We need non-erotic praise music!

[Decoligny]

Compare this:

AMAZING GRACE

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.

to this:

DRAW ME CLOSE TO YOU

Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire
And no one else will do
'Cause nothing else can take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find a way
Bring me back to You

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near

Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire
And no one else will do
'Cause nothing else can take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find a way
Bring me back to You

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near
Help me know You are near
Help me know You are near


The first song is God Centered, and is clearly worshiping God and thanking him for salvation.

The second song doesn't mention God, doesn't mention Jesus, could literally be sung to your high school sweetheart without changing a single word. It is almost what I refer to as a 7-11 song, seven words repeated 11 times.

[RAMCLAP]

Very observant my brother. If the world comes into your church and hears sweet nothings, you're doing it wrong.

[Just Dave]

I remember when I first started going to church I felt the same way but I soon realized that I still had a worldly and godless view of things.
Romans 12:2 tells us not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The Christian way of thinking is radically different from the world's way of thinking.
I do have to somewhat agree, after 12 years of walking with the Lord I still struggle with some of these lyrics but I think it has more to do with pride.

[Wordupmybrotha]

I remember when I first started going to church I felt the same way but I soon realized that I still had a worldly and godless view of things.
Romans 12:2 tells us not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The Christian way of thinking is radically different from the world's way of thinking.
I do have to somewhat agree, after 12 years of walking with the Lord I still struggle with some of these lyrics but I think it has more to do with pride.

I'm not sure what you mean. You're saying it's my pride that I feel uncomfortable with those lyrics?

[Just Dave]

I'm not sure what you mean. You're saying it's my pride that I feel uncomfortable with those lyrics?

No I'm saying in my case there's a pride issue, I mean really.. in order to sing some of those lyrics I have to put my pride in check.

[RAMCLAP]

No I'm saying in my case there's a pride issue, I mean really.. in order to sing some of those lyrics I have to put my pride in check.

I understand what you are saying. I simply refuse. We have two services. A traditional service with hymns, and a contemporary. I will not go to the contemporary because of these songs. I also refuse to sing them when they occasionally do them in the traditional service. I don't consider it a pride thing. I consider it a NOT worship thing and I simply refuse to NOT worship. Our God is worthy of Honor, Majesty, Worship, and Glory. Therefore, He is worthy of much more than our entertainment. Contemporary Christianity is a self absorbed disease. I refuse to take part.

[TomMcC]

To Wordupmybotha

The Psalms are God's song book, not man-made. The issue concerning worship is "Has God authorized it?" Since we are idolaters by nature, do we even know how to worship God properly without a word from Him. In the context of this thread, specifically has God authorized man-made songs?

[RAMCLAP]

Exodus 15:1New International Version (NIV)

The Song of Moses and Miriam
15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

“I will sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
he has hurled into the sea.

This is just a random example. We are commanded to sing to Him. The Psalms had not yet been written down. So, I think it goes without saying that we are to praise Him in our own words. However, our words should be the best we have regarding Him. Not shallow, and often baseless self absorbed tripe for our own amusement.

[AJAX22]

I know I'm an outsider on this, but if I was singing either of those examples to a man (son of god included) I would feel like a "no homo" would be appropriate to keep them from misinterpreting my intent...

Unless it was my intent to pitch non platonic love to a dude.... in which case.... no judgement... it's a bit.... heterosexualy challanged.

Amazing grace on the other hand is an awesome powerful and unambiguous awesome song. Did I mention awesome?

[TomMcC]

In the New Testament we are specifically commanded to sing "Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual songs" by the Apostle in Eph 5:19 for example. In context that refers to the Psalms of the OT. In the days of Christ on the earth and the Apostles there were no man-made hymns. As for the song in Ex 15:1, since Moses was a prophet the implication is that the song was inspired by God. As a side note man-made hymns were introduced in the church around 200AD by shall we say "less than the orthodox".

[The War Wagon]

I'm Lutheran - I don't trust ANY church music written after 1675.

[TomMcC]

I don't trust any church songs written after 1000BC.

[Doheny]

Do you guys know what I'm talking about?
Am I wrong to feel a little squeamish singing these "love" songs?
It's like the South Park episode where Cartman takes a secular love song and inserts "Jesus" in the lyrics to make it Christian. LOL.

(a)
"Beautiful one I love you
Beautiful one I adore
Beautiful one my soul must sing"

(b)
"You are my desire, no one else will do
‘Cause nothing else could take your place
To feel the warmth of your embrace"

(c)
"I want to touch you, I want to see your face
I want to know you more"

(d)
"The simplest of all love songs
I want to bring to you
So I’ll let my words be few
Jesus, I am so in love with you."

Jesus is not our girlfriend!

Give me some Chris Tomlin. Give me some traditional hymns that describe Jesus with manly words such as "Holy, powerful, shepherd, lion and the lamb, fortress of refuge, and God almighty."

OP, if that makes you feel squeamish, maybe its because you have issues with sins of the flesh or the Enemy doesn't want you to praise the Lord or express your love for him. In your example #A you only focused on the chorus. Look at the parts of the song you left out:

Wonderful, so wonderful
Is your unfailing love
Your cross has spoken mercy over me
No eye has seen no ear has heard
No heart could fully know
How glorious, how beautiful you are.

Powerful so powerful
Your glory fills the skies
Your mighty works displayed for all to see
The beauty of your majesty
Awakes my heart to see
How marvelous how wonderful you are.

You opened my eyes to your wonders anew
You captured my heart with this love
Because nothing on Earth is as beautiful as you
You opened my eyes to your wonders anew
You captured my heart with this love
Because nothing on Earth is as beautiful as you are.

The song speaks of the cross, His glory, His Mercy. How can you have issues with that?

You said "give me some Chris Tomlin." Did you know that your example #C is a song that's sung by Chris Tomlin: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/chris+t..._20514747.html (Full disclosure, I enjoy Chris Tomlin and have seen him in concert three or four times, most recently a couple of months ago.)

No, Jesus is not our girlfriend, but we are the church and the church is the Bride of Christ. It might be good for you to look inside and see what's really causing you to have issue with such lyrics.

.

[keep_ur_powder_dry]

"I saw the Light" - H Williams 1948

gb

[Just Dave]

Here's one that gets played in my church almost weekly, IMHO it's very self-centered.

I can't stomach it, just count the "I"s and "Me"s and compare that to the references of God. 12:15 ratio

Here's a song we used to sing at church.

Oh Lord, my God
When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works
Thy hands have made

I see the stars
I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout
The universe displayed

Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee
How great thou Art
How great thou Art

Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee
How great thou Art
How great thou Art

When Christ shall come
With shouts of adulation
And take me home
What joy shall fill my heart?

Then I shall bow
In humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God
How great Thou Art

Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee
How great thou Art
How great thou Art

Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee
How great thou Art
How great thou Art

How great Thou Art
How great Thou Art

You can see the self:God ratio deference (15:27 almost double the other song)

The first song is more 'what I feel, what I'm going to do' and eventually gets around to mentioning Jesus directly towards the end.
The second song (How Great Thou Art) gives glory to God right from the start.

The first song is what God is doing/going to do for me while the second song focuses on the greatness of God.

I've found that more and more worship songs are focused on what God is doing for me and less on the holiness and greatness of God.

Then again maybe I'm being too picky.