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Date:         Thu, 7 Jan 1993 17:22:21 EST
From:         Dan Harling <harling@ROADRUNNER.PICTEL.COM>
Subject:      Re: A Hindu View of Amy Grant

> Date: 07 Jan 1993 13:22:00 -0600 (CST)
> From: "Scott D. Weberg" <sweberg@GARFIELD.WES.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject: Re: A Hindu View of Amy Grant
> To: Multiple recipients of list CHRISTIA <CHRISTIA@asuvm.inre.asu.edu>
>
> My point was not to make any statement about the Hindu religion.
> Besides, the article referred to the "gospel".  Now of all the
> Christian teachings, the Gospel is, I think, the one thing that other
> religions would disagree with.  The Gospel -- good news -- says that
> God sent His only son, Jesus Christ, into the world to be the
> sacrifice for our sins.  He died on a cross, paying the penalty for
> us, and then rose again, stealing the keys of Hell and death.  He is
> the one and only way of salvation for us.  THAT is the Gospel!  And I
> believe that any devout Hindu, Islamic, Mormon, ect. would disagree
> with the Christian gospel.

That might address my first issue, although it requires that members of
other religions not re-interpret the gospel account to make it more
acceptable to their own belief systems.  Otherwise, when accused of
denying the deity of Jesus, one could reply, "I never denied the deity
of Jesus; heck, I have never denied the deity of *anyone*!"  It is
perfectly possible for someone to listen to "Christian" music and read
a totally different meaning into it.


> This fact is evidenced in the article itself: it refered to the true
> gospel message as "the slumberous variety (of gospel) churned out by
> most gospel singers."  Hardly a statement of agreement.

This does not address my second issue: your assumption that,
disagreeing with the ultimate content of the message, a non-Christian
would be unable to find in it anything of value, or appreciate it
impartially.  Even non-Christians recognize that some songs are more
effective in communicating their message and keeping their audience's
attention than others.  Despite the fact that I disagree with the
underlying philosophy of a song, I can nevertheless express my
appreciation of its musical and lyrical style.


> My point, originally, was that Amy Grant's "kind of gospel", isn't
> really the Gospel at all; her songs don't talk about the good news of
> Christ.  Is the name of Jesus even sung in one of the songs on her
> latest album?  I have a friend who has her album, and I think our
> Lord's name is mentioned maybe one time.  That is NOT the Gospel!
> And that was my point.

There is more to Christianity than directly proclaiming the gospel at
the tops of our lungs.  As a Christian, if I write a song about human
relationships (say, marriage) that expresses my own beliefs on the
subject, it will contain Christian values.  The fact that it does not
say explicitly that "marriage is a holy institution created by God to
model the Trinity,..." does not make it any less worthwhile.  Even if
the song is sung for other people to hear, it is still dedicated to
God.

Talking about marriage, in particular, from a Christian standpoint
should *immediately* get people's attention, because the way things
were meant to be is often so drastically different from the way things
*are*.  This approach may not give you an opportunity to tell non-
Christian members of the audience that you have all the answers, but it
*will* prompt them to take a good look at the differences and see that
God's blessings are far better than the tainted substitute the world
offers.


> Date: 07 Jan 1993 19:30:08 +0000 (GMT)
> From: "Ian (Travolta) Wylie C2/Q2" <iwylie@MCS.DUNDEE.AC.UK>
> Subject: Re: A Hindu View of Amy Grant
> To: Multiple recipients of list CHRISTIA <CHRISTIA@asuvm.inre.asu.edu>
>
> Although Amy Grant thinks and sells herself as being Christian, we know
> according to her fruit, (music, statements made, lifestyle, etc), that she is
> not like Jesus, and that is the test.

Just what fruit do you mean?  I have never met Amy, and I don't really
listen to her music very often (except when my band plays a cover of
"What About the Love", e.g.), but you will have to do more than merely
state this as a fact before I will stand by and allow someone to
condemn someone for undisclosed reasons.

Please remember, this list is made up of diverse people, and not
everybody is going to have the same beliefs as you do with regard to
what constitutes "Christ-like" behavior, or even how central certain
things are to Christianity.  One's fruits often are judged not by
conformity to the image of Christ, but by conformity to other people's
*interpretation* of the image of Christ.
____________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Harling                        (harling@pictel.com)
PictureTel Corp.             Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of
Peabody, MA  01960                   PictureTel Corp. (so there!)
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