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  • "All About ME???"
    • (no login)
      Posted Apr 29, 2008 3:57 PM

      Brother Waddey,

      The article you quoted stated that many of the contemporary songs and hymns referes to "I, me, my, etc...", yet one of the greatest contemporary hymns: "The Heart Of Worship" says: "It's all about YOU, all about YOU, JESUS". Other examples: "Ah, Lord GOD, THOU hast made the heavens and the earth by THY great power..."; In "As The Deer", the chorus says "YOU alone are my strength and shield, To YOU alone may my spirit yield..."; Then there's "Our GOD is an awesome GOD, HE reigns from heaven above...". In "Be Exalted, O God", it begins with "I will praise YOU, O LORD among the nations, I will sing of YOU among the peoples, For great is YOUR love, reaching to the heavens, YOUR faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted O GOD above the heavens, Let YOUR glory be over all the earth..."; Yet another song says: "Bless the name of JESUS, Praise the name of JESUS..." and another says "Blessed be YOUR name YOUR glorious name, may it be exalted over all names. YOU alone are LORD and YOU made the heavens, All of the heavens and the starry host. YOU made the earth and all that is on it, YOU made the seas from coast to coast. YOU give life to all of the living, and the multitudes in heaven worship YOU." Ane believe me, this list could go on and on and on....".

      On the other hand when I compare these contemporary songs to traditional hymns such as "Tempted and tried we're oft made to wonder, why it should be thus all the day long..." or "Trials DARK on every hand and we cannot understand..." and the many more songs which sound like complaints instead of praise, I'll take the contemporary ones over those any time. I will admit that the CLASSIC HYMNS such as "A Mighty Fortress is our God" and "How Great Thou Art" are certainly exceptions.

      It's a false statement to think that the contemporaty songs make the worship about "me" or "us", but it's a pouring out of praise to a great and awesome God.

      As far as the "Praise Teams" go, the denominations are complaining about them replacing the choirs. What difference does it make if there are six people on stage or sixty? If it's acceptable for sixty, it's acceptable for six, and if it's wrong for six, then it's wrong for sixty. Incidentally, churches with choirs often have many songs that are sung by the choir alone, yet "praise teams" are there to engage every congregant to sing out. It's almost like having a "leader" for every part. And whether we in the CofC admit it or not, while saying that having a woman "leader" for the singing is wrong, it's been done for as long as I can remember. The only difference is, a few women in the audience sing out louder and the other women wanting to sing those parts have followed them. What makes it any more "scriptural" for her to stand with the congregation in the audience facing the stage vs. standing on the stage facing the audience? The primary "worship leader" is usually a male and she is not "usurping authority" unless she gets up there on her own accord against the wishes of the male leaders (elders, deacons, preachers). This almost leads me to another subject that concerns me concerning the CofC teaching on the role of women in the church, so I had better close this part for now.

      Just one other thing. "Song Books", "Hymn Books" or "Hymnals" are all just mere tradition. It matters not whether the song is in a book or projected onto a screen. And it doesn't really matter what religious group started using song projection, just like it doesn't matter which religious group had the first "song books", because even the "hymn book" didn't originate with churches of Christ. The church we attend, a fairly conservative church projects songs onto a screen, but also has the notes projected with them, but there are also song books available and a hymn number is called out for those wishing to use the book, though very few do.

      The majority of the objections to "praise teams" and "contemporary songs" is more about people trying to preserve THEIR OWN MAN-MADE traditions. Do we not realize that at one time, some of the tunes to classic hymns were tunes that came from music used in pubs, and that at one time hymn books were a "modern innovation"? And even back then, some people rejected it because it went against their traditions. We must learn to distinguish what is really traditions vs. what is scriptural. We've done certain things certain ways for so long that we've come to equate our traditions with scripture and many of us don't even know the difference anymore.
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    ...........................THE BOOK

    What Happened At the Madison Church of Christ?


    There are thousands of churches being taken over across America.

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    Madison Church of Christ was a 60 year old church. At one time it was one of the largest churches in the US, and the largest Church of Christ.

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    5 Godly Elders
    10 Not so Godly Elders
    120 "Deacons" (allegiance unknown)
    2,800 - 4,000 church "members"
    2 "teners" (people who have publicly confessed to have broken all ten commandments)
    Unknown number of "sinners" (This is what the 10 elders call us.)
    Unknown number of "demons" (Flying everywhere, to many to count)
     

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