"Stones That Cry: God's Precious Metal" by Glenn Remsen (with illustrations by Samuel Remsen) is a thought out book dealing with these issues. More importantly, it challenges making assumptions on face value.
Remsen suggests that God is responsible for all genres, and that it is giving the devil too much credit to say he, a created being, is able to create anything. Both God and the devil can use any genre for their purposes.
The author is built up by "wholesome lyrics of honesty." Not all honesty is positive, after all. Remsen gives examples of metal music that has comforted him when dealing with traumatic situations, such as a brain tumor. He distinguishes between metal that is honest, that which is intentionally blasphemous.
The last chapter (not counting the conclusion chapter) focuses on Christian metal. He states that there is nothing wrong with Christian metal if it is honest. He has problems with Christian artists that try to sound like a popular secular artist. (He mentions the same things about authors who use their first and middle initials because A.W. Tozer and C.S. Lewis do so.)
Which secular and Christian metal bands should we listen to, and which should we avoid? Remsen refuses to answer those questions. He encourages Christians to listen to the music and then determine which is being used by the Spirit and which doesn't.
Finally, the clearest message in this book is to not judge according to appearance, but to love those who are not like us, who don't fit in to our sanitized church environments.
I highly recommend this book. I also recommend Lithoscry, a weekly podcast Remsen hosts.
No comments:
Post a Comment