I believe that artistic forms carry their own message and inspire emotions; and, since there are good messages and bad ones, good emotions and bad ones, I assume there are good artistic forms and bad ones. But that is not a commonly held belief. As a musician friend of mine once stated, "There is no such thing as 'Christian music' - just Christian lyrics." I don't believe that. I believe I can tell a lot about an artist and who he serves (i.e., his god) just from the style of his music, artwork, film, marriage, business or whatever you care to name that comes under the heading of "culture." Style demonstrates lordship; or, as Marshall McLuhan so famously put it, "The medium is the message."

So, the message is not just about the words or images, but about the medium itself: the style, the composition, the rhythm, the texture, the colors, the "feel" - everything. I can tell that Rembrandt was a Christian just by the way he handled light in his paintings - separate from his Christian themes. I can tell Picasso was not a Christian, and that he had a huge ego problem - separate from his "bull" themes. (He represented himself in his paintings with the image of a bull, which dominates many of them.) I can tell that Van Gogh loved nature and nature's God, simply by the way he used color; but I can also tell that he struggled psychologically and emotionally - separate from some of his disturbing imagery.

Musically, it is clear that Tchychovski was a slave to his emotions, that Beethoven had an anger issue, that Mozart was a control freak and that Bach admired God's order. Their styles betray them; their mediums deliver these messages separate from any words or images. Would it be any less true of modern musical forms? Since God wrote the laws that govern everything in the universe, wouldn't the way we apply or fail to apply those laws determine our style - both individually and as a culture? Wouldn't it also determine our success, as far as communicating God's love?

To say there is no such thing as Christian music, you might as well say there is no such thing as Christian marriage. It is not the content of the marriage - one man and one woman - that make the marriage Christian; it is the style, the how of it. The style of a Christian marriage is vastly different from the style of a non-Christian marriage, even though both couples may do many of the same things. It is how they do them that differs. One does what they do for the glory of God; the other, for the glory of man. One does what they do out of unconditional love; the other, out of selfishness. Don't you think that music and art - and all of life's pursuits - are the same?

The German writer Goethe called architecture "frozen music." There is no Christian architecture - no architecture, period - like the cathedrals of the Middle Ages. If they're not frozen music, I don't know what is. Was there anything in the secular world to compare with them? Nothing, they were totally unique. Was there anything in the secular world to compare with the music of Bach? No, his music was unique. Was there anything in the secular world to compare with the painting of Rembrandt? No - again, unique.

So, what is it with Christian music, Christian film, Christian anything today that we cannot come up with one original idea, as far as form or style? Why is everything we do an imitation of something we've seen or heard in the secular world? Why do we slap Christian words or Christian images on a secular form and say, "Good enough?" Have we changed so much since Bach and Rembrandt's day? I say we have. We have forgotten that everything God does is original, that Christ is THE original, and that the Holy Spirit is the source of original ideas. We've forgotten that Christ said we should put new wine into new wineskins; so, we continue pouring the new wine of Christ's message of love and forgiveness into the old wineskins of worldly forms. And they continue to break, by the way.

We so desperately want to be accepted by the world. We think, naively, that somehow, if the world thinks we're cool, they'll accept us and the message we bring. Is that how Christ or Paul thought? Did Christ care one hoot if people thought he was cool. Not one. Did Paul? Oh, but Paul said, "Become all things to all men." Was he talking about music styles, marriage or anything else in culture? I don't think so. He was talking about attitude, getting involved with people and accepting them where they were. It's okay for you to like rap music - I will still accept you. But I don't have to play that music for my kids so you'll accept me!

We've got it all twisted around backwards. We are supposed to be imitating God and the world is supposed to be imitating us - not the reverse. How are we ever going to listen to God, the way Moses did when God gave him the plans for the Tabernacle, or the way David did when God gave him the plans for the Temple, if we're looking at and listening to the world? It's not going to happen. God is not going to give us a "God idea," the way He did the Kendrick brothers who made Fireproof, if we're busy imitating the world. God is our "idea man;" not Wired Magazine, Communication Arts or any of the other secular sources for ideas out there. It is God, and Him alone.

I pray that I live to see the day when a Christian musician comes up with a new musical form, a new musical style. Of course, when they do, everybody and their brother will copy it. There is no reason that every Christian musician shouldn't have a totally unique style and work in a totally unique form. God is that big. That would mean that each would have his own unique message. Wouldn't that be different. I know what's going to happen: people are going to e-mail me saying things like, "Dude, you need to listen to so-and-so." I don't think so. So-and-so is just imitating someone in the secular world you've never heard before. Trust me. When someone steps out and believes God to do something totally different, it won't happen in some corner somewhere: it will be on center stage in the biggest venue you've ever heard of, and it will be shouted from the rooftops the next day. If you keep your eyes on Christ, you could be that person.



Waitsel Smith, September 29, 2008

Text © 2008 Waitsel Smith. Photos © 2008 Jesus Freak Hideout. All Rights Reserved.