Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 05:11:06 PM |
Age 27, NJ |
Amen Todd! Loved it! Couldn't agree more. I'm Joel the poet for the Revolution Poem on youtube which Tiffany Gelpi, my friend and co-laborer in the Gospel, forwarded to you. Perhaps you didn't recieve it due to your busy schedule, anyway, just know I love and support what you guys (you, Ray And Kirk) are doing for the LORD. It's awesome! Keep it up. Your impacting and changing lives daily. As Winston Churchill so eloquently put it, "Never, never, never, never,... give up. Love ya' Todd I feel like I want a hug from Jesus?... LOL... Just kidding LOL :-)
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 03:58:48 PM |
Age 29, MD |
Hey that's the Faith+1 approach to song writting. Take a song, cross out the word baby, replace it with Jesus and boom instant hit. Mir album here I come.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 03:37:44 PM |
Age 52, NC |
That pretty well sums up what I've seen happening in my own church lately.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 03:00:47 PM |
Age 57, NY |
I agree in principle with the concepts of the article, and, appreciate the excursion back into some of the older hymms which our contemporary church does during our worship. However, I'm not ready to toss out some of the newer music altogether. Bottom line- I like it; and the Lord likes to hear me tell Him so.
I wonder if some of the comments which refer to the "biblical" nature of this music might change a little if we were using "biblical" language. Remember "agape", "phileo" and "Eros", are the original words (all with different meanings) which we now translate as the word "love".
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Re: Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 02:27:10 PM |
Age 22, CANADA |
To who wrote the response on:
Posted On: 11/27/07 03:34:35 PM Age 20, MS
"Zoe"...
That was perfectly put!
Im impressed and agree completely.
(And youre only 20?)
I puposely have been looking at the age of the responses.. and as much that I do agree with this post, I agree with some of Todds opinion as well. Some songs come across to be a bit like Jesus is my boyfriend, in a, bad way. I think people need to be aware of
where the heart is and what way we mean it when we say it. For the current generation, I could see it being a bit twisted, which is a concern.
I suppose it would have to be the intention of the lyrics, written and sung. And I do agree with some woman getting abit breathy in songs.. (I could see how both can relate to secular movements)
Due to these and other secular movements, now in the church, I could see how people are getting to a point where these mindsets are created with the directions our worship and music is going. So I do agree in that sense. Especially for the men/woman role vs relationshp with Jesus concerning music.
Another gentlemen raised some ligitimate questions about how men and woman may think certain ways due to this type of love towards Jesus..
But as Tammy Trent puts it, "Im not listening". (to satans lies)
But for everything else, this person has nailed it!
Loved the comment~
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 02:25:07 PM |
Age 40, OR |
I agree with you 100%. As Christians, we should be able to distinguish our music from the world's music. If we can't, something is wrong.
If a person of a non-Christian faith, such as a Muslim, can sing a 'praise chorus' without ever expressing anything contrary to his own faith, something is wrong. Our music needs to distinguish Who is our 'lord' and our God. Christian music should be doctrinal.
Otherwise, I could sing Ann Murray's "I cried a tear" in church---after all, it doesn't really say who is the 'you'. So, it could be my lover, it could be God...or it might even be you---just as it says.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 01:36:05 PM |
Age 29, GA |
Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
This was a writer in the 1600's, John Donne. Many of his sonnets were of the Divine Romance between Christ and His church.
We are the Bride of Christ - yes, even the men. These men in the old days understood that. They didn't need to Man Up, as you say. They were vuenerable in their love for Christ Jesus. True men aren't afraid of romance, of tears, of love.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 01:22:59 PM |
Age 25, MS |
I will say, for someone going through a hard time that has had a shallow understanding of God and that He will always be there for them and that they'll always know it will have trouble getting through a time where God seems silent, where he is saying only "my grace is sufficient."
and one who sees God as a Lover always, and forgets that part of that love is judgement of sin will always forgive themselves when they mess up, cause they don't see the need for consequence. Or at least some guilt that helps them not mess up again.
My friend Shaunti talked about that one night, about how when someone messes up we run to let them know they're forgiven, and they never really learn from their mistake. She said sometimes we need to let them really wallow in the guilt a bit, and let it create a repentant heart. You'll notice Nathan in the Bible when dealing with David did not speak of restoration. He told David his sin, and David ran to the Lord prostrate, begging for forgiveness.
He never messed up that way again.
That really speaks volumes to me. All the prophets, and even Jesus Himself spoke of the wrongness of sin, the need to repent...and that restoration would come, but from a pure heart, a heart really seeking change.
I am thinking that I agree with this man's thoughts as far as the above paragraphs I have written go.
I spent my whole life in church, singing these very songs, and I never really began to understand God the way I described him above til recently. I feel many times lately like I've missed out on alot about God. I wish I had known.
We need some revamping in the worship community. But I will say we need to keep the romance as well.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 01:05:15 PM |
Age 45, NC |
Amen and amen. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
We are supposed to be Christian Soldiers, not whining wimps. One way to get more men at church is to give them something to sing about.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 12:59:53 PM |
Age 45, CO |
For the most part contemporary "Christian music", and I use that term loosely is theologically void of anything edifying, let alone giving praise to the God of the universe. We are called to be separate from this world, we are too look, behave, and sound different from our unsaved counterparts. If music reflects the condition and state of our heart and soul, then what does it say when contemporary Christian music sounds no different from it's secular counterpart. Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played 1Corinthians 14:7. We are to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, Ephesians 5:19. With the infection of secular society upon the church its no wonder the worship services on Sunday mornings seem more like a concert, instead of a time to pray and worship. Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! 1Chronicles 16:29 How many times have I heard people professing Christ as Lord and Saviour say "Our church has an awesome band that plays all the current music, not all that out of date stuff! This attitude simply portrays the sad state of much of the church today, so much for discernment, so much for bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Prophets come in many forms, in fact Gods word to us says “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves Matthew 7:15. Much of the Christian music scene is tainted with secular ideology and very often preaches a very different Gospel. Much of the Christian music scene exists to gratify and feed the desires of those involved with it, not to Glorify God! Instead of embracing everything new that comes along, like the world does, why don’t we just get back to basics! Church is not about contemporary music or how good the band is or being satisfied with the set list for any given Sunday. We need to be focused on our relationship with God, maybe if we were more concerned about what He commands we would less concerned about what we think we want! As far as Jesus giving us a Hug, well perhaps once we are in glory with Him but for now...Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded James 4:8.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 12:54:16 PM |
Age 17, CA |
Respectfully, I strongly disagree with many of the points made in this article, and I completely agree with Zoe's review (that's the really long one. I found this article on the same discussion board as she did, teddekker.com - come check it out) My thoughts - Sure, a healthy balance is fine so we don't forget who he is, but God is our lover. It sounds like what the writer is advocating is a return to Old Testament thinking, where there was an abundance (maybe even an overabundance) of fearful reverance and distance and not nearly enough intimacy. The curtain has been torn! If all he wanted was reverance there was no reaason to create us; he can get plenty of that from the angels. The thing that makes us special is that we have been invited into that intimate relationship. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with expressing deep longing for God. I firmly believe it's what he wants.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 12:52:23 PM |
Age 55, TX |
Todd,
You have a point. I play in my praise band at a Vineyard Church. The Vineyard movement has certainly done it's part to add to the "Warm & Fuzzy" CCM genre. I hadn't given this too much thought but I was talking to some of my fellow musicians a couple of weeks ago and we thought how it would be cool to put together a set of music from our playlist and perform it at a local secular venue like a restaurant or public event. We figured we could do a couple dozen songs and no one would be the wiser that we were singing about Jesus. Now that I think about it, that's just sad that we have that large a body of praise songs that sound so worldly they can't be easily discerned from actual worldy music. Part of being Holy is being unique and set apart from the world, dedicated to a Lord we can sing proudly about.
What happened?
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 12:38:13 PM |
Age 57, CO |
I agree, and on the other end Christian rock sounds like a train wreck. Often the music in churches is ear-splitting loud and has no discernable melody. I no longer listen to Christian music stations for these reasons.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 12:17:26 PM |
Age 57, MN |
Good one, Todd. I have to admit that sometimes I feel almost embarassed at listening to some of this music because although the words are about love, the sounds, groans and tones are suggestive of erotic love and I feel uncomfortable and that shouldn't be the case when listening to Christian music. It makes one wonder if the Christian music writers are trying so hard to compete with the world that they incorporate many of the secular music world's "ways?" into their music before discerning what they might be conveying to their listeners. It's a good reminder to pray for discernment (and spiritual maturity)for these gifted people. Also, for those who think they can justify some of this music by calling it love or a higher love, think about the immense love that you have for your children and then try to imagine singing to them with some of this stuff...............signed, still grateful for all of the wonderful Christian music out there......T.L.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 11:36:16 AM |
Age 42, PA |
What's wrong with a hug? I attend a Messianic Synagogue, so I don't know what music has invaded your church. When I grew ups church songs were "The Old Rugged Cross", "When the roll is called up yonder", etc.
I would encourage you to read the Psalms for itself. David praised God for nemurous reasons and was unashamed of dancing and lifting his hands in worship. The baptist church where I grew up frowns on such "emotionalism", and don't even think about singing "in the spirit".
My guess is that Todd Friel would have a problem with that two. I don't think that Todd and David would attend the same "church".
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Re: Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 11:18:49 AM |
Age 57, TX |
AMEN! I have thought for a while now...I would never waste my money on that silly stuff.... I do think it might be more serious than that because it mixes fleshly, emotional, temporal feelings with the sacred and eternal....this will not produce enduring fruit. This is also true for trendy emotional "let me make it relavent for today" sermons that are based on man's opinion rather than the Bible as well. NOTHING beats personal witness of God's miracle working power and the HOLY BIBLE.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 11:04:31 AM |
Age 43, TX |
First let me say that I'm a man and I strongly disagree with your article. The article is totally based on opinion (and emotions) and not the Word of God. The greatest commandment is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength." Please do a word study on the range of meanings and uses of the words translated "Love" in both the OT and the NT of this qoute. Part of that meaning is affection. While I agree that much contemporary music is lacking in doctrine, it doesn't have to be an "either or" issue.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 10:36:17 AM |
Age 65, NE |
Amen. I don't need a hug. I need a Rock, an Anchor, and a King.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 10:25:55 AM |
Age 48, CA |
As the wife of a pastor, I heartily agree with this article. There are some very good songs out there that are contemporary, such as Chris Tomlin's "How Great Is Our God". The words are worshipful and draw me to the throne of our Savior. However, there are songs now that are so sappy - one in particular that talks about "give me one magnificent obsession - to know and follow hard after you". Follow hard? What in the world does that mean? It makes no sense. As a product of the "Jesus Movement" of the early 70's, I was in Southern California at they heyday of Contemporary Christian Music. The songs of the Maranatha groups such as Mustard Seed Faith, Debbie and Ernie, Parable, Keith Green, etc. were all scripturally based and reverent. Now, most worship songs are fluff, and sadly, churches place too much emphasis on the harmonies of a worship band rather than the teaching of the Word of God. There is something wrong when a church allows 45 minutes of singing and 15 minutes of Bible teaching. As I approach 50 (eek!) I now have a great respect and admiration for the hymns that I so flippantly disregarded earlier in my Christian walk. I love the words of these old standards now, and have tried to teach my children to honor and admire these hymns of ages past.
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Re: Jesus Just Wants to Give You a Hug?
| Posted On: 11/28/07 10:19:36 AM |
Age 46, FL |
Sorry Todd,
If it pleases the Lord that I can sing "Jesus, lover of my soul" to Him, then
I will sing it over and over.
I want to continue my agape relationship with Him, until He calls me.
This isn't about being a Macho Man or "men, don't shed no tears".
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