One time I wrote a treatise the size of War and Peace on the subject of praise music, and I expressed my low opinion of it. I love old-time gospel songs, especially those African American gospel blues songs. Subsequently several of you wrote and chastised me over it and one or two including my own wife have been almost militant in their staunch viewpoint that praise music should be loved by one and all. Well, la-de-da! Excu-u-u-u-se me for living! My mindset about this subject remains the same, I don’t like praise music and like my hero Forrest Gump, “That is all I have to say about that!”
I was accused by the howlers of being out of touch, over the hill, and so forth. This reminded me of the following e-mail that I received:
“Apparently, a self-important college freshman attending a recent football game took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen sitting next to him why it was impossible for the older generation to understand his generation.
‘You grew up in a different world, actually an almost primitive one’, the student smugly said, loud enough for many of those nearby to hear. ‘The young people of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon. Our space probes have visited Mars. We have nuclear energy, ships and electric and hydrogen cars, cell phones, and computers with light-speed processing…and more.’
After a brief silence, the senior citizen responded as follows:
‘You’re right, son. We didn’t have those things when we were young. so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little punk, what are you doing for the next generation?’
The applause was amazing . . . “
Call me old-fashioned if you might, but my generation is the generation of change. We have changed the entire world in less than a century and I was fortunate enough to live through most of those exciting times and I have enjoyed being a part of it. Not all of it has been good for humanity. I have seen some good changes such as those mentioned above, and I have seen some bad such as pornography, abortion, homosexuality, and violence being promoted globally to billions of people via television and social media utilizing the Internet. Obviously, some change is good for humanity and some things should never change.
God’s laws do not change regardless of humanity’s opinion of them. Society might loudly claim that abortion is a “choice”, but God will never condone taking an innocent baby’s life, because someone “chooses” to end it. The Bible tells us that God is the same today, as yesterday, as He will be one thousand years or eons from now. I think most people appreciate that about God. We can go to the Bible and know what God’s position is on most any issue and we know that it will not change because a “king lemming” located somewhere in Hollywood declares it to now to be socially unacceptable.
In Israel, I saw how the masses of people there feel about God and how they worship. Their entire lives revolve around God and worshipping Him. God is revered and holy sites cannot be entered by men or women without a head covering. More than once people on our tour were turned away from entering churches because they had on Bermuda shorts, or the women were wearing sleeveless blouses without a prayer shawl covering their shoulders. We were emphatically told that these churches are holy places, and we should respect them. Many on the tour did not like these rules, but like it or not they did not enter the churches unless wearing proper attire.
Contrast that with any of the contemporary churches today and you will see people dressed inappropriately for the church at least to my way of thinking. Some of our modern-day churches take casual too far and it becomes disrespectful of our Holy God and His places of worship. In many of today’s church services that I have attended, people are dressed like slobs; young people especially come to church with the boys wearing their pants nearly to their knees; some come with their shirt tails hanging out. The young girls wear micro-mini-skirts and other clothing that are in my view in any sense of the word not befitting to be wearing to a holy place of worship of a Holy God. Their hair is uncombed, and the atmosphere reminds me of attending a rock concert rather than worshipping our glorious Creator. Many pastors come dressed in the same manner and the few who look clean appear as though they just wandered in off the 18th tee box or are auditioning for a role as a dancer in a Grease sequel.
I believe we should revere God and treat His places of worship with respect. I once saw a Mexican peasant enter a big cathedral in Mexico City. He was obviously very poor and was not in an Armani suit, but he was respectful of God’s house of worship. Upon entering he removed his tattered straw hat and got down on his knees in his worn blue jeans on the marble floor and literally inched forward crawling on his knees all of the way to the front of the church spanning perhaps 300 feet. He had tears streaming down his face and his straw hat was clutched to his chest and he had his head tilted upwards towards the ceiling and he was softly praying. I will never forget the earnest look on his face and it reminded me of the sinner that Jesus observed praying in the temple. He was crying and beating his chest asking for forgiveness of a righteous and Holy God. I think this gentleman knew what it was like to approach a righteous and mighty God and ask for forgiveness.
I suppose I will get letters from folks howling about the virtues of allowing people to dress like little pigs or however they desire and make the case that by so doing it will encourage young people who otherwise might not attend church to attend. Not only should we teach them to come unshaven, un-showered, and scruffy in wrinkled clothes, but we should also get some 1000-watt amplifiers revved up and hire a rock band to blast ear-splitting praise music throughout the sanctuary. And whatever we do we should never ask anyone to publicly declare their love for Jesus Christ in a Billy Graham-style invitation asking people to come” just as they are” down to the front of the church during an invitation and declare their love for Jesus. That might embarrass someone to publicly declare their love for the Savior who gave His life and shed His blood so that we can live. Instead, we should just encourage them to fill out a card and drop it in the offering plate.
I suppose my only comment to those who say I’m old-fashioned is more of a question: What in the world are we trying to teach our young people about standing on Holy Ground with Jesus?
Please do not send hate mail; I already know that many of you disagree, and more mail will likely just spur me on to respond and write even more about this subject in which I feel sure you are tired of hearing by now. Mind you I’m not taking a stance against sincere worship; people should worship God in a joyful way and if that music makes someone joyful then sing it like a bird. The Bible tells us over and over and over again to be glad in the Lord, to be joyful, to shout to the Lord, to rejoice in His salvation and if you want to do it with praise songs and clapping then I encourage you to do so. As for me, I prefer a different route and I ask that you allow me my space and desires in the same vein.
I once had a friend who was an old-time Pentecostal. One time I jokingly chided him for being a “holy roller”. He was not offended in the least and he broadly smiled at me and said, “That’s right, and I’m going to roll all over heaven”. He loves the Lord with all his heart, and I have no doubt that he will joyfully roll all over heaven shouting to the Lord and worshipping in his unique style.
I admit that it did make me uncomfortable to attend church with him and hear people talking in tongues and seeing them pull their shoes off and start running all over church dancing around and shouting. I whispered to my wife I wish I had worn my snake-proof boots and told her at the first sign of a snake coming out we would bolt out of there like a rocket ship, but hey if that is how they rejoice in the Lord then get to rocking and rolling and shouting for joy.
Psalm 32:11
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice
you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you
upright in heart!