Wimmer

Wimmer

18p

7 comments posted · 0 followers · following 0

14 years ago @ The League of Ordinary... - Pop Christianity · 0 replies · +1 points

Well, Jesus did say, "Go ye out and speak the truth, unless there's no market for it."

14 years ago @ The League of Ordinary... - Pop Christianity · 0 replies · +2 points

That the plan, as it were, worked out. But I see your point; like I said, this is a tricky issue. I'll revise: We're talking about a religion whose founder warned that following him would mean great tribulation and a far from easy road.

14 years ago @ The League of Ordinary... - Pop Christianity · 2 replies · +1 points

If you mean "count" as in "Are they Christian artists?" I'd say for sure. But they're not who I'm thinking of when I flip past the Christian radio station.

I certainly don't think there isn't good Christian music out there -- as my blog makes annoyingly clear, I'm an unrepentant fan of what I consider the most Christian mainstream band alive. (Pop, as far as I'm concerned, is the greatest Christian-rock album ever made.) I just think most of it either isn't called Christian music, or is operating pretty far below the radar. Like you say, it's a fringe.

I totally get your point. I guess it's just that mainstream Christian pop's aspiration to be not much more than minivan music seems reflective of much of what I think is wrong with mainstream Christianity these days. Like E.D.'s post more or less says, the concern seems to be more about marketing than grappling with the tough issues. I think it's totally legitimate for me to expect more from my fellow Christians, even if I know how likely it actually is that my expectations will be met.

14 years ago @ The League of Ordinary... - Pop Christianity · 2 replies · +2 points

Well, he did die. ;-)

14 years ago @ The League of Ordinary... - Pop Christianity · 4 replies · +2 points

Well, that's a good point, but I'd say even Top 40 bubblegum has a wider range of themes than what admittedly little Christian pop-rock I've heard. The themes I hear in Christian music seem to be:

- God is awesome.
- Praising God is awesome.
- If you're feeling bad, how about turning to God? He's awesome.

Whereas at least half the love songs on mainstream commercial radio are about how much love can blow.

Too, it's not fair for me just to single out the lyrics, because I also know I'm listening to Christian radio immediately because of the shimmery keyboards and amped-up major-key guitar lines -- there's a sound there that Christian pop musicians have staked out as their own, and I get why it sounds "Christian" to them, but it rings about as true to me as a heaven actually full of harp-strumming cherubs. Mainstream pop may suck, but at least it sucks in so many different ways.

14 years ago @ The League of Ordinary... - Pop Christianity · 4 replies · +2 points

Yeah, I see it as Christ the man having the ability to walk away from the death that had been planned for him, but exercising the will (i.e., making the choice) to stick with the plan. As I was discussing with someone else recently, though, the whole question of how many parts God and how many parts human Jesus was is tricky, to say the least.

14 years ago @ The League of Ordinary... - Pop Christianity · 16 replies · +3 points

The issue that gets me with Christian rock and other forms of Christian pop culture is that it's not that Christian -- it's so one-dimensional. Every damn time my car radio happens to stop on a Christian-rock station, I know within four seconds, because someone is singing about praising Him and all the joy it's going to lead to.

Which is not the case, or not all of it, anyway. I mean, yes, as a Christian I believe we should praise God and that it will bring us joy. But religion is hard, too, and to talk about it in a real-world context today means talking about uncomfortable issues like drug use and mental illness and suicide and homosexuality and sex and more. And while I'm sure there are indeed diamonds in the rough out there, too much of the Christian pop culture I've been exposed glosses over all the difficult aspects of faith in favor of candy-coated feel-goodery.

And it drives me nuts. We're talking about a religion founded on someone voluntarily giving up his life in one of the most painful ways conceivable, after all. There are reason so many thoughtful people have opted out of Christianity, and to me, this is a big one: Too much of its PR makes it sound like a ticket to a life free from worry and sadness, and most of us know there's no such life.