Jason Boyett wrote a great post on things that annoy him about “worship” (the first being that people seem to assume that worship only happens during the singing portion of a church service). Anyways, one thing he mentioned has been eating at me for awhile.

Okay.

More like a few years.

Why are the lyrics to many worship songs (and many Christian songs in general) so thoughtless?

One example he uses that I can relate to is the line “Show me Your glory”.

Sounds good, right?

There are several songs with this line or a variation.

I mean, what’s wrong with asking God to show you His glory?

Oh, that’s right. Because when Moses asked God to show him His glory God warned him that it would KILL HIM! (Exodus 33:18-23)

Here’s another example – a song that, while not theologically incorrect, is still annoying because of it’s vagueness. It’s called You Are.

You are the love of my life.
You are the hope that I cling to.
You mean more than this world to me.
I wouldn’t trade You for silver or gold.
I wouldn’t trade You for riches untold.
You are, You are my everything.

I wouldn’t take one step without You.
I could never go on.
I couldn’t live one day without You.
I don’t have the strength to make it on my own.

You are the love of my life.
You are the hope that I cling to.
You mean more than this world to me.
I wouldn’t trade You for silver or gold.
I wouldn’t trade You for riches untold.
You are, You are my everything.

Until the world stops turning,
until the stars fade from the sky;
until the sun stops striving,
I’ll need You in my life,
and here’s the reason why.

You are the love of my life.
You are the hope that I cling to.
You mean more than this world to me.
I wouldn’t trade You for silver or gold.
I wouldn’t trade You for riches untold.
You are, You are my everything.

Could those lyrics be describing Jesus?

Yeah.

They could also be describing your prom date.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t sing songs that declare our love for Christ and dependence upon Him. But those songs shouldn’t be vague. Seriously – if the first time I’d heard that song had been on the radio, I would have never associated it with Jesus. I would have thought it was the latest Top 40 love song.

For Jason’s full post click here.

Got any examples of your own?

I don’t agree with everything Joel Osteen teaches.

But, to be blunt, I haven’t listened to him in over two years.

A few of my favorite pastors to listen to are Mark Driscoll, Perry Noble, Brent Stephens and Andy Stanley.

Yet again, I don’t always agree with everything they teach. Or write. Or do.

I believe Donald Miller is one of the most engaging and insightful writers ever.

I still don’t agree with everything he writes.

Rob Bell has written two of my favorite books (I still have yet to read his third and fourth books).

And yet I don’t agree with everything he has written.

So, back to Joel. I used to find it easy to make fun of Joel. I mean, he does come across as kind of corny. Even his friends try to do their best Joel impersonations when they’re in Texas. Especially in Houston. And just like many who parody political figures, it’s usually harmless.

However, the other day I was reading a blog authored by someone whom I have a great deal of respect for and it disturbed me a bit. Their post was about Joel Osteen’s latest book, but throughout the entire post, every occurence of the letter (S) was replaced with the dollar symbol ($).

A$ in Joel O$teen i$ the pa$tor of Lakewood Church in Hou$ton, Texa$ and he ha$ ju$t relea$ed a new book entitled It’$ Your Time!

Get it?

Two years ago I would’ve been rolling. But over the last year I’ve really come to understand and embrace scriptures like Mark 3:25 where Jesus said “a house divided cannot stand”. I still find myself at odds with certain teachings and even people (and the evidence is all over this site); but when I am tempted to put it online or talk about it with friends I ask myself, “Will this do more harm than good?”

Any thoughts?