I noticed in our songbook that a few of the songs written are by Amy Grant. I don’t know if you are familiar with her, but she is a singer and songwriter who divorced because of “irreconcilable differences” and promptly remarried. My question is, do you think it is appropriate to sing songs that are written by her during service?<\/p>\n\t
What makes a song appropriate for worship are the words and the ideas they express. I suspect there are a number of songs in our songbook written by people who lived less than exemplary lives. But then I’m also sure there have been good people who have written songs that aren’t the best to use because people do make mistakes.<\/p>\n
When you know someone hasn’t been living up to the standard of Christ, then it means extra care should be taken to see if the teachings in the song are truly accurate or not.<\/p>\n
By way of example, when King Solomon was younger, he was inspired by God and wrote many useful things. He wrote some of our Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. When he became an old man, he turned away from God. “But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites — from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David<\/em>” (I Kings 11:1-4). Solomon’s sin late in life does not detract from the inspired work that he wrote earlier in his life.<\/p>\n Not that it makes much difference, but the one song by Amy Grant that is in our hymnal, “Thy Word,” was written in 1984, long before her 1999 divorce from her husband. Still, it is because of her denominational background that not many of her songs are used in the church because many of them contain biblical inaccuracies.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I noticed in our songbook that a few of the songs written are by Amy Grant. I don’t know if you are familiar with her, but she is a singer and songwriter who divorced because of “irreconcilable differences” and promptly remarried. My question is, do you think it is appropriate to sing songs that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[520,521],"class_list":["post-28842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-music","tag-songs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19283,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-can-i-find-acapella-recordings-for-the-songs-in-our-songbook\/","url_meta":{"origin":28842,"position":0},"title":"Where can I find acapella recordings for the songs in our songbook?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I had a cassette collection of the Songs of the Church Acapella and I think they were sung by the Meistersingers. I moved and my tapes were lost and are sorely missed. Do you know of any source where I could buy another set? I am a song leader\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-get-a-hold-of-hymns-written-by-members-of-the-churches-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":28842,"position":1},"title":"How do I get a hold of hymns written by members of the churches of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you know of any way to get a hold of a collection of hymns written by members of the churches of Christ? I very recently joined the church and have been wondering why we sing songs that were written by unsaved people? I actually love these old hymns\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28218,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-of-songs-of-faith-and-praise\/","url_meta":{"origin":28842,"position":2},"title":"What do you think of Songs of Faith and Praise?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am writing to you because I came across a blog you had on your website concerning your review of the Songs for Worship and Praise\u00a0hymnal. \u00a0I have owned the hymnal for a\u00a0couple\u00a0of months and also own\u00a0Songs of Faith and Praise\u00a0and\u00a0Praise for the Lord. \u00a0I am trying to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34752,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-of-psalms-hymns-and-spiritual-songs-praise-for-the-lord-and-songs-for-worship-praise\/","url_meta":{"origin":28842,"position":3},"title":"What do you think of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, Praise for the Lord, and Songs for Worship & Praise?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your excellent review of the\u00a0Jeffcoat\u00a0Sacred Songs of the Church songbook. Our congregation is considering changing books and we are considering several of the more traditionally focused books. Have you had the opportunity to review and consider the\u00a0Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs\u00a0by Sumphonia? We are also considering the\u00a0Praise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94303,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fallacies-about-singing\/","url_meta":{"origin":28842,"position":4},"title":"Fallacies About Singing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Roger D. Campbell When it comes to singing songs of praise to the Lord God, our concepts of such need to be based on the teaching of the New Testament. Sometimes, though, when it comes to singing spiritual songs, Christians accept ideas that simply are not true. Since such\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56695,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-does-copyright-work-with-translated-songs\/","url_meta":{"origin":28842,"position":5},"title":"How does copyright work with translated songs?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to seek your guidance, brother, regarding the translation of English hymns into another language. Here in the local congregation where I belong, we are working on a project to create a new hymnal (words only) where the text is in a local dialect. 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