I would like your thoughts on this...

I have a huge CD collection. The majority is Christian, cuz it's just what I prefer. However, I am not opposed to mainstream music and have quite a bit as well. Occasionally there are lyrics I don't care for (I usually avoid owning albums with crap lyrics due to my own convictions), and in some cases I'll just hit the skip button if i have an album with mostly great songs and only one song that rubs me wrong. 
Songs that I don't care for would be ones that trash my Savior, exalt evil or Satan himself, or songs that preach a false gospel.  The occasional "sensual" song or curse word here or there is not a deal breaker for me. My big thing is to avoid thoughts that are against the Truth.

NOW, I said all that to say this. There are thousands of "Christian" bands/artists. They obviously all do not believe the same, and I would venture to say some on Christian labels may believe completely strange ideas from orthodox Christianity.

I have a great album by a "Catholic" band called "King's Road"-female led rock band that kicks butt! 
Almost all their songs are great lyrically - but I have a problem with the song "Mary Mary" as it's about praying to Mary to intercede between the singer and Jesus (which we know from Scripture is completely incorrect- Jesus is to be the ONLY One who intercedes for us)
I tend to hit the skip button on that one.

I don't know where this convo is going really, I just wanted to open it up for anyone who has their own convictions with lyrics and hear what your thoughts are on this.

(Please no arguing or unnecessary pushing of your own beliefs on the subject of lyrics- just throw some opinions around and discuss this for fun and enlightenment)

Don't know where it is going??? Then let's get it OFF TRACK right from the start!!

That was dope yo ! Straight Dookie rope ma homie ! I be flippin da wax ma Fab Five Freddy ! Droppin' some science all da way boyeeeee !

Seriously tho, I have never heard Catholic Rock before. And if the song was a great song I would probably listen to it anyway. Just as if it is a bad song I would skip it regardless of lyrical content (just like I skip the last two songs and End Of Fear on John Schlitt's album. I'm sure the lyrics are fine but I do not like those songs so I skip them).

I would say this.

I listen to a lot of all kinds of music, both stylistically and faith-wise. I know that I disagree with the Clash's atheistic viewpoints, or the Beastie Boys' Buddhism, so I avoid those tracks.

With Christian music it's the same kind of thing. Mojo from the Supertones, LeCrae and lots of others are Calvinist and I don't think it's a secret that I'm an openness believer. But, their brothers and sisters in Christ and I won't let this issue get in the way of supporting them if I like the music.

In fact I think Mark Salomon may be a Calvinist and his stuff is some of my favorite.

I don't think I would trash the whole cd because of one song that bugged me theologically....but I wouldn't listen to that song anymore.

As for not knowing any catholic bands..I think several of the South American "Christian" rock bands that many of us listen to probably have one or more Catholic members.  I thought I remember reading somewhere that the members of Eterna are Catholic.

I'm on board with what everyone's sayin' here.  And yes, I think we'd be surprised to know some of the bands that come out of the Netherlands as well as Brazil are very much Catholic. And while I'm strongly opposed to Catholic beliefs that are over and above "Sola Scriptura", I don't have a problem with listening to a practicing catholic sing truth. Now when it has lyrics like the "Mary Mary" song, I personally prefer to skip it. NOT cuz I'm gonna be overcome by the words and all of a sudden start praying to Mary, but cuz it's diametrically opposed to God's Truth and don't wish to enjoy a song that is against what I believe. This is my personal conviction, not something I would preach that others do as well.

BTW Kings Road is an excellent rock band with mostly spot on Scriptural lyrics if anyone's interested. I know Staybrite and others here are really into female rockers. Though she's not a Joan Jett hard rocker, she's more of a Pat Benetar rocker.

Yes, Eterna is considered "Catholic metal", whatever that means.

I really dig John Michael Talbot, who happens to be a Catholic too. I rarely find myself skipping his songs as he doesn't seem to put a lot of the extra-biblical stuff in his lyrics.


Though they don't fully agree on each others beliefs, Michael Card and Talbot are very close friends. I went to see Card in concert late 90s and Talbot performed with him... very talented artist. Was the 1st time I heard of Talbot... since then I've obtained all of his LPs.


I don't always agree with lyrics even in the Christian music scene, but it's not difficult to differentiate between Biblical truth and something aberrant in a song that the artists themselves may not even believe by the time they release their next album.
I think we can chalk all this up to the fact that they're all a bunch of fallable humans on a faith journey. 
It does Crack me up now when I hear someone is like I used to be, in that they ONLY listen to music on Christian labels. I think they'll discover, as i did,  that there's just as much incorrect teaching/beliefs found on "Christian" albums as there is on mainstream albums.  Interesting though.

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

BTW Kings Road is an excellent rock band with mostly spot on Scriptural lyrics if anyone's interested. I know Staybrite and others here are really into female rockers. Though she's not a Joan Jett hard rocker, she's more of a Pat Benetar rocker.

I tried to look them up on youtube and got a few secular covers from a band called "Kings Road Band"....got a female lead singer but I don't think this is the same band....these recordings don't really make the band seem all that great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG-HTDpCCQs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mM6qG2Gyl8

Some of Goliath and Titanic/Final Axe's lyrics bug me a bit… nothing particular, but they don't feel quite right, if that makes sense. I don't know if anyone else feels the same way, but I have a hard time agreeing with them. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that their authors have apparently walked away from Christianity.

I know people who quit listening to Vengeance Rising because of Roger's falling away from the faith. Ditto for Bride as a result of Dale's (not so new) found beliefs. Doesn't mean I have to follow suit.

Heck, one of my former co-workers got rid of his entire Ray Boltz collection after Ray came out.

Looks like they might have two albums, with the content (or most of the content) up on Youtube on their own channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb6-P23h4lAXzsfPesw5Jpw

I listened to the first minute or so of that Mary Mary song and you are correct the lyrics are a plea for Mary to go to Christ on behalf of the lyric writer/singer.  Certainly not good theology.

Samson wrote:

I know people who quit listening to Vengeance Rising because of Roger's falling away from the faith. Ditto for Bride as a result of Dale's (not so new) found beliefs. Doesn't mean I have to follow suit.

Heck, one of my former co-workers got rid of his entire Ray Boltz collection after Ray came out.

On one hand I can kind of see the logic behind that, but what happens if those people come back to faith (or truly get saved depending on how you look at it)....then what?  Is their old music ok again?

My point exactly. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. A LOT of scriptures from Romans and the Corinthians are relevant here.

Samson wrote:

I know people who quit listening to Vengeance Rising because of Roger's falling away from the faith. Ditto for Bride as a result of Dale's (not so new) found beliefs. Doesn't mean I have to follow suit.

Heck, one of my former co-workers got rid of his entire Ray Boltz collection after Ray came out.

I quit listening to Bride because I find them to be terrible. Nothing to do with the lyrics, it had mostly to do with they jumped on the bandwagon of every outdated musical genre. They stopped doing what they did best and tried to be something different and I didn't want different I wanted the style that I liked not the latest "fad" music.

Driven: Interesting about Final Axe, etc. Who walked away from the faith? I was unware of that.

While I wouldn't agree with the "Mary, Mary" lyrics, I doubt I'd skip it just because of that.  If
F nothing else, it would help me to better understand that Catholic belief of praying through Mary and the other saints.  I believe in eternal security for believers.  There is a song on the Ledfoot album called "You Better Get Right Or You're Gonna Get Left".  It is about Christians with sin in their lives who are going to be left behind when Christ comes.  First of all, we ALL have sin in our lives so wouldn't that mean that Jesus isn't picking up anyone for our glorious ride home?  I disagree with the lyrics, but the song is still a fun song.  If it were written more to the standpoint of unbelievers being left, I could agree with that.

Yeh, over the years I've heard songs by Christian bands that I didn't agree with. In my early years I would record the album to. Tape, sans the song I didn't agree with.... today I just skip a song if I don't care for the lyrics. 
It was the realization that there's no such thing as a "Christian band", and that artists who sing about their faith sometimes get doctrine wrong, that led me back to accepting "secular" music, and just being picky about what songs I'll listen to. I've also read some great books lately that address the whole title of "Christian music" and put to rest the distinctions. I think Mark Joseph did a great job of showing the drive and purpose behind Christian musicians who land "mainstream" record deals. It's incredible to see how many have come to faith thru the missionary work of artists signed on secular labels. I used to call them "sell-outs" till I gained some knowledge of the people and what and why they were doing this. 
My latest favs have been collecting albums by artists who profess faith but have nothing to do with the Christian industry. Artists like Gary Cherone, Lenny Kravitz, and so on. Interesting to hear their faith shine through their lyrics.

It's funny you mentioned Gary Cherone. Hole Hearted has always made me think of God, not a woman.

God's principles are God's principles whether they are coming out of a preacher's mouth, or not. Same thing with music. God is no respecter (how do you spell that?) of persons and can speak through whomever He sees fit. I'm not near the music-snob I used to be, on this subject anyway. 

One thing I still don't understand is Christians who will play in anti-God bands. I just don't get that.

MikeInFla wrote:

Driven: Interesting about Final Axe, etc. Who walked away from the faith? I was unware of that.

From what I've heard, the vocalist (who also did Titanic's first two albums) has walked away.

And I don't think it's because I know they've walked away that I have trouble listening. It might be (and again, this is just me) because of bad theology, and bad theology sometimes leads to apostasy. I hope I'm wrong, but that's how I see it.

Gary Cherone is very much strong about his faith. I have multiple quotes by Gary that leaves little doubt about Who he serves. And yes, his song Hole Hearted as well as a multitude of others, we're meant to be confessions of his faith.

One of the reasons he was booted from Van Halen was due to his strong stand against abortion. The boys in the band didn't like him using his position in VH to further "moral" issues.

I've been listening to Extreme all afternoon and, you're right, you can see it in a lot of their songs. Back to your original point, a song like Decadence Dance isn't necessarily something I would advocate, but it doesn't change the quality messages in other songs.

Decadence Dance isn't a negative tune.  It's pointing out how people are just going along with the depravity and liking it:

Quote :

It's hard to stop once the music gets started
'Til the soles of your feet harden up like your heart did
Stepping in line with the sign of the timer
Seduced by the tune of the decadent dancer

Even the name of the album, Pornograffitti depicts how pornography is displayed like graffiti and the effects it's having on our children making them older than their time.