8:10 AM
T.L. Branson
Now let me make something abundantly clear from the beginning. I am a conservative, I'm proud to be a conservative, and have no desire to be otherwise. However, I'm also not a hyper-conservative or anyone that believes "Hymns and nothing but." As a matter of fact, I'd strongly disagree with that approach. I align myself with the Bible, "Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs."
Again, lest I sound like I'm about to start debating contemporary vs. traditional or classical vs. rock, I'm not. I'm missionary and a designer, not a musician or a student of music theory. If you are interested in those types of discussions, I've got some really great articles planned for this week's From the Experts on Friday. They are qualified to answer those discussions and I hope you'll look forward to reading them.
In an effort to help you music guys out there, I want to highlight a few songs that I believe to be unbiblical or have little spiritual value. Is not the goal of our song service to promote a worship of God? Is it not to remove our thoughts of ourselves and focus our hearts and minds Godward? How can songs that disagree with Biblical principles do this? They can't. So why do we sing these songs in church?
Here's my list of songs that I don't think are worth singing.
1. I've Got a Mansion.
This is #1 on my list. If there is a song that I can't stand it's I've Got a Mansion. There is so much wrong with this song. First, the focus is on me. Me, me, me. "I've got a mansion," "I'm satisfied," and "I want a gold one, that's silver lined."
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| The type of mansion people think of when they hear this song. |
Speaking of mansions. Did you know that the Greek word translated mansion really has the idea of an "apartment?" That doesn't mean the translation is wrong. That word just means something different today. But the original penman's (of the Scripture reference about Christ preparing a mansion for us) culture was different than our own. In that day, a son would take on the family business which was often run out of the home or a near by building. In order to best help out with the business, the father would build an appendage to his house so that his wife and family could live close by. That's what God is going to do for us; keep us close to Himself.
Is the song wrong for using the word mansion? No, because technically it's in the Bible, but the interpretation of that word is horrendously misapplied.
2. The Eastern Gate.
This song poses a series of questions. How do they know it will be morning? Do they actually plan on meeting someone there? Plus this song seems to show evidences of a belief in salvation by works or at least a loss of salvation. "Then be ready, faithful pilgrim, lest with you it be too late?" If you are a faithful pilgrim, then there is no too late for you. That's it for my comments. You can see I was really passionate about I've Got a Mansion. It's about 3 times longer than the rest of these will likely be. But The Eastern Gate seems pretty unbiblical to me.
3. There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit.
There's a chance a lot of you won't know this song. But it's about the most worthless song in the history of Christendom. How does this prepare my heart for God? "There's a sweet spirit in this place. There are sweet expressions on each face." Okay? If you just want to sing songs, that's great, but we're supposed to be worshiping God, which this song does not.
4. We Three Kings of Orient Are.
And how do you know that they were kings? The Bible never calls them kings. They were called Magi. They were most likely astronomers or scientists. They watched the stars. How else would they have seen Christ's star? People assume they were kings because someone told them they were in a Sunday School lesson when they were kids. After all, those gifts are mighty precious to be given by anyone but a king, right? (Notice my sarcasm).
5. Bring Them In.
There's nothing theologically wrong with this song, it's just kind of awkward. At least it's awkward when you consider this scenario. You've been trying to convince your unsaved relative to come to church with you. He hates church and wants nothing to do with it, but he loves you. It's your birthday (or some other special occasion) and you convince him to come with you. He's already uncomfortable and already thinks Christians are arrogant. Then the music director asks you to turn to Bring Them In and you start singing "Bring them in from the fields of sin." What a great impression that has on our unsaved visitors. Certainly they feel loved, I'm sure. They'll just be dying to come back after that one.
I've got 5 more songs I could list, and probably will list tomorrow or the next day. But I wouldn't want to spoil the fun for you.
Do you have any more songs that have bad theology? Ones that honestly and truly should not really be sung because there's no Biblical evidence to support it or it obviously teaches something anti-Bible? How about some that provide no spiritual value and aren't worth singing because they don't really praise God? I'd love to hear what you think about all this. Leave a comment in the box below.
If you find this article as interesting as I do or are as passionate about this topic, will you share this with your friends?
This post has a second part. Keeping reading Songs That Shouldn't Be Sung Part 2.
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23 comments:
I whole hartely agree. When we do ministry evaluation for churches one of the things on the list is to deal with music and they song book. I doesn't hurt to choose songs that are Biblical. Just because it is in the book does not mean it is Biblical. The list you gave is great. For sake of space I know you could have come up with pages more.
So glad you wrote on this topic. I've Got a Mansion has always bothered me. I would lean over to John during church and say in jest- But I want it now! I felt like I was demanding things of God. Worship is my favorite time during church, and I get pretty emotional over it. It's my chance, when I've so selfishly skipped all other chances during the week, to truly tell God how much I love him, and praise Him and thank Him for his goodness. Is that really the time to tell Him I better get a mansion some day? The sweet spirit song has bothered me as well- a classic PCC fave. ;) Good post.
I appreciate both of your comments. I was a little worried as I was writing this that I was the only one that felt this way about some of these songs.
It's certainly encouraging and supportive to see that other people don't blindly believe that all hymnal songs are "inspired of God" and have noticed something wrong with these songs.
This was something I've had on my shoulders for a couple of years now and this week's topic gave me the perfect opportunity to talk about it.
Keep serving the Lord!
Another one to add to the list: "We've a Story to Tell to the Nations." Take a look at the chorus sometime. It essentially teaches that we as Christians will usher in the kingdom through our evangelistic endeavors. Post-Millenialism I believe...
I've actually heard that before, but I forgot about it. I never did look into it either. Thanks for reminding me. I will certainly remember to check it out this time.
Thanks for the post! I think this should be applied to many Christian "classics," whether Hymns, Spirituals, Southern Gospel, or a myriad of other genres. So often we ignore doctrine for the sake of preference, tradition, or convenience.
One that I've wondered about is "There's A New Name Written Down in Glory." When I was younger, I remember a visiting preacher saying that our names have been written in the Book of Life since the "foundations of the earth" (God knew who would be saved, even though He did not pre-determine it)... So, the preacher jokingly stated we should change it to "There's a Name That's Already Been Written Down in Glory, and it's Mine, oh yes! It's mine!" :)
So... Are the names written down when we are saved, or have they been there since the foundations of the earth? I have not studied this enough to know. All I can find right off is that He will not blot our names out (Rev 3:5), possibly implying that they were written to begin with? but later it says that someone's name was not found written in it (Rev 20:15).
An interesting observation I just made... If you read Rev 13:8 in ESV, it seems to say that the names were written before the foundations. But in KJV, it seems to say that the Lamb was slain before the foundations. Don't you love how the different versions seem to say different things. :/ (I trust that the KJV is the best one, but I'm not sure what it's saying here).
I'd be interested to hear your take on it, with any verses/reasons that this hymn is or is not biblically sound. I've wondered for many years now, and would like to know what to think about this hymn! lol
Thanks for the thought-provoking post and the reminder to always use the Bible as our final test for anything, including hymns and songs!
I did quite a bit of independent research into this for you. I try not to involve the Greek into discussions if I can help it, so I looked at the English versions first. I noticed that the phrases were swapped, and that was really the only difference. That is, the KJV rendering saying the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world and the ESV saying the names were written from the foundation of the world.
So I had to go to the Greek for this. The TR (I don't have enough space to include a discussion about the TR, but you're probably familiar enough with the topic) list matches the KJV for construction. I checked to see if there was any type of agreement with the earlier phrase of names being recorded, but there isn't. Grammar rules would then require it stick with what it is closest to, that being the Lamb that was slain.
So then I checked to see if the ESV was wrong because of the critical text. The critical text reads almost the same as the TR, with the exception of some tenses, but word order is the same. That means the ESV didn't even copy their base text right. The only thought I had at this point was that the translators must have believed in Unconditional Election (a calvinistic teaching promoting that God chose who would be saved and nothing you do can change any of that. If you were supposed to be saved, you will be, if you weren't, tough bananas for you.)
What I found was that the ESV is used most prominently by Calvinists. It's the only Bible they trust, and I can't imagine why (sarcasm). It seems to have a Calvinistic bent on it. The translators changed that verse to meet their beliefs instead of changing their beliefs to agree with the Bible.
As far as the song goes. I, personally, would agree with the way the song is written and disagree with the preacher. I believe that upon Salvation the name is written down. I've got no Scripture to back up my belief as it just doesn't say WHEN the name was written.
What we do know is that God is omniscient, and He does know who will and will not accept Him. We also know that man has a free-will and that God wants man to love Him and accept Him without being forced to do so. We know there is a book with the names of all those who have accepted Christ as their Savior written in it. We know that any person who's name is not in it is not saved and never accepted Christ. Christ also promises never to blot out the name of those whom He has written there.
What we don't know is if the names are written upon salvation or if they were written long ago. I don't think it really matters which one. But if you take the written long ago approach, just don't confuse that with God choosing who would be saved. God KNOWS who will be saved, but He does not CHOOSE them.
Hope that helps. The response is pretty long.
Haha no that's fine! I had never really looked into it. Now that I have (and after reading your response), I tend to disagree with the preacher as well. Like I said, it was a while back... but I've wondered about it every time we would sing the song! lol Glad to finally settle that so I can enjoy the song (although now every time I'll be thinking through all of this research again! haha it's how my brain works). :)
That's interesting to know about the ESV as well. I don't really research other versions, because I haven't had cause to use anything but the KJV, but It's good to know why that verse was translated differently.
Thanks for taking the time to research it! Interested to read your next set of song "critiques" :D
Well I don't have too many left. I'm trying not to be overly critical. I'll continue doing some research to see if I can make tomorrow's set as strong as this set without being unfair to the songs.
An interesting article, Traver, and one that I have thought about often as well. Your selections were a good representation of some of the "old hymns of the faith" that should probably never have become standbys for church congregations. I'd like to see some great new hymns being written by dedicated church musicians. There are some good ones out there, but more would be even better.
Rick,
Have you ever heard of Theron Babcock? Now I've not researched his work in this light, but we used to sing his songs a lot in my church back home.
He was in an evangelistic team with Dr. Hal Webb. They're both home with the Lord now (Hal Webb just last fall). Hal would tell us at camp that Theron could write a song on the spot in under 3 minutes. He'd written thousands if I recall. He has a book called "Best of Seven Thousand." I couldn't even tell you where to find it because I just Googled it and couldn't find anything. But his songs were so great.
I agree about the more people writing songs thing. A lot of the songs we sing were written in the last one to two hundred years anyway. What did they sing before that? I don't see anything wrong with new hymns coming to the forefront if someone would be willing to write them.
There is so much that I could comment on this topic. This is a pet peeve of mine for many years. I do think that many hymns are considered great just because they are old, and sung by thousands of good churches. But yet the theology of some is off or even me-centric. So the me-centric song style is not just a new fad. Have to be very discerning and read through the lyrics of every song that we sing!
That's a good way to do it, Steven. As a matter of fact, tied together with a comment I made yesterday in the Media Tip you could easily do this with a song leading hymnal. Circle the songs that you approve and the church knows how to sing. Keep a record of everything like this. It's hard to do that with a notebook, but writing your notes in the songbook itself will always keep the notes in front of you every time you open to that page.
I understand that some of your songs aren't even in the book and that you aren't even using the hymnal in your services now are you? Personally, I still like hymnals because I like reading the notes, but that's just because I sing parts. Anyway, I don't know what types of notes you could take for those songs that aren't in the book though. Keep a notebook, but it would take a little extra work.
"Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome in this Place" We come into HIS HOUSE, and proceed to tell Him that He is welcome there. Something wrong with that. The Holy Spirit knows whether He is welcome or not, and if He isn't there, all the vain repetition of "Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome in this Place" is not going to bring Him there. It sounds like some kind of mystical incantation to summon some great spirit from some mystical realm.
Your comment had me laughing. So true. I never really thought about it that way. It does sound like we're giving God permission doesn't it? Though, don't take this the wrong way, I don't like to call the church building God's house. God doesn't dwell in a building like he did in Old Testament times. The New Testament tells us our bodies are His temple.
Maybe you didn't mean that or weren't really thinking about it. It's just an observation that I've made. Thanks for your comment!
For years "In the Garden" was my favorite hymn, but the line, "But He bids me go, through the voice of woe" bothered me, especially because I thought the garden represented time in prayer. Now that I can't figure out what the garden would represent (am I missing something obvious?), the only good thing about the song is its melody.
The other song I'd add to your list is "When I've Gone the Last Mile of the Way." It basically teaches that we earn our way to Heaven.
Thank you for opening up the discussion in a respectful manner.
Id like to thank you for some of the insights in this post - we sang "There's A Sweet Sweet Spirit" just the other night, AND "I've Got A Mansion" and both of them had me thinking. I think people today so need to be entertained that we sing without thinking about the words as long as it has a good tune. A lot of good observations in this one ... I'm suprised no one has mentioned "The Awakening Chorus" or "Honey in the Rock"? I've been curious about those two for quite some time.
I've heard about In the Garden a couple of times, but couldn't really figure out what was wrong with it and the sites that mentioned it never said. I noticed that it really didn't seem like a church song, but one that you would sing to yourself. Almost like a poem. It seems to be a song about Mary's experience after the resurrection.
But certainly, now as I look at it. That line is kind of odd. I also read someone argue that "None other has ever known" kind of makes it sound like the author had a privileged experience that no one will ever match and if we sing it we're saying we've got this exclusive relationship and no one else can have a relationship with God.
Good thoughts thank you.
Jessica,
Honey in the Rock is coming tomorrow, though, I may not say what you think I'm going to say or what you want me to say. As far as the Awakening Chorus, you're right, it probably could go in that "what's the point of singing this" list, though I don't think I'd call it unbiblical like I feel I've Got A Mansion is.
I also haven't studied the lyrics. I've fallen prey to the mindless singing of that one. Like you said, I like the tune, so I guess that one didn't really come to mind. But it's true. We all need a good wake up call sometimes.
I think pastors need to take time to educate their people about songs. A sermon series maybe? I don't know. I always tried to remind my Sunday School (Junior men 1 year, and seniors the next) at least once a month to pay attention to the words of the songs, but I doubt they did.
Open My Eyes, That I May See...
I sang this song every Sunday growing up... In the Mile High Science of Mind... what everyone I knew called the white spider church because of the shape of the building. Not Scientology but not much different than Unity or Christian Science. God is in everyone, regardless of how wicked they are, they just haven't discovered their light yet.
I accepted Christ as Saviour in '99 and since then I've sang this song a couple of times in Church and I hate it.
Open my eyes, that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free.
Vague, unhelpful. Who's truth? What key?
Well it certainly sounds iffy. The Enlightenment and Buddhism immediately come to mind for me. Despite the tones, the words aren't necessarily unbiblical. I think it all depends on how you are interpreting it. Do you interpret according to Scripture references that ask God to give us greater understanding of His Word or in light of Buddhist enlightenment?
The only true way to tell is find out the story behind the song, the basis for today's post. I found this helpful: http://www.lectionary.org/HymnStories/Open%20My%20Eyes.htm
Apparently, the lady who wrote it, wrote it based upon a Scripture reference, Ps. 119:18. This would lead me to believe we ought interpret in light of Biblical influences rather than others.
The whole talk about a key and unlocking the truth is kind of odd phraseology, but as another reader commented, we cannot forget the poetic and creative license that goes into songs. There's certainly nothing wrong with what she says, in my opinion, once you understand her motivation and inspiration.
I would suggest possibly reconsidering your opinion of the song, and maybe you'll enjoy it now, knowing it is Scripturally based. I hope that helps.
Honey in the rock has always made me wonder...as well as "Gimme that old Time religion"! "If it's good enough for my brother it's good enough for me!" Well actually, religion sends people nowhere, so gimme more of Jesus not religion!
In the "I've Got a Mansion" are you not even reading the first line which states: "I'm satisfied with just a cottage below, a little silver and a little gold..."
How can this song be selfish when it is saying that. All that it is stating is that Jesus has a mansion ready for us when we go to heaven!
Anonymous,
I don't think you read a word that I said. The song speaks about entitlement. It's a popular philosophy in this world today. The author is writing about dealing with "whatever comes today because I want a gold one that's silver lined and I deserve to get it when I make it heaven after all I suffered for Jesus."
I'm sorry my friend, but through all your "suffering" and all the good that you could possibly do for Christ in this life, you don't deserve anything outside of the grace of Jesus Christ. All that we do, we do by the grace of God and through His power. It's not of our own strengths or abilities, and any rewards we receive in heaven are due to His grace and love. They are not wages to be earned, but gifts to be received.
Secondly, I don't think you really understand what "mansion" the Bible is meaning.
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