{"id":1632,"date":"2010-03-16T22:42:41","date_gmt":"2010-03-17T06:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2010\/03\/16\/is-sg-music-an-entry-level-drug\/"},"modified":"2010-03-17T08:51:03","modified_gmt":"2010-03-17T16:51:03","slug":"is-sg-music-an-entry-level-drug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2010\/03\/16\/is-sg-music-an-entry-level-drug\/","title":{"rendered":"is SG music an entry level drug?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Now, please, first a joke disclaimer. My headline is an attention getting device. It is meant in jest. Mostly. And it points to a serious question.<\/p>\n<p>Scott Aniol has been writing a good deal about this. I especially like his post, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.religiousaffectionsministries.org\/articles\/hymnody\/the-sovereign-gracegetty-music-question\" target=\"_blank\">The Sovereign Grace\/Getty Music Question<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I like Scott\u2019s conclusions:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>I have more than enough hymn texts to choose from (both ancient and modern) that are better than Sovereign Grace lyrics and do not carry any of the potential baggage.<\/li>\n<li>I have more than enough hymn tunes to choose from (both ancient and modern) that are better than Sovereign Grace tunes and do not carry any of the potential baggage.<\/li>\n<li>While associations are not a primary factor in my decision, I am at least aware of the potential of causing a weaker brother to stumble into what I consider error (either by being attracted to the Sovereign Grace pop\/rock styles or a charismatic theology of worship) if I were to use these songs.<\/li>\n<li>I do not sing any similar songs, so I am consistent with my decisions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Read Scott\u2019s whole post and you will get the whole argument and see why he makes the conclusions he does.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Scott also points us to a series of messages by Mark Minnick on the subject:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.religiousaffectionsministries.org\/news-reviews\/3-free-minnick-sermons-on-discernment\">3 (Free!) Minnick sermons on discernment<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.religiousaffectionsministries.org\/news-reviews\/mark-minnick-addresses-evangelicalism-sovereign-grace-music-and-more\">Mark Minnick addresses evangelicalism, Sovereign Grace music, and more<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.religiousaffectionsministries.org\/featured\/mark-minnick-gives-real-wisdom-concerning-music-philosophy\" target=\"_blank\">Mark Minnick gives real wisdom concerning music philosophy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I am not sure if the messages are available \u2018free\u2019 any longer. There was also a follow-up message:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mountcalvarybaptist.org\/pages\/audio\/022410.mp3?download=true\" target=\"_blank\">Music Issue Followup<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All of this material should be considered before getting to my provocative question:<\/p>\n<h4>is SG music an entry level drug?<\/h4>\n<p>The question comes from my understanding of <em>part<\/em> of the arguments advanced by Mark Minnick. I think Scott mentions it also, it somewhat related to his conclusion #3 above.<\/p>\n<p>As I understand it, the argument goes this way: if a church decides to use a \u2018sanitized\u2019 version of SG type music, it will very likely follow that many a young person in that church will be leaving church with the \u201cunsanitized\u201d versions playing on his\/her car stereo or ipod.<\/p>\n<p>That is NOT to say it <em>must follow<\/em>, or that it <em>will absolutely follow<\/em>, or that <em>every young person<\/em> will react this way.<\/p>\n<p>But, the argument says, it is very likely that many a young person would be influenced to use the unsanitized style of music personally because of the corporate use of the sanitized version. I personally think that this scenario is very likely to be true in many cases.<\/p>\n<p>What would the rationale be for using the sanitized versions of this music? Usually we are told that they have \u201csuch rich texts\u201d. Sometimes we are told they have memorable melodies, but I don\u2019t think this is really much of a motivator. It is, supposedly, the \u201crich texts\u201d that draw their use. (I have my suspicions about this, but let\u2019s accept it as a given for now.)<\/p>\n<p>So\u2026 here is where my \u2018entry level drug\u2019 metaphor comes in.<\/p>\n<p>What is the rationale for legalizing marijuana? Usually it goes something like this: not addictive, harmless, some actual benefits, doesn\u2019t lead to other drug use. The argument against legalizing it usually disagrees strenuously with that last point, even if other arguments can be said to be true.<\/p>\n<p>Back to music\u2026 We are talking about an argument here that using sanitized SG music will lead to harder drugs\u2026 er\u2026 music, of which we <em>definitely don\u2019t approve<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>What do you think about that argument? I have said that I think it is quite likely true. (I think I am agreeing with Scott Aniol and Mark Minnick here, but you will have to check out their material.)<\/p>\n<p>I would be interested in hearing other opinions about this.<\/p>\n<p>~~~<\/p>\n<p>Now a few last disclaimers:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Local churches have the right to make their own decisions.<\/li>\n<li>I don\u2019t think we are talking about sin here (i.e., not \u2018right\u2019 vs. \u2018wrong\u2019). Rather, I think this is a wisdom question, which may have moral overtones (i.e., it is \u2018wise\u2019 or \u2018unwise\u2019).<\/li>\n<li>I am asking this question of people who would share my presupposition that the unsanitized versions of SG type music is unacceptable for Christians at any time. <strong>Those who disagree with that presupposition really don\u2019t need to comment.<\/strong> Your points will be irrelevant to the topic.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Ok, thoughts?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline; border: 0px;\" title=\"don_sig2\" src=\"http:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/don_sig25.png\" border=\"0\" alt=\"don_sig2\" width=\"150\" height=\"50\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now, please, first a joke disclaimer. My headline is an attention getting device. It is meant in jest. Mostly. And it points to a serious question. Scott Aniol has been writing a good deal about this. I especially like his post, \u201cThe Sovereign Grace\/Getty Music Question\u201d I like Scott\u2019s conclusions: I have more than enough [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[71,60,67],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2fYWj-qk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1632"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1633,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632\/revisions\/1633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}