getting late, and you must expect such things at such an hour!

[RunningOnEmpty]

I totally agree that sometimes Christian music portrays Christian life through rose-colored glasses. Like we've got it all together. Most of it seems to just skim the surface of any emotion or feeling, much less anything deeper than that!!!

Personally I think a lot of Christians feel like they can't admit that life is not easy. If they admit hardship and struggle then they might be chastised for not having enough faith. Heaven forbid that Christians aren't successful 100% of the time. . I'm really not ranting (yet!), but I was just discussing with my sis the "gospel of success" that America seems to cling to (The Prayer of Jabez is an example of the popularity of this philosophy). God blesses those who please Him. - um, I disagree. Life is tough, even for Christians. Look at Paul. Look at any other apostle. Look at the early Christian martyrs.

Christian music (in general) seems to forget the suffering aspect of Christianity and jump straight to the glory part. Heck, it's not just Christian music, it's Christians in general. I find that discouraging. When life is not so easy that's when faith becomes a necessity and not just a word we throw around.

OK, I will step off my soapbox now. I kinda sounded like a preacher!! Cool /!

[Galatia]

I think, though, that a large reason why they do that would be marketing. Who really wants to listen to a song that talks about how hard life is going to be? If people want to be depressed, they will listen to secular music (Oooh...that wasn't nice). Whereas, songs that talk about how life with God is great, and that remind us to be joyful are a lot more common, because everyone (mass generalization here) wants to be happy. Songs like DC talk's "Wish we'd all been ready" are nice, but more often, people don't listen to music for the scriptural content. We just listen because music is cool, especially when it is glorifying to God.
I agree with ROE, Christians today are often not too concerned about the theological impact of what wea re putting in our heads. Unlike the theological soundness of most hymns, our choruses are now more like, "Jesus I want you, I need you, gimme gimme, all about me," instead of about Him. It's sad.

unfortunatly that is so true. Many of today's bands are of the materialistic views. However, many of their lyrics are great and can be used by other people in a more fruitful context.

[Mark]

I think that most of the new popular bands that have just started like plus one and all them have the easy-christian-life syndrome in their song writing. If you listen to their songs, the words dont have much depth, whereas if you listen to an artist who puts more emphasis on lyrics like a chris rice or fernando ortega, you get the deeper stuff. It just depends on what you want to hear i guess.

[OnEaglesWings]

Yeah...to me it almost seems like they think that you can just have a "mountaintop experience" every once in awhile and then keep on doing whatever you've been doing and God will be happy. :kroll:

[Insane Drummer]

i love jennifer knapp very good stuff.....

[Insane Drummer]

her lyrics are very very good... they are like not just like empty and shallow they have meaning so does third days lyrics......