Question: It is unfair to paint...sweeping generalizations [about worship music]. Isn’t the most ...

Question: Thanks for your powerful and poignant article for December. However, it is unfair to paint a sweeping generalization that “so much that passes for ‘worship’ in many churches today...is little more than the repetition of pitifully empty expressions from new song writers.”

Isn’t the most important issue whether the heart of the musician pleases God? Christian artists that are creating musical “milk” but whose hearts are pure may also be “precious in His sight.”

I even wrestle with sacred “Christmas” music. Could we not argue against singing those carols since the holiday itself is of pagan origin and not “scriptural” and most of the music is shared with the Antichrist Catholic Church? And isn’t even this a matter of the heart and personal conviction, rather than a doctrinal absolute?

Response: I expressed my personal opinion out of deep concern for the shallowness of so much “worship.” While I said that beat and style are not my complaint, some popular “contemporary music” has a worldly rebelliousness to it and even a hypnotic beat that any witchdoctor would recognize as what he uses to call up spirits. But I’m only dealing with the words.

Yes, the hearts of Christian artists who “are creating musical ‘milk’ [may be] pure and ‘precious in his sight.’” But worship songs for the entire congregation ought to glorify God and the person and work of Christ to the fullest extent possible. Why offer something inferior when so much that is far better is available?

Regarding the songwriter who lacks the maturity and appreciation of the Lord and is unable to give us anything but “milk” (no matter how pure his heart), let him mature before his music is considered worthy to lead others. While worship is “a matter of the heart and personal conviction,” I disagree that doctrinal content is secondary. How can the heart be right if the doctrine is wrong? Tragically, many if not most “worship teams” have little or no acquaintance with the solid hymns of the faith and don’t even know what they are missing.

Some “Christmas” songs are equally shallow and unbiblical. My criticism is the same for them.