Jake Wasdin

“Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary…My lips will praise You.” —Psalm 63:2-3 (NASB)

Are there songs that speak truths of the Bible that are inappropriate for corporate worship in church? I’ve attended several different churches lately and have been forced to consider this. My question really began with a certain song in my own church one Lord’s Day.

After repeating the slide that said something like “I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God, he calls me friend,” about sixteen times, I began to reflect. These words by themselves are true—verses like John 15:15 confirm this. However, by singing praise with these words, who are we ultimately glorifying? Is our attitude made to reflect God’s graciousness and lovingkindness in addressing us so? Maybe so. I instead found an attitude that made me think more of myself than anything. If the song is more about us, even if it is who we are because of God, is if appropriate for worship?

Another more recent example is found in How He Loves. This is a song that is slower and seems quite able to captivate you by the music. The lyrics are what really matter though. So are these words really God-honoring ultimately or man-centered?:

“He is jealous for me. Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight if his mercy…oh how he loves us oh. How he loves us ohhh”

That is the beginning of the first verse and the chorus which is quite repeated. Now I suppose parts of the song really are about glorifying God, although in relation to us instead of directly praising him (except for calling Him beautiful). The emphasis is mainly on how God loves us—again is this where it needs to be? The metaphors are beautiful, yes, as we sing about “heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss (and my heart shakes violently inside of my chest.” What is really memorable is the echoing affirmations that God loves me.

I could give numerous other examples of songs, but that’s not really my point. Probably no uninspired song can really be perfect in theology, emphasis, and even when it is, our feeble flesh is the weaker link that ultimately determines who we are glorifying through our times of public worship. Nonetheless, it is still important for worship leaders to lead the congregation in such a way that God is glorified, and the content and mode of singing helps to set that.

I don’t know what is right. I do often find myself comparing songs back to the hymns of only a few generations ago and marvel at how much great depth is lost in general. When we compare the lyrics of Amazing Grace to a modern song about grace that is also true like Matt Maher’s Your Grace is Enough, there is depth lost while both songs contain much truth. However, just because there are many great hymns, I don’t believe only using hymns is the solution. There doesn’t need to again be a case like in Africa where northern European psalters and hymnals were translated to local tongues and taught to the people there, making Christianity something that was very foreign and would very much deflect from the truths contained. When the mode of worship is something difficult to praise God with, then it may not be right. Hymns in general are something from a different culture to some members of my generation. Not that our worship should be determined by culture, but that people should still be able to engage in worship… even hymns are modeled after contemporary music of a time now passed.

There are some that still use the hymns often, with “updated” music. That can be good if they’re great, God-glorifying songs. For that is all that really matters. Worship needs to be led so that God is the focus, not us. When it appears to be the other way, or when the worship even inclines us that way, I think there begins to be an issue.

I believe we should be in prayer for those leading corporate worship and those writing and arranging music for such. While we are to live our lives in worship, the time or two each week during which we can lift our voices together in praise of God is a wonderful time and privelge and it is my hope that it actually is to God then. I’ll end with an exhortation of Paul:

“speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” —Ephesians 5:19-21 (NASB)

I found this fun little application to see who I write like thanks to Nathan at Discipulus Scripturae. I thought I’d try a few different genres of my writing to see where I fall.

My first try was a document based question I wrote last semester for history class:

I write like
Edgar Allan Poe

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I’m not sure how Poe would be similar to my style for history papers, but I can’t complain there!

Now I know I wouldn’t've heard of many of these authors as I am not “up” on literature. This is true for my next try, that of a journal entry I wrote on the computer a few years back:

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Another no name (to me) for an English creative writing assignment:

I write like
Harry Harrison

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

But I guess overall I do write the most like this Wallace fellow. I suppose I will have to look him up. I tried my last blog post here and was compared to him again:

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Years ago if you had found a list of reasons why a Linux distribution was a “BIG failure” it would have reasons that really do make it fail– lack of drivers, little software availability, problems installing, and so on. To a degree these problems still exist, but they are becoming better. Driver availability is better than ever, more and more free alternatives that are usable are coming out, the installation on many Linux distributions is easier than the Apple and Microsoft equivalents (although the average user probably never installs an OS anyway)… but none of these reasons are what some are complaining about. Maybe the interface is hard to figure out? Maybe it’s hard to get current software? Maybe for some. But I have found a list with some of the most petty reasons.

This list, which I will link to at the bottom of the post, contains three basic categories of reasons why Ubuntu is a failure: 1) It’s not Windows 2) It’s not Windows 3) It’s not Windows.

Complaints? They include things from a lack of specific menu options, to an ugly bootloader (Windows is the same as well as the BIOS on virtually all PCs!), to complaints about the simplicity of the default video player. Now certainly I am not Indian, and this is the demographic the author is addressing, but I find this particular complaint particularly laughable:

What does an average Indian user do when the desktop loads in Windows?He rights clicks on the desktop and refreshes the desktop about 5-6 times or until he is satisfied.This is a ritual performed by most Indian Users after switching on the computer and just before shutting down the computer.
When this average user tries to perform his ‘Refresh’ ritual in Ubuntu,he is in for a rude shock.The Ubuntu Desktop does not have a Refresh Option or any other simliar[sic] option like Reload in the Right Click Menu.

I feel sorry for the user that does this useless ritual on a live desktop; Windows does not need the feature and nor does Ubuntu.

Nonetheless, thankfully there is progress even in this user’s view! Apparently having to type in a user name *and* a password when logging in means that “Instead he will simply say that Ubuntu is not good and will refuseto[sic] use it.” As of Ubuntu 10.04 Ubuntu now includes a clickable user selection! Ubuntu 10.04 also has more default wallpapers and a new login sound–other reasons Ubuntu is a big failure in India.

I think if Ubuntu is being lauded as awful for such petty reasons as these, it has greatly improved. While the author had a couple of complaints I would consider valid to Ubuntu’s improvements, such as apparently problems with a certain audio driver and a lack of a good replacement for a certain Microsoft plug-in, all in all it seems to be a case of Linux not being Windows. If these people are so used to the exact workings of Windows, perhaps it is better that they stay with that OS (and don’t upgrade where features may change!) anyway. Choose the OS that works for you.. maybe for some Indian people it is not the best.

Anyways.. here is the article for those who want a laugh:

10 Reasons why Ubuntu is a BIG failure in India

There has recently been a lot of questions about Dr. Ergun Caner, the president of Liberty Theological Seminary. Questions have been raised about his past. He has made some extreme claims about his background. Much of the story is being followed on the Alpha and Omega Ministries blog. There is a wrap-up of some of the claims on Christianity Today. This has led to Dr. Ergun Caner being removed as the dean.

However, something that is not getting much attention, likely because of less notary, is that of Ergun’s younger brother Emir. Dr. Emir Caner is president of Truett-McConnell College. My church is involved with the college as one of our ministers is a trustee for the college and others have in the past. He has come to speak at our church.

I was not very aware of the controversy at the time he spoke. I did notice some things that seemed out of place based on my knowledge of Islam and based on his facts not adding up. If memory serves correct, I recall Emir making many of the same claims as his brother Ergun that evidence is increasingly showing to be false.

For the sake of the integrity of the school, I think an investigation needs to be done at Truett-McConnell as well. When Dr. Emir Caner was installed as the dean of the college, this remark was made (source):

Patterson concluded his brief comments by stating that Caner’s greatest challenge will be to teach students “to value personal integrity because our nation’s very future depends on it.”

I do not know if Dr. Emir Caner is falling into the same untruths. He certainly did not make such absurd claims as his brother did. Nonetheless, because of the connection with his brother and the fact that their life stories do go together, I would appreciate seeing an investigation for Dr. Emir Caner as well. I am hoping that he has bore more integrity. The biography on his site appears legt, however the lack of details in his early life that he spent the majority of the time speaking about when he came to my church is odd.

I am of no place to accuse. I would hope that Dr. Emir Caner has sought to share his testimony honestly. I do hope that his institution would seek to see if this truly is the case. If they have, I have not been able to find record of it. Those who have looked into Emir Caner’s claims are finding some possible untruths, which is part of my concern.

Although he may not have fallen into the trap as far as his brother, any deviation from the truth is sin and if left unconfessed and public, is he eligible to sit at the head of a college that is part of a faithful Christian denomination? I think not.

Welcome to this new blog. I hope that this blog is edifying to those that read it. I will likely be blogging on my primary interests, which include theology, computers, and the Internet.