Is Christian Radio Still Christian? part 2
Is Christian Radio Still Christian? part 2
Last time, we briefly discussed what is apparently a new trend in America: Christian Radio that plays music and chit-chats about everything except Christ…
Ok. Like I said last time, I am not against heavily stylized music played on the radio because teens like this kind of music and I like some of it as well. I don’t want to hear it on Sunday morning in the worship service but that is another story…
I must admit, however, that only some of it is great in sound and lyrical quality. A clear message can sometimes be heard. The majority of the music, not so much. Just noise with a “He’s awesome” thrown in. Who is the He? That is my real sticking point with the Christian rock music. When the “He” never gets defined, everyone can conveniently mold their own golden calf…
I heard a short ad on Way FM this morning where they were encouraging callers to leave a voicemail about how God has changed their lives. Ok. I hope God is changing the lives of young people but it sure ain’t happening due to Way FM! There is no message of any sort to be found there! When the sum total of your theology is songs that say “God is love, He is awesome”, you are not communicating anything of any value. “Love” and “awesome” will mean many different things to different people because there has not been a definition given.
Do you like knockwurst? Well, if I have never had knockwurst but I sincerely believed that knockwurst is lamchops and I like lambchops then my answer would be yes; however, the question is not about lambchops, its about knockwurst…
Once we got to the place in America where we became afraid to talk about the Bible and JESUS and God’s rules and regs, His sovereignty, and His grace…we went bankrupt and lost the ability to do God’s work. I’m sorry to tell you this but you cannot simlutaneously shield God out of the picture to avoid offending someone and change their lives by opening God’s truth to them!
One more question for the new “Christian” radio… where is Jesus? He apparently is not found on your station unless you hear a garbled mention of Him in a rock song between the guitar riffs.
Wake up relevance-loving neo-liberals. You cannot peddle salvation like a used Chevy Nova. God is not mocked, we will reap whatever we sow. Take it to the bank.
Truthinator's Blog 
Petra Hefner
August 13, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Great article! I love knockwurs!
Nikki
July 9, 2011 at 2:10 pm
great series! we have a Christian radio station that used to have 1/2 the day dedicated to Bible teaching. well, that wasn’t too popular i guess because not only did they change the name of the station, they stopped the day time Bible teaching and their slogan is “positive and uplifting”. hmm. feel good, right? anyway, i came across your site from a link from another website and plan on browsing around a bit more. thanks for the truths in this post that you don’t hear many speak.
Truthinator
July 10, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Welcome Nikki. What you report is unfortunate but not unusual. I first became aware of this trend about 5 years ago when I heard that David Jeremiah’s program and others had been canceled on a radio station due to a change to all music. The program director reported that music is more popular than preaching & teaching… simple economics.
After doing some research, I found that this same story was unfolding across America. Some stations are choosing to switch to all music in order to attempt to stay on the air. This is sad but true. This is one issue facing Christian radio. Another issue is the one I was reporting in these series of posts. I was reporting on what I might choose to call Emergent radio.
The station I was talking about is Way-FM 88.1 in the area serving Miami, Fl. These people have a DJ team in the morning and in the drivetime part of the afternoon. They play very style-heavy music with little talking and no teaching or preaching at all.
Now this could be seen as problematic in itself as you have pointed out. Without teaching & preaching, people can assume their own theology and use their personal interpretation of the music to validate it in their own minds. Very dangerous.
The issue I have with Way-FM is that they add even a worse wrinkle to the mix. The DJs give very bad and heretical information to their listeners!
So it seems we have several layers of decay in Christian radio. 1) The music is becoming very style-heavy and less theologically deep. 2) Some of the music has become superfluous and contains little content of value 3) Preaching & teaching programs are disappearing and 4) Proper teaching is being replaced by worldly heresy. Maybe another installment of this series is due?
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