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Re: Hymns... does it matter..........
If you're going to go by the person who penned the words, you'd better throw out all the Psalms--David was an adulterer and a murderer.
My opinion is that the work itself is somewhat autonomous from the author, especially sacred music which presumably has divine/spiritual inspiration. If it's uplifting, it doesn't lose that positive status simply because the person who wrote it commits a sin.
I try to judge music by the lyrics and the overall positive message. If I find out something bad about the author, it probably won't affect my affinity for the song. If Ozzie Osbourne were to write a hymn, and the message was good, I'd probably use it.
That said, I think there's merit to showing preference to music written by good, Christian people. I just don't see the need to shun music written by non-Christians.
Some of the most beautiful works of music and art have come from enormously imperfect people. IMO, God likes to do things that way. He has a long history of using flawed people. Good thing, or we'd have no hope of ever being a tool in His hands.
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"God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours."
--David Livingstone
"To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it—enjoying all without labor or purchase—
abstracting the feast, yet not abstracting one particle of it;…."
--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Song of the Open Road
Last edited by MissBrattified; 08-20-2009 at 08:52 PM.
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