What Makes Music "Christian"?

I started this post on 3/14 and now it's 4/10. I've given up on any more additions or editing. Here it is!

I received this message from a friend. Apparently I'm open to blog requests:

I took the time today to look up the lyrics to a Natalie Merchant song that they play often on one of my Live365 stations... the song is "Kind & Generous". Trying to track down a bit more information, I came across this website: http://www.ccvonline.com/Arena/default.aspx?page=2082. I was curious about what your response might be to this question: why is Natalie Merchant in the left column instead of the right column in the table, and should she be? Perhaps you could write a blog post about that.

Here's my response:

I took a music appreciation course in college taught by a great professor, Dr. Shantz (I think that was his name). Dr. Shantz is an older man whose favorite band is Metallica. He also taught a course called The Theology of Rock n' Roll, which I didn't take, but which he talked about a lot.

One aspect of class that stood out to me is that one way to evaluate the quality of music is a piece's "fittingness-intensity." I think I previously mentioned this in the post about O Holy Night. The idea of fittingness-intensity is that the lyrics or subject matter of the song is reflected in the music. For example, the song O Happy Day sung to the melody of a funeral dirge would have poor fittingness-intensity.

What does this have to do with my friend's question? The music class started me thinking about music differently, and here's how:

I think music must be a large part of God's character. It is so universal, and since humans are created in God's image, it seems a logical conclusion. Like other forms of art, music is a gift from God to humanity, just because he's good. I also think that people, regardless of their religious affiliation or lack of, can sing and write about truth. Isn't it Ironic by Alanis Morisette is about the despair we feel when something that feels so right is out of reach.

So what makes music "Christian"?

It's not that an artist is signed by a Christian label. Quite frankly, I'm pretty skeptical about the whole so-called Christian entertainment industry. They are in it for the money, and sign artists that will be profitable.

It's not that the lyrics talk about God, religious or spiritual things. A lot of songs have these themes and aren't at what I would call Christian. And what about all the religious Bach pieces that don't have lyrics at all?

To give any piece of music a Christian label does it a misservice. The Bible says "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." So what if a song, like Kind and Generous is not sung by a Christian artist or produced by a Christian label? What if a great instrumental piece like Classical Gas makes me feel good? Are these secular songs unChristian? I suppose they are, but I think they are good things to listen to.