If you hang around evangelicals for long enough you will start to here things like, 'Hillsong songs are all Jesus is my boyfriend type songs'. This critic seems to apply to any song where if you replaced the word Jesus or God you could perhaps imagine singing part or all of the song to your boyfriend/girlfriend. For example a song might say, I love Jesus or You (clearly implying God) are my everything.
I would now like to make a radical suggestion. At least a suggestion that is radical to my mind. What if this so called 'Jesus is my boyfriend' critic doesn't actually reveal a shallowness in the songs lyrics but an idol in the heart of the person criticizing. Our society is filled with false ideas about how one person (your boyfriend or girlfriend) can fulfill all your wants and desires, can make you eternally happy, will love you no matter what etc. That's what pop culture sings about all the time (mind you actually mostly these days pop music sings not about relationship but random sex so the critic may also reveal a lack of cultural awareness?). The critique, I can imagine singing this song to my boyfriend, might actually just mean you have bought a lie.
Jesus is the only person who can fulfill all our hopes and dreams. Jesus is the only person who can really love us no matter what we do unconditionally forever. It seems entirely appropriate then to replace the idol of our boyfriend/girlfriend relationships with Jesus who loved us and who we love. That we should make Jesus the object and centre of our love, affection and desire not our boyfriend or girlfriend. Your boyfriend is going to fail you. Jesus will never fail you.
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Thoughtful post, Chris.
ReplyDeleteBut another part of that critique is that the Jesus Is My Boyfriend songs are all abotu professing undying love and affection to Jesus/boyfriend, rather than exalting in his great achievements of salvation for us.
"Jesus I love you. You are my life. Eveyrthing I have I give to you. You are my everything."
You know what I mean?
Thanks for the post Chris, though I am left a bit uncertain by what you're saying.
ReplyDeleteAt the start I thought you were pushing back against people who don't like the romanticism of some contemporary Christian music: "What if this so called 'Jesus is my boyfriend' critic [sic] doesn't actually reveal a shallowness in the songs lyrics but an idol in the heart of the person criticising."
Then towards the end the last paragraph it seemed like you switched sides and agreed with their position?
keep blogging Bro.
Thanks for your comments Mikey and Brian!
ReplyDelete@Bryan. Sorry for not being clear enough. I am pushing back against the people who dislike the romanticism. My last paragraph was supposed to be a kinda explanation of why the songs are sometimes worth singing. That is the problem is not the songs but that we have too high a view of romance and not high enough view of Jesus. Hope that's helpful to your understanding of what I was trying to say?
@Mikey: I don't deny that if all you sang was, "Jesus I love you. You are my life. Eveyrthing I have I give to you. You are my everything." then you might be missing the point. However combined with good quality bible teaching, some other more meaty hymns or chouruses then surely they have a right and proper place in our worship? That is ought we not have an undying love and affection of Jesus just because of who he is as well as what He's done?
I guess I can't see why if you get a call to worship God from the scriptures and then move into a song set in a service why it's bad if you sing, In Christ Alone, When I survey, then I love Jesus he's my everything, followed by an exegetical sermon and then moving into how awesome and wonderful is Jesus we love you... I can't see how it's a problem? And I guess that's were some of my frustration comes in. That is, its not like your average evangelical middle class church is in danger of going all emotionally out of control. Yet sing a song that might say, you know what I have a great love for Jesus just because He's awesome makes some people antsy.
@Everyone... there is probably another argument about theological precision and artistic expression and how that relates to worship that needs to be had too which I think is sort of related to what I'm saying here. Stay tuned!
Also, no song, no matter how meaty it is is sung without relying on some underlying theological assumptions. So the argument these 'Jesus is my boyfriend' songs are too wishy washy - aka the lyrics don't come from Wayne Grudem's systematic theology book - to my mind isn't the water tight argument it's held up to be either.
Thanks for the clarification Chris. I appreciate your thoughts on this and I think the way your are discussing it is a little different to how I have heard it approached before.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that nether of us would be satisfied with a service that attempted to force an emotional state upon people; to say this is how you must worship and this is how you must feel while worshiping. We might even have scruples about a focus on emotions at all. . .
Might I suggest that one of the reasons that people are suspicious of emotive music is because it reaches into their heart. It is possible for some people to escape off what they are really feeling by running off into head space - into and intellectual fortress - particularly those of us who have had a good education. We assess the theological merit of songs.
The theological simplicity of of some contemporary worship songs doesn't offer me an intellectual buffer.
When I am loving God with my heart, soul mind and strength - when I am convinced that he loves me and gave himself up for me - I am able to enter into that space of emotional honesty in worship. Often my heart is not that close. These songs taste bitter and work against all that I feel at that moment. Yet, they give me an opportunity. An opportunity to acknowledge where I am before God. I may run from these songs and my emotions by using the theological acumen at my disposal or I may take the chance to acknowledge how I feel and prayer for repentance, hope, trust. I may not sing at that moment but at least I will be honest. These options are far better for me than the alternative of going off into my head and blaming others (the service leader, song writer, or denomination).
I hope that we can learn to listen to what we are really feeling so that we can respond rightly in repentance or praise!
My question, Chris, is are these "Jesus is my boyfriend" songs being genuine? In your response to Mikey you argued that they do have a place in worship, provided they are accompanied by solid teaching and more theologically astute hymns, and I agree. But how much can we truly love God? Isn't our love broken? It might be a bit disingenuous to claim undying love for Jesus. I'd actually love to hear a song that was more honest:
ReplyDelete"Jesus, I try to love you but fall short. Help me grow in love for you and forgive me as I fail."
I get your point though. Just because a song lacks depth does not mean that it can't serve an important purpose in regards to formation within a worship service.
Yeah I'm with Joey.
ReplyDeleteThey do have their place... although some of them are so naiive, saccharine, almost-boastful that they feel in bad taste, at least to me.
@Brian your latest comment is great!
ReplyDelete@Joey - I fully get that sometimes they do sound disingenuous claiming undying love for Jesus when you can easily think of 15 times you've fallen short in your own thought life since the song started playing. However, is it disingenuous to pronounce your undying love to your wife? In some way I think that there an implied idea of our intent. Sometimes I am not loving of my wife yet I still profess undying love for her at other times and I think it's real and valid. I'm not sure why the same idea can't work in some of our songs of praise and worship?
@Mikey - In this post I'm probably not meaning to say that there are some songs that we shouldn't sing because they are naiive or in bad taste. Nor am I meaning to say that every song that one might place in the 'Jesus is my boyfriend' song cannon are excellent songs. I guess what I'm saying is I've realised that the argument is necessarily a knock out blow to a song everytime it's raised and might have some validity. Some songs are great songs that express our love (maybe with some implied desire) and we might imagine singing them to a boyfriend or girlfriend but that might reveal more about us than the song?
Just thinking and trying to flesh things out as we go.
Chris, being the sole surviving member of the Single Men For Life (or until we find wives) Club I can't speak to undying love for a wife but I do trust your thoughts here. I guess my hope as a musician is that the songs I sing or write are intentional in their meaning. Having said that, I wrote a song once after an experience where all I could think to write were the words "You are God" and that was enough to encapsulate my thoughts and feelings so you are probably right. Intent is an important aspect and really songs that are theologically erroneous can, I'm sure, be used for God's glory. Thanks for your thoughts, brother.
ReplyDelete