The ignorance of some people...

So we were walking through the Crocus Mall yesterday, when we stopped to look at some ads on the bulletin board. A little picture caught my eye. There was a sketch of a guy dropping a hymnal in the garbage, and in his other hand was a book entitled "Christian Rock & Roll". God was sitting on the throne and said "What are you doing with my music?!" Underneath the picture was this write up:
"A.W. Tozer said, "As long as the church can sing the great hymns, it cannot be defeated, for hymns are theology set to music...Were the scriptures ever destroyed or made inaccessible to the church, it would not be too difficult to extract from our hymns a complete body of Bible doctrine!"
And then the authors own thoughts:
"In these new choruses the Cross is gone, the blood is gone, God's grace and saving power are gone, Heaven is gone, the return of Christ is gone. The major theme is a repetitive chant of words accompanied by drums/electric guitars, beginning in a subdued format and ending with a deafening bar-room NOISE."

The first thing I did was rip the paper off of the bulletin board and crumple it up. Then I thought, "this is so ridiculous, I should share it with everyone", so I kept it. Here are a few thoughts of my own:

1. The picture shows God referring to the hymnal as "His" music. In that case, what did God listen to during the Bible times? These hymns may be a few hundred years old, but God's been around a whole lot longer.
2. God did not write the hymns, nor does he himself claim to have inspired them as he did the Bible, though they were likely inspired by the Holy Spirit.
3. In the quote by A.W. Tozer, it suggests that if God's Word were destroyed, the "great hymns" would live on, and we could get our fill of doctrine from them". How do they come up with this stuff?? The hymns to outlive God's Word? C'mon...the Bible has survived thousands of years, wars, you name it. Hymns on the other hand are now taking second stage to new worship music.
4. Is it possible to truly worship God with words you don't understand? They may be fine for older generations who still understand "old English", but the fact is, must of us would have a difficult time with some of the words in hymns.
5. Oh, I forgot to mention the verse quoted under the picture of God on his throne: "Love not the world neither the things that are in the world...For all that is in the world, the love of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world." - 1 John 2:15-16. So where does it mention in this verse that hymns are not of this world, but choruses and modern worship music are?
6. I've been leading "modern worship" for at least ten years, and I have yet to come across songs that leave out the cross, the blood, grace, heaven, or the return of Christ.
7. I love how it says "electric guitars"...I guess God still accepts me then, 'cause I play an acoustic guitar. Oh, but I do run it through a P.A. system...does that count??
8. The fact that the person or organization who posted this thing on the bulletin board was too cowardly to leave a name or number really ticked me off. If you're gonna post garbage like that, PUT YOUR NAME ON IT! Ok, better stop...Liane's telling me to calm down.

- Warren