or; love songs to Jesus? No thanks.
I sat here in my little teller cubbyhole at work, hearing the words repeat over and over, in the inane, vacuous, insipid song - "I Can Only Imagine". It's a "cute" little song that deals with what it would be like to see Jesus again and what you would do.
While I guess the sentiment is okay, I found myself wanting to throw the company-supplied radio across the room, out the door, out onto Fairfield Road and under the eardrum-saving wheels of a passing truck.
Why?
Because it's pop music.
Don't get me wrong - there's some (not a lot mind you, but some) good pop out there. But Christian pop is not, nor has it ever been, good pop.
It's cutesy, it's maudlin, it's uninteresting - and it's performed by a bunch of pariahs from the real music industry who are (rightfully) shunned by their more humanistic contemporaries.
I understand the desire to sing praise to God - I do it on a regular basis, and not only in the church building on Sunday (where we're a good, old-fashioned organ-accompanied multitude). But writing and performing these love ballads to Jesus is pathetic.
There is nothing wrong with aiming to write uplifting, morally and lyrically clean music. Nothing at all. Plenty of bands can write music that is that way. Mastodon? They've never cussed in one of their albums - and they write some of the best, most blistering metal you'll ever hear. Rush? Very uplifting ideas behind their songs, without needing to be crass or profane.
But love ballads to Jesus? Save me. Get them away from me. Right now. Please.