Christian Music – Evil? or true praise & worship?

Ok folks! This is a little rant! So enjoy yourself.

I love music, all music pretty much, I respect it as a way of expressing oneself in a way that others might capture the same mind set of the author of the song. Music is a very powerful thing. We read all the time how it influences the youth of today to do …well… stupid things.

So read on and let me know your opinions in the comments or with an email. Please?

The bible makes reference to music very much as a way of praise and worship. In the building of the Temple, the worship leaders & musicians were very important to the task.

Keep in mind praising and worshiping, though very much alike, are two different states of being.
praise     P   Pronunciation Key  (prz)
n.
1. Expression of approval, commendation, or admiration.
2. The extolling or exaltation of a deity, ruler, or hero.
3. Archaic. A reason for praise; merit.
4.
5. wor·ship     P   Pronunciation Key  (wûrshp)
6. n.
1. The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.
2. The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.
7. Ardent devotion; adoration.
8. often Worship Chiefly British. Used as a form of address for magistrates, mayors, and certain other dignitaries: Your Worship.

So back to some biblical references in the bible, the first reference made, I believe,

Genesis 31:27
Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and harps?
Some more references:

1 Chronicles 15:16
David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals.

Ephesians 5:19
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,

The reason for this rant is my stumbling across a web site which I found to be completely off track with my – (**Notice the ‘MY’ in there – since you may not share the same) beliefs.
I am a member of what we like to call a Christian Rock band. We love making music, up beat, loud, yet all the while telling a message of what our Lord Jesus has done for us, praising Him, or just sharing the gospel through song.

Sure we have found folks that do not like our style, our beliefs, or our VOLUME. LOL Yet, we know why we do it, who we do it for, and that He accepts it as an offering of praise and worship to Him – alone.

In fact several times we have had people approach us to make comments like:
“Are ya’ll a Christian band?”
“Did ya’ll mention Jesus?”
To which, my normal reaction is – in my head not vocally – “did you listen to the words, or shut us out the moment you heard an electric guitar or the drums?”

In fact I was blessed to co-write a song with our bass player after discussing one of those points. We call it “You don’t know me”. The song is the loudest, hardest sounding one we play, and it fits the lyrics and meaning well. If you want to hear it visit
http://www.newsonband.com.

So, I will close now and let you visit the website that got this post fired up. All I ask is take listen to our music, read the words, and tell me…. are we evil, can God accept this as praise, … of course it will be based off your belief system…but I would still be curious to know.

The site:
http://www.av1611.org/crock/crockids.html
http://www.av1611.org/crock/crockex1.html

Thanks,
JC