In a sermon I gave on 12/8, I spent some time picking on Christian products - Christian movies, Christian music, Christian t-shirts, Christian candy, Christian office products. Now, my real point was that too often, people surround themselves by all kinds of Christian stuff, and use this to show what a great Christian they are, while internally, they're filled with anger, hatred, impatience, addictions, selfishness, anything but the fruit of the Spirit. My sermon was centered on the phrase "In the world, but not of the world," and I was cautioning us against equating being "not of the world" with having lots of Christian (non-worldly) stuff, when what it really means to be not of the world is to be transformed internally by God so that we are becoming more and more like Christ.
But what I want to write about here is Christian "stuff," all of the Christian products there are out there for sale. It's not wrong to have it, but, in my opinion, most of it is junk. While there are exceptions, most of it is just churned out so that we can have a [whatever] that is made "Christian" by the fact that it has a verse or a Christian fish on it somewhere.
Where our art is concerned (music included) I believe that many Christians have become lazy in their evaluation of beauty and aesthetic excellence. Yes, I know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and aesthetics are such a subjective thing....but there is, I believe, a high standard of true beauty or quality or excellence that we can reach toward, even if we can't concretely define it. I believe that if I were to create a painting and then put it up on a wall next to a Monet, 10 out of 10 people would find the Monet more beautiful, more excellent than mine.
As a musician, when I listen to and evaluate most of our Christian music, I hear chord progressions and lyrics that seem to have very little thought put into them, even if they are heartfelt. I had a conversation one time with a guy who was very much on the inside of and in the know about the Christian music industry, and he said that, unfortunately, most Christian music is designed for one thing: to sell. He said that while the music is Christian, the industry is very much secular, and exists to make money.
And make money it does. The way that it aims to make money is to react to what secular artists have done, and what seems to be caching on. A while ago, they noticed that *N Sync was catching on, so the Christian music industry produced Plus One. About a year after a secular band or artist hits it big, you'll see a Christian version show up.
Have you ever noticed that non-Christians don't usually like our stuff? Have you ever wondered why that is? I'm betting, for the most part, the reason isn't that it mentions God.
God is creative, and since we were made in His image, we, too, are creative (I would argue that ALL of us are, though it shows itself in different ways), so if our creativity is a gift from God, and is even a part of who He is, shouldn't we strive to use it as best as we can? Should we just settle for stuff that looks or sounds catchy enough to sell? Should we only be reacting to and imitating what the rest of the world is doing before us? What if we were setting the bar for the rest of the world?
But then we've got other stuff, like Christian candy and Christian office products. Do we really need this stuff? Do we need to spend money producing and buying it? Does a Christian stapler do a better job at fastening paper together than a non-Christian stapler? Does Christian candy or Christian t-shirts help you keep your mind on Christ, or give you more opportunities to witness?
I really would love to hear your feedback on all of this, whether you agree with me or not. We learn more through discussions, and I hope these blogs can become a place where we can have good, open, enlightening discussion.
Posted on
Saturday, December 8, 2007
by Chris Branscome