What makes music Christian?

Group, Sep/Oct 2000 by Belknap, Bryan

OUR ANNUAL

CCM SECTION

Our Music & Media columnist takes a crack at redefining Christian music. Don't miss group's 2000-2001 Contemporary Christian Music Poster, enclosed with this issue.1

Christian music is wheedling its way into the mainstream culture as never before...

* Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer chats up Letterman, slipping in references to C.S. Lewis and the gospel.

* Jennifer Knapp rocks Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair.

* Kendall Payne sings the theme to TV's Popular.

* P.O.D. holds court on Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher.

Christian music is so everywhere that it's almost, well... mainstream. (Well, not quite ... it'll truly be mainstream when there's an afterschool special called I've Got a Secret featuring Audio Adrenaline.)

So if Christian music is finding an audience in the mainstream culture, is it really "Christian"?

Well, what makes a person a Christian? We are Christians when we believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for our sin and rose again three days later. We are Christians when we accept Jesus as Lord of our life and believe that at the end of our earthly life, we'll join him in heaven (for the Bible tells us so).

Here's what's scary: I can define the Christian faith easier than I can define the music that purports to represent it. Definitions and criteria for Christian music are as ubiquitous and diverse as Pokemon cards, and the battles over them just as fierce.

i'm so confused

Popular opinion defines Christian music using some mix of four variables: (1) lyrical content, (2) the artist's convictions, (3) the label releasing the record, and (4) the album's "anointing." (How do you measure that?) In an attempt to unify disparate definitions (because that's what rules do, right?), the Gospel Music Association2 came up with a definition of Christian music to use in filtering nominees for Dove Awards, the Grammys of the Christian music world.

"Gospel music is music in any style whose lyric is substantially based upon historically orthodox Christian truth contained in or derived from the Holy Bible; and/or an expression of worship of God or praise for his works; and/or testimony of relationship with God through Christ; and/or obviously prompted and informed by a Christian worldview."

The little electronic brain in my Microsoft Word software underlines this GMA statement in green, telling me it's not grammatically sound. I say it's not spiritually sound, either. King David would be just another mainstream songwriter under these criteria.

But let's apply the GMAs definition to a couple of songs to see if they clear the bar:

1. "You are the flame in my heart/You light my way in the dark/You are the ultimate star/You lift me from up above/Your unconditional love takes me to paradise/I belong to you."3

2. "I hear a thunder in the distance/See a vision of a cross/I feel the pain that was given/On that sad day of loss/A lion roars in the darkness/Only he holds the key/A light to free me from my burden/ And grant me life eternally."4

Definitely, these lyrics describe a "Christian worldview." And that's ironic because the songwriters are solo artist Lenny Kravitz and Scott Stapp of Creed, respectively. So does that make their "Christian" songs suddenly secular? And by the same standards, do songs such as Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door," Steve Winwood's "Higher Love," and Bill Withers"' "Lean on Me" suddenly transmogrify into Christian when Audio Adrenaline, Shine MK, and dc Talk5 sing them?

Well then, music must be Christian if the performer professes faith in Christ. That means professing Christians such as U2 members, Alice Cooper, Collective Soul members, Johnny Cash, Moby, Jessica Simpson, and Run DMC members should be perfectly at home on Christian radio.

Hmmm...

That leaves us with one remaining criterion for determining what's Christian and what's not: the record company that released the album. Read that sentence again. A record company-a business that's likely owned by a profit-driven secular conglomerate-- that's what makes music Christian.

I don't think so.

truth lite

The GMA doesn't even abide by its own guidelines: Music that's "based upon historically orthodox Christian truth contained in or derived from the Holy Bible" leaves an ocean of possibility for songwriters. My Bible includes page after page of raw human experience, including romantic love stories, criminal acts, painful experiences, betrayals, and a whole lot of eating and partying.

Much of Christian music limits its focus to the Beatitudes and little else. The unwritten laws of CCM dictate that "appropriate" Christian lyrics (songs that get radio play and marketing dollars) deal with the following topics: God's love toward us, our love toward God (not your spouse!), God's grace and our need for it, abundant living because of God, and thankfulness and/or praise for God.

Basically, many CCM songs make life with Jesus seem like it's full of puppy dog tails, raindrops on roses, and brown-paper packages tied up with string. And that kind of Christian worldview can send the wrong message to listeners. I offer you exhibit A: