Is Christian Rock Music Evil?This paper is actually a reaction paper to an article by Mr. David W. Cloud of the Fundamental Baptist Information Service. At one point in time Mr. Cloud had read an article in a July issue of Charisma. Apparently this article was an attack on older forms of worship music such as hymns. In response Mr. Cloud wrote an article stating very clearly that Jesus was not a “beat-box’n, Rock-n-roll’n” type of person. He then goes on to make a case that “Christian-Rock” music is a blasphemous thing and that Jesus would never shake his body or jives to the beat of rock music. In this paper I plan to state my reaction point by point of the author, Mr. Cloud. In his article Mr. Cloud starts of by explaining that Heaven would not have rock-n-roll music playing. He takes Psalms 150 and very aggressively states that the idea of the worship experienced described is far from being a “rock concert.” He states that when modern CCM, Contemporary Christian Music, supporters read about drums and loud cymbals that they think of Rock music. He then goes to support his claim that worship can not have a tempo like rock because those instruments are also used in Orchestras and in Marching bands. He also states that when dancing is concerned that there are plenty of other “traditional” dances that can be used that do not require a modern dance beat that is associated with rock and rhythm & blues. The thing that I find funny is that when he mentions music with drums, he suggests music that is not a “danceable” type of music. Marching band music is designed for one thing, marching. Orchestra music was a music style that people were to sit and listen to, not dance to. Another issue that I have with this idea that they had “traditional” forms of dancing is the simple fact that at one time those “traditional” dances were new. The next thought that goes through my mind when I read this portion of his article is; what did David dance to when the Ark of the Lord was returned? (2 Sam 6:14) Did he dance to a march? Did he dance to Beethoven’s Fur Elise? Whatever the style, traditional, or contemporary, in order to dance the music has to have a catchy beat to move with. Even when one dances with out music playing out loud, in their head they are keeping some form of beat, or they are snapping their fingers. Why is it that we can not dance to rock? Mr. Cloud’s next complaint about CCM was its blasphemous language. Pulling lyrics of songs from the mid-80’s to the mid-90’s Cloud pulls out very strange assumptions. One such oddity was when he pulled out Carmen’s song Resurrection Rap, a song that was meant to modernize, for easier understanding, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus in modern times by placing it in an urban setting. This plus how Jesus is referred to as “J.C.” in Carmen’s other song “The Standard,” is apparently extremely blasphemous. Perhaps it is the age gap between the Mr. Cloud’s generation and mine, but I see no wrong in this. It is a very common practice to shorten names and titles both in writing and in speech. Public Relations Advisor is shortened to PR Advisor all the time and yet none are offended. Where scripturally does it say that we are not allowed to say such a thing as J.C? Another set of lyrics that he pulled as being blasphemous were from a song by the band, Daniel Band. He makes claims that the song “Party in Heaven,” a hard rock song, depict heaven as a “worldly booze party.” If Mr. Cloud were to look closely he would have realized that this song is about a wedding. Perhaps it is the wedding supper of the lamb? (Rev 19) Perhaps this was also a reference to when Jesus turned water into wine? (John 2) And let us also not forget that Jesus does teach about “new wine” in Matthew chapter nine. Mr. Cloud then goes on a tangent about different rock artist who claim that God is the God of Rock and Roll. He calls rock filthy. He then gives a short history of how the term Rock-n-roll came about. The original phrase came from an urban term that meant to have sex in the back seat of a car. One Alan Freed, a DJ, coined this term for the music because of the sexual connotation of the music. What Mr. Cloud fails to mention though was that the sexual connotation is not in the beat of the music but rather it was in the lyrics. While reading this section I wondered if Mr. Cloud realized that many of our Hymns in the back of the pews of many churches were actually bar songs that had lyrics re-written. Mr. Cloud makes it very clear that God absolutely hates any kind of music that is associated with things that were not glorifying to God and his nature. Is he suggesting then that drunkenness, cursing, and smoking are all habits glorifying to God and his nature? After all, is not that what happens in bars? Through out the rest of his article, Mr. Cloud pulls out random parts of songs. With these parts he would, in expert fashion, eiseget the lyrics to negate their original Godly meaning to mean something very corrupt and ungodly. Then in an attempt to prove his point of rock music being completely ungodly pulls out random quotes by worldly and ungodly people who of course use the music to either glorify Satan himself or themselves. There are two sentences in this article that I believe pin-point the source of his anger and eagerness to claim that rock music is of the devil. Those sentences are, “I know from experience that the true and living God did not put rock and roll into my soul. It was the Devil who did that to foster my rebellion and licentiousness.” It is my personal opinion that this attack against rock music is more of denial of his personal sinful nature and his passing the blame of his past onto music. The word music is found over 90 times in the Bible. Most of which is a joyful style of music that is accompanied by dancing and shouting. In several of the quotes that Mr. Cloud pulls out against rock music state that it is primal. They state that there is something about rock music that causes them to want to move and jump. That is because God, who created the very inner being of man, Genesis 1, also created music. Every person has their own taste as to what style they enjoy. One may like rock, one may like hip-hop, another jazz. The thing that causes music to be ungodly is the lyrics to the music. | 
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