Upon Whose Rock?

I've never been a part of the CCM world. I knew a little bit about it as a kid, because my mother got various Dobsonite newsletters that told her which christian band was a good alternative to a specific secular band, but I never fell for a mediocre alternative. I'm grateful to my mother for buying Mike and Peggy Seeger's American Folk Songs for Children and making me listen to it, but that's the only instance in which I can say that I followed her musical guidance. I just couldn't get into Petra, when I could be listening to the Dead Milkmen.

My first full-blown exposure to the CCM sub-culture was at Houghton. I could write about how much it all sickens me, but that's not the point of this post. What I'm writing here is only meant to remind me that these folks that listen to this bad music are my brothers and sisters in Christ. So, in public, I'll cover for them, defend them to the death even (at the same time that I may have to publicly express my disgust for some particular doctrines of theirs - like tolerating bad music), but, in private, those brothers and sisters deserve no less than a tough noogie and a kick in the rear.

Here are some links:

Dear Abyssal Lord - a humorous "dear Abby" parody in which a Christian rocker writes in to ask the lord of darkness for advice.

Upon This Rock (a GQ article) - I wouldn't imagine that GQ could do this right, but the article is a great read, and, I think, very fair.

Christ-Haunted GQ - a brief Christian assessment of the above article.

A Secular Humanist Look Inside the World of Christian Rock - a comic by Peter Bagge (my thanks to Spike for pointing me to Bagge's Reason strips)