The Value of Art These Days

I just read an interesting article. It was about the parallel universe where there is a Christian version of everything in pop culture. We've all ranted about this before, but what made this article different is that it comes from someone outside the Evangelical Christian subculture. So, her shock and horror were fresh and authentic.

I thought the best line was this: "Striking a balance between reverence and hip relevance can be a near-impossible feat."

But what really got me thinking was what happens when you try to fuse a message with an unfitting genre. For instance, if you match the music stylings of Nirvana which are nihilistic and subversive with the Christian message of theologically-ordered obedience, what happens? Does the message lose something because of the music it is matched with? Does the music lose something? Yes and yes, potentially.

I remember thinking about this when I went to some hardcore concerts with my buddy, Chad Cronin. The range of emotions evoked by the music was limited to one, rage. As Christians there are things to be angry about. I get that. But if anger is the only thing people hear from you, their understanding of the Christian faith is likely going to be skewed a bit. Just as if all they heard from you was "I've got sunshine in my soul today... since Jesus came into my heart... and now I am happy all the day."

I wondered even more loudly when I discovered the goth Christian bands. "Isn't goth a celebration of darkness and perversion? "

So, this is what I have been thinking. Art is only as good as the messages it communicates. I don't just mean lyrics to a song either. The lyrics can be all about how great Jesus is, but if it sounds like a commercial jingle (as many songs on Christian radio do) then that communicates something irreverent about Jesus. Does it not?