Christian Songs I Hate

Thanks to Daisy for pointing me to this great graphic from Ink Slinger.
CORRECTION:  Ink Slinger has informed me that this originated at "Sacred Sandwich" 

There is no shortage of crappy and doctrinally unsound hymns and praise songs that pollute the atmosphere of the church today. And I have had to zip my lips and hold my nose through many church services while the “worship team” led the people in multiple repetitions of feel-good, man-centered musical happycrap.

One of those very popular pieces of puke is, “Come, Just As You Are To Worship.” Where did we ever get the idea that we could approach God “just as we are” and that He should be pleased to accept our worship? That idea did not come from scripture.

Last week I led a Bible Study, at my church, on the topic of the Laver in the outer court of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The laver is symbolic of the Word of God and its sanctifying affect on the believer.

God spoke to Moses and said: “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, 19 for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. 20 When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the LORD, they shall wash with water lest they die. 21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.” Exodus 30:17-21

Take note of the purpose of that washbasin. The priests were to wash their hands and their feet BEFORE THEY ENTERED THE TENT OF MEETING OR BEFORE THEY COULD MAKE ANY OFFERINGS TO GOD.

God expects His people to be clean before they can come to worship Him. This kind of cleansing is not for salvation; it is for sanctification. The cleansing by the shedding of blood was accomplished once for all at the cross (symbolized by the altar) where the Lamb of God was slain for our sins. 

But in this sinful world we will do things and go places that will stain our hands and feet so we need regular and frequent cleansing by the Word of God before we can worship Him. He is holy and He commands us to be holy. In His instructions to Moses, He repeated this warning two times – “they shall wash their hands and their feet LEST THEY DIE.” And furthermore, He commands that this statute shall remain forever to Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.

So how is it that we think we can glibly approach God with our acts of worship once a week on Sunday mornings with unconfessed sins and unrepentant lifestyles and think that He should be pleased with our noise?

There is another song with similar words but a totally different meaning; “Just As I Am.” That is the way God expects us to come to Him for forgiveness and salvation – as helpless sinners “without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me.”   But after that we cannot remain just the way we are.   He expects us to look into His Word and to be sanctified by it.

Okay, so I am not a model of sanctification; I know that. I’m just saying that I don’t need my head filled with false doctrines and errant man-centered philosophies learned through the music we sing. Church leaders should take care to be just as accurate and discerning with the words in the songbook as they are with the content of their teaching.   But maybe that’s the problem.