"Christian Musical Humanism"

 

            The attitude of a sincere Christian musician should be that “He must increase and I must decrease.  He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.” (St. John 3:30-31)  Musicing is not about the performer or his or her musical talent. Spirit filled music making should be Christocentric and not self-centered. Musicing does not begin and end with self, but rather, it begins and ends with God who is" above all ".

 

 Secular (and religious) humanism purports that the end of all human endeavor should be the actualization of one's human potential.  This self centered philosophy has spawned  generations of Christian musicians who actually believe one’s highest development must be the actualization of self.  What this means simply that in the maturing process a Christian performer recognizes his or her human potential, i.e. the ability to make music and uses it to empower self..

 

 It is a truism that  a Christian musician should become aware of the musical gifts that are God given, and should develop these talents in order to to  use them for God's glory. However, all music endeavor does not begin and end with self, but rather, it begins and ends with God.

 

This ability includes the performer’s charisma or the ability to move a crowd with the great art of musical performance. There is a sense in which it is empowering for a Christian performer to actualize his or her potential in order to move or manipulate a crowd through music making.  Capturing an audience’s attention until it is completely drawn to one’s persona is addictive and is a major source of self-satisfaction.  Holding the emotions of a crowd in the palm of the performer’s hand, so to speak, is an enormous source of self-engrandizement. However, this mindset is humanistic and not Christocentric.