As the person in charge of music ministry at Hills Bible Church, who, on occasion and entirely unsurprisingly, finds himself in the midst of minor controversy over corporate worship music, this quote doth sooth my soul.
“The influence of the erotic spirit is felt almost everywhere in evangelical circles. Much of the singing in certain types of meetings has in it more of romance than it has of the Holy Ghost. Both words and music are designed to rouse the libidinous. Christ is courted with a familiarity that reveals a total ignorance of who He is. It is not the reverent intimacy of the adoring saint but the impudent familiarity of the carnal lover.” – A. W. Tozer
I have been gifted a very nice set of Tozer books, which I plan to plow through at some stage, as he is eminently quotable, and always edifying. I do think that some of the confusion over corporate worship music in evangelicalism today could be clarified if we understood the difference between the adoration of our God and the adoration of our spouse or lover. This sort of confusion has only heightened in recent decades. While there are other very important issues at play in deliberations over music for worship, this one is highly prominent and very distracting. Indeed, God isn’t our boyfriend, and he will never be our boyfriend, no matter how many times we repeat the same line over and over during a song.
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HT: War Horn
Picture Credit: Wikipedia
7 Comments
Andrew Courtis
You have raised a very important topic Simon. Sadly, many congregations are going down a path that promotes a sensual kind of worship. A high view of our Holy Lord must inform the way we worship. Thank you for the excellent job you do at Hills Bible Church.
Simon (Author)
Thanks Andrew! I appreciate your kind support. If I stop doing a good job, please sack me.
Adam
I feel this post warrants a follow up post on Song of Solomon and its eroticism.
Simon (Author)
Adam, I’m not entirely sure what the link is, but I’ll have a go at addressing your concern. The eroticism in the Song of Solomon is self-explanatory and acceptable. Husband and wife are singing to one another.
By contrast, the eroticism in many of the songs that Christians sing in corporate worship is unacceptable and cannot be defended by scripture. Eroticism in itself is not wrong. Eroticism in corporate worship is definitely wrong.
Adam
I almost forgot I commented. Oops.
My comment was a little tongue-in-cheek, it’s true. However, I’ve heard many people use Song of Solomon as a metaphor of the relationship between God and the church. It’s not entirely unfounded. The Ephesians passage of husbands loving their wives as Christ loves the church, or reference to the church being the bridegroom to Christ (or vice-versa), are not infrequent analogies for Christians. So, in that respect, I would have thought, at least in some circles, the use of sensual/ intimate language would be considered appropriate for songs of worship.
Anyway, I don’t wish to treat this as a game. I was more interested to hear your thoughts on it, and you’ve already given them.
Simon (Author)
Thanks Adam. Yes, the old “tongue-in-cheek but sort of true, but not really” trick. I actually resonate with your comments about the uses of the marriage metaphor, and it does require some explanation. In fact, I do consider Song of Songs to be about God and his People in an allegorical sense. However, I reject any erotic parallels in the allegory. And that really is a whole different post (which I am not equipped to write).
Don (Author)
Good try, Adam, and good answer, Simon.
I suspect the comment from our resident skeptic was written somewhat “tongue-in-cheek”. 😉