[MalcolmS]

>>>For this reason, the Christian cannot sanitize rock...

For too long the church has assumed and taken for granted its musical heritage which is rich in great hymn and gospel composition wedded to magnificent texts <<<

This controversy has been going on since the beginning of the church. Some thought we were all on the way to hell when we went away from Gregorian chant. Look in your hymnbook. Whenever you see something labelled traditional or author unknown, chances are it was originally a secular tune. Not only that, but many of these were drinking songs.

Many great hymns come from a period when Martin Luther was writing Christian lyrics to drinking songs. Bach wrote harmonies (shocking!) to many of these hymns.

When challenged, Luther is reported to have said "Why should the devil have all the good tunes?"

[LTCJ]

I find it bizarre in the extreme that there exists a group of people who criticize 'contemporary anything' as being unworthy of inclusion in the body of Belivers. In the same breath, they tout the hymns of Luther and the Wesleys (which I love, too, BTW) without the slightest clue as to the origins of many of those tunes.

You'd think these folks would put a lot more effort into identifying that Miraculous Breakwater which divides all of time. As best I can tell, it occurred well after the Son of Man stepped out of heaven to relate to the sons of men. By their reckoning, it seems to have happened sometime between when Christ, in His wisdom, dropped the contemporary tongue of Aramaic for the more holy Elizabethan English.

[ActionNewsBill]

When challenged, Luther is reported to have said "Why should the devil have all the good tunes?"

Didn't Larry Norman wrote a song with that title?

I don't mind Christian music, it's very positive, not like those real musicians being so hip with their fancy shoes.