Rating: 
Summary: Read the Book Before Bashing It
Review: To those who read this book with open, discerning minds, it will be very difficult not to reconsider the use of contemporary Christian music (CCM), particularly Christian rock music, in the postmodern church today. Yet reviewers will still condemn the book, when it is clear that they have read little or none of it. A man bashing the book elsewhere defended contemporary Christian music on the misguided notion that Martin Luther set his hymns to the worldly songs and brothel music of his time. Having compiled a list of some 16 excuses which proponents of CCM commonly offer in defense, Mrs. Smith on page 84 exposes the fallacy and myth behind excuse #13, entitled "Martin Luther set his hymns to the tunes (worldly songs) of his day." It is clear that, had the man read "Oh, Be Careful Little Ears," he wouldn't have raised the argument, because Mrs. Smith had thoroughly defeated it beforehand. In Mrs. Smith's opinion, "The practice of pointing to another Christian so that we may excuse our own behavior is not to be commended." If we honestly follow the biblical standards that Mrs. Smith summarizes in her book, we must honestly conclude that Christian rock music, the most carnal and prevalent style of CCM, fails those standards and is completely unacceptable for use in worship. To potential reviewers: Reviews based solely on prejudicial preferences rather than strictly on book content do potential buyers a grave disservice.
Rating: 
Summary: Opposition to CCM is an emotional argument, not biblical.
Review: When deciding whether or not to accept arguments opposed to contemporary music, consider this historical account: "The church should be a place of purity and holiness, separate from the world and its secular entertainment. How could good Christians conceive of welcoming this worldly instrument into the Lord's house." The wealthy churchman did all he could to thwart the efforts of the "misguided" group that had conceded to accept the sinister gift, beseeching them with tears and even offering to refund the entire price if someone would only dump the ill-fated cargo-a musical instrument-overboard during its transatlantic voyage. Just what was this instrument of such vile associations and shady history? ... The churchman's pleas were left unheeded; the instrument arrived safely in the New World, and the Brattle Street Church of Boston made room for the controversial instrument: the organ. (Quoted from Edward S. Ninde, The Story of the American Hymn [Nashville: Abingdon, 1921] in Elmer Towns and Warren Bird, Into the Future: Turning Today's Church Trends into Tomorrow's Opportunities [Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 2000], p. 231.) Let us not crucify contemporary music for the perversions by those who are without God in the world. When the Bible speaks of worshiping God with the trumpet, harp, tambourine, dancing, strings, flute, crashing and resounding cymbals (Psalm 150) and the ten-stringed lyre (the ancestor to the 6-string guitar, Psalm 33), why would the music produced by such percussive and other instruments be dismissed as evil? No one continues to see the organ as evil, but it is no more sanctified than guitar or drums. Such an argument is a fallacy. Christians who understand God and the Bible recognize that sex is a gift from God, yet it has clearly been perverted by sinful humans. But we don't preach against sex in the context of biblical heterosexual marriage. So why would we throw out contemporary music because of misuse? A similar controversy arose when Wycliffe wanted to translate the Bible into English. The religious establishment opposed him, even burning his bones after he'd died. All he wanted was for Christians to have the Bible (the very Word of God) in their contemporary language. To subject contemporary music to similar persecution seems ludicrous, does it not?
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