When I visited Gloria Dei Lutheran Church last Wednesday for a lunch with their electrical engineer pastor (and some of his elderly congregants), he showed me a book. When I saw the title (which is not so short), I didn't hesitate to borrow it:
Why I Left The Contemporary Christian Music Movement: Confessions Of A Former Worship Leader written by Dan Lucarini
The title is revealing enough. It's been written by a former contemporary worship leader who has repented from promoting Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and now is leveraging his experience in the Contemporary camp to discredit his former cohorts and save butterflies (unaware Christians) from being rushed away and doomed by this storm of CCM. Although I knew what to expect in the book, I read it with interest. I strongly recommend you to read it, although with some reservations.
I've always felt uncomfortable with people who place themselves at the extreme end of any spectrum (religious, cultural, political). Such people tend to demonize anybody not thinking exactly like them. They claim their very doctrine to be the only and only right way. And it'll become more dangerous when people hop from one extreme to another. They switch from one absolutism to another and this transition (or hopping) makes them more rigid in their new position, because they come to believe they've come out of darkness and now they have a duty to help others toward salvation (or enlightenment, depending on the direction of their hopping). and they're prone to look at the world in a black and white way.
It doesn't sound like a recommendation, does it?
Well, when you read a book written by such people (especially the ones who've had a deep experience in their former position), you get familiar with the views of both sides as the writer explains what people in the other side think and then would give counter-arguments to refute their opinion. And this would provide you with a good opportunity to think about the beliefs of either group as they are. That's not the case when you read people who've never experienced or understood what they're opposing.
In the meantime, such people usually go to extremes to discredit their former buddies. In a nutshell, what you get out of this book is most of the CCM guys (if not all of them) are a bunch of immoral people who are overruled by their whims and egocentrism to infuse a dirty filthy sin-inspiring evil-motivated music (i.e. Rock music) into Christian worship.
Sometimes, he apparently tries to distance himself from a condemn-them-all black and white attitude which is present all over his book. But still, the essence of his reasoning to refute the use of CCM could be summarized as: what has come out of immoral people for immoral reasons (Rock 'n Roll) cannot serve God and people who use it are doomed because of the evil nature of this music.
He has a very interesting contemplation on worship and its true heart (chapter 4) and if it were not for an ignorant comment on Islamic worship (page 54), you could assume this chapter was written by a conservative Muslim. Actually, his thoughts in this chapter reflect very well the true meaning of Islam (submission to God). I probably will write in another post on worship, but to make my records straight with him, I put a short clarification here. After talking about prostrating in worship, he says:
Why I Left The Contemporary Christian Music Movement: Confessions Of A Former Worship Leader written by Dan Lucarini
The title is revealing enough. It's been written by a former contemporary worship leader who has repented from promoting Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and now is leveraging his experience in the Contemporary camp to discredit his former cohorts and save butterflies (unaware Christians) from being rushed away and doomed by this storm of CCM. Although I knew what to expect in the book, I read it with interest. I strongly recommend you to read it, although with some reservations.
I've always felt uncomfortable with people who place themselves at the extreme end of any spectrum (religious, cultural, political). Such people tend to demonize anybody not thinking exactly like them. They claim their very doctrine to be the only and only right way. And it'll become more dangerous when people hop from one extreme to another. They switch from one absolutism to another and this transition (or hopping) makes them more rigid in their new position, because they come to believe they've come out of darkness and now they have a duty to help others toward salvation (or enlightenment, depending on the direction of their hopping). and they're prone to look at the world in a black and white way.
It doesn't sound like a recommendation, does it?
Well, when you read a book written by such people (especially the ones who've had a deep experience in their former position), you get familiar with the views of both sides as the writer explains what people in the other side think and then would give counter-arguments to refute their opinion. And this would provide you with a good opportunity to think about the beliefs of either group as they are. That's not the case when you read people who've never experienced or understood what they're opposing.
In the meantime, such people usually go to extremes to discredit their former buddies. In a nutshell, what you get out of this book is most of the CCM guys (if not all of them) are a bunch of immoral people who are overruled by their whims and egocentrism to infuse a dirty filthy sin-inspiring evil-motivated music (i.e. Rock music) into Christian worship.
Sometimes, he apparently tries to distance himself from a condemn-them-all black and white attitude which is present all over his book. But still, the essence of his reasoning to refute the use of CCM could be summarized as: what has come out of immoral people for immoral reasons (Rock 'n Roll) cannot serve God and people who use it are doomed because of the evil nature of this music.
He has a very interesting contemplation on worship and its true heart (chapter 4) and if it were not for an ignorant comment on Islamic worship (page 54), you could assume this chapter was written by a conservative Muslim. Actually, his thoughts in this chapter reflect very well the true meaning of Islam (submission to God). I probably will write in another post on worship, but to make my records straight with him, I put a short clarification here. After talking about prostrating in worship, he says:
We may recoil from that thought as we consider the images on our television sets of Muslims, for example, performing their prayer ritual, which includes an act of prostration that at least in its form fits the meaning of worship. But God sees our hearts; he is not fooled by the form of prostration, he desires a broken and penitent heart that is committed to him.
For your information, what we Muslims do is not merely a form of prostration. Actually, we do say some things during our daily prayers not merely bowing and raising and what we say reflects our supplication and humility before God. When we put our forehead on the ground (where we have come from and where we will end in), it's not just a form of ritual. We express our humility to God when we say: "Praised is my Lord the Most High and thanks be to Him". And while we speak of Him being the Most High, we place ourselves in the lowest position by putting our forehead on dust or clay, understanding there's no reason for vanity while God has created us out of dust. Is it clear? OK, back to the book.
Most of his reasoning on condemning CCM could apply as well to Traditionals. That the worship team being comprised of men and women and that their mixing, intimacy, etc could seduce them and others and even lead to divorce (chapter 6) could be true in any mixed setting (and that's why Islam discourages mixing men and women in worship so that the focus be only on God). Splitting Churches (chapter 7) isn't just a result of music style; disagreement on anything and forcing any specific viewpoint could lead to split (and I've witnessed church splits over issues other than music). And sometimes when he fails to give effective counter-arguments, for example, addressing why he believes worldly music of past centuries are OK while worldly music of our time is evil, he hopes that we see both the foolishness and the arrogance of CCM defense (page 110).
The cornerstone of his counter-arguments against CCM is that such people have personality problems (self-centered, whimsical, immoral, etc) and he's quick to refer to his own dark background as the proof for his argument. Clear enough? Not completely.
You've heard the famous quote: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Sometimes, I feel like giving a new version as: "Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder". When you choose to view people in a distorted way, you will.
I agree with him that personal preferences could lead into using worldly music in worship (and Islam solves the problem: leave all music out of worship; when you worship God, just do that and nothing else). But when you accept the very presence of music in the worship, you cannot accuse people of different taste to be possessed by all sorts of personality problems, just because you were so (or you prefer to think of yourself as such).
I admit that Christian worship is becoming more and more an issue of entertainment rather than worship, but people are not either black or white. Whenever I hear people demonizing their opponents or accusing them of being immoral just because they choose to see them as such, I come to think of an interesting memory from my undergraduate years. It may sound irrelevant, but I find it very illuminating for all people who tend to see the world through a dark distorted lens.
First time I taught SIGSYS software as a teaching assistant for the Signals & System (my favorite course) in our computer lab, I had not yet passed the course myself. And it was my first time teaching a class ever. And the perfectionist that I was, it was so important to me that everybody completely understood the notions and learned how to work with the software. And I was so obsessed about it all. So, you can imagine how stressing and challenging it felt to me.
As the majority of students were my friends, I tried to reduce my stress by way of handling the class in a friendly casual way. When I attended to the questions at each computer workstation, I would pat people on the shoulder, joke, etc. And I was an orthodox Muslim, kinda Taliban-esque, over those years (I'm still a conservative Muslim, somehow moderated though). And as instructed by Islam, I was observant of Islam guidelines about interacting with girls in a modest sober way keeping distance. The rest of the story may sound like a cartoon, but that's exactly the way it happened.
When I left one of the workstations, I felt something was unusual. I couldn't say why or what, but I just felt that way. And just like those cartoons, I tried to rewind the scene to figure out what looked wrong. And while I was on my way to the next workstation, a sequence of rewinds and flashbacks ensued: something looked unusual, what was that? the student was sitting in an awkward way, why? probably, the student didn't feel comfortable, why? probably, it had something to do with the way I was attending the workstation explaining and pointing to the monitor, how? I tried to remember my posture. I was standing at the workstation, putting my hand at the back of the seat bending over the shoulder of the student (just the way I did for others), pointing to the monitor, explaining the waveform on the screen.
Then, it became clear to me, making my heart sink. The student was a GIRL (and an orthodox one)! And you can imagine how comfortable she must have felt. And yet, the only thing that was completely absent from my mind while bending over her shoulder was her gender. I was so obsessed with explaining what was on the screen that I couldn't think of anything else. I was so lucky that I just put my hand on the back of her seat and didn't pat on her shoulder (the way I did on my friends). Believe me, I could've done so without ever noticing that it was a girl!
On another note, I can think of my different ways of worship over my undergraduate years. I've always said my prayers to God exactly according to the guidelines He's ordered us Muslims to follow. But to do supplementary prayers, I sometimes used my electronic keyboard to talk to God. I always did so in my solitude and I would never let that lessen, distract or mix with my ordinary way of prayer. And while I played, I never used music that would remind me of immoral musicians and their culture.
Years passed and I became an engineer and my career made me so busy that my keyboard began gathering dust and I didn't have time (or mood) to use it much (either for pleasure or worship). And now that I've come here, it is still gathering dust. If I were able to carry it over with me, probably I wouldn't use it for worship here either. Not that I've repented from what I did then nor I ever feel I was corrupt over those years. Now that I look back, I can say with 100% certainty that while I used my keyboard as a supplementary way of worship, it was me, not the devil who was playing and I earnestly talked to God by way of playing my keyboard.
And over my church visits, I've witnessed people playing guitars or even drums (as he seems to be very concerned about that as the most very evil instrument). And what I've observed has not been always showy or worldly (as the book maintains unfairly). Sometimes, what I observe in some of them is (or looks to me) the same way as I used to talk to God playing my keyboard.
I don't rule out devil playing into people's mind even during worship (and that's why prayers in Islam are just prayers and just focusing on that and nothing else). But you cannot judge people without knowing what goes on in their mind. God is the only one to judge. But still, I admit that worshipping God should be done exactly the way He has ordered, not the way we choose.
And yes, I completely agree that God would accept us as we are provided we do not remain as we are. Whatever we are, we must change ourselves according to His will and do our best to follow His word. And we always need to ask for His grace and mercy to that end.
Most of his reasoning on condemning CCM could apply as well to Traditionals. That the worship team being comprised of men and women and that their mixing, intimacy, etc could seduce them and others and even lead to divorce (chapter 6) could be true in any mixed setting (and that's why Islam discourages mixing men and women in worship so that the focus be only on God). Splitting Churches (chapter 7) isn't just a result of music style; disagreement on anything and forcing any specific viewpoint could lead to split (and I've witnessed church splits over issues other than music). And sometimes when he fails to give effective counter-arguments, for example, addressing why he believes worldly music of past centuries are OK while worldly music of our time is evil, he hopes that we see both the foolishness and the arrogance of CCM defense (page 110).
The cornerstone of his counter-arguments against CCM is that such people have personality problems (self-centered, whimsical, immoral, etc) and he's quick to refer to his own dark background as the proof for his argument. Clear enough? Not completely.
You've heard the famous quote: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Sometimes, I feel like giving a new version as: "Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder". When you choose to view people in a distorted way, you will.
I agree with him that personal preferences could lead into using worldly music in worship (and Islam solves the problem: leave all music out of worship; when you worship God, just do that and nothing else). But when you accept the very presence of music in the worship, you cannot accuse people of different taste to be possessed by all sorts of personality problems, just because you were so (or you prefer to think of yourself as such).
I admit that Christian worship is becoming more and more an issue of entertainment rather than worship, but people are not either black or white. Whenever I hear people demonizing their opponents or accusing them of being immoral just because they choose to see them as such, I come to think of an interesting memory from my undergraduate years. It may sound irrelevant, but I find it very illuminating for all people who tend to see the world through a dark distorted lens.
First time I taught SIGSYS software as a teaching assistant for the Signals & System (my favorite course) in our computer lab, I had not yet passed the course myself. And it was my first time teaching a class ever. And the perfectionist that I was, it was so important to me that everybody completely understood the notions and learned how to work with the software. And I was so obsessed about it all. So, you can imagine how stressing and challenging it felt to me.
As the majority of students were my friends, I tried to reduce my stress by way of handling the class in a friendly casual way. When I attended to the questions at each computer workstation, I would pat people on the shoulder, joke, etc. And I was an orthodox Muslim, kinda Taliban-esque, over those years (I'm still a conservative Muslim, somehow moderated though). And as instructed by Islam, I was observant of Islam guidelines about interacting with girls in a modest sober way keeping distance. The rest of the story may sound like a cartoon, but that's exactly the way it happened.
When I left one of the workstations, I felt something was unusual. I couldn't say why or what, but I just felt that way. And just like those cartoons, I tried to rewind the scene to figure out what looked wrong. And while I was on my way to the next workstation, a sequence of rewinds and flashbacks ensued: something looked unusual, what was that? the student was sitting in an awkward way, why? probably, the student didn't feel comfortable, why? probably, it had something to do with the way I was attending the workstation explaining and pointing to the monitor, how? I tried to remember my posture. I was standing at the workstation, putting my hand at the back of the seat bending over the shoulder of the student (just the way I did for others), pointing to the monitor, explaining the waveform on the screen.
Then, it became clear to me, making my heart sink. The student was a GIRL (and an orthodox one)! And you can imagine how comfortable she must have felt. And yet, the only thing that was completely absent from my mind while bending over her shoulder was her gender. I was so obsessed with explaining what was on the screen that I couldn't think of anything else. I was so lucky that I just put my hand on the back of her seat and didn't pat on her shoulder (the way I did on my friends). Believe me, I could've done so without ever noticing that it was a girl!
On another note, I can think of my different ways of worship over my undergraduate years. I've always said my prayers to God exactly according to the guidelines He's ordered us Muslims to follow. But to do supplementary prayers, I sometimes used my electronic keyboard to talk to God. I always did so in my solitude and I would never let that lessen, distract or mix with my ordinary way of prayer. And while I played, I never used music that would remind me of immoral musicians and their culture.
Years passed and I became an engineer and my career made me so busy that my keyboard began gathering dust and I didn't have time (or mood) to use it much (either for pleasure or worship). And now that I've come here, it is still gathering dust. If I were able to carry it over with me, probably I wouldn't use it for worship here either. Not that I've repented from what I did then nor I ever feel I was corrupt over those years. Now that I look back, I can say with 100% certainty that while I used my keyboard as a supplementary way of worship, it was me, not the devil who was playing and I earnestly talked to God by way of playing my keyboard.
And over my church visits, I've witnessed people playing guitars or even drums (as he seems to be very concerned about that as the most very evil instrument). And what I've observed has not been always showy or worldly (as the book maintains unfairly). Sometimes, what I observe in some of them is (or looks to me) the same way as I used to talk to God playing my keyboard.
I don't rule out devil playing into people's mind even during worship (and that's why prayers in Islam are just prayers and just focusing on that and nothing else). But you cannot judge people without knowing what goes on in their mind. God is the only one to judge. But still, I admit that worshipping God should be done exactly the way He has ordered, not the way we choose.
And yes, I completely agree that God would accept us as we are provided we do not remain as we are. Whatever we are, we must change ourselves according to His will and do our best to follow His word. And we always need to ask for His grace and mercy to that end.
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