What to expect

Hi, I'm Christie. I'd like to tell you a little about my new Bible study series called Seventeen : Eleven, based on Acts 17:11 which instructs us to be like the Bereans, examining everything they hear to be sure it is scripturally accurate.

Have you ever been able to sing an entire song, not missing a single word, and yet not really know what the song was about? I hope I’m not the only one. I’ve been that way my entire life up until recently. It’s like I would memorize the song without even thinking twice about what it meant.

And with Christian music in particular, I might know every word of the song but have no clue where (or if!) I could find that in the Bible. That’s really sad, because there are so many people today whose entire understanding of “what the Bible says” comes from a song that may or may not be right!

Sometimes I’d take to Google or YouTube to see if something was scripturally accurate. Here is what I discovered. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of people out there that will tell you why you should NEVER listen to Hillsong, or to Lauren Daigle, or whomever. They will then spend a lot of time telling you how that person did this, or their church believes that. Or that bands like The Newsboys or DC Talk should be cancelled because Michael Tait was a sexual predator. Heretics, all of them!

On the other hand, there were songs that I thought were totally whacked from a Biblical perspective, but some YouTuber or blogger would imply it was as solid as the gospel itself.

I want to define what these studies are going to be, and what they aren’t going to be.

First, what I am NOT going to do is tell you that you shouldn’t listen to this song or that singer. For one thing, it’s not my place to do so. For another, there has only been one person who ever walked this earth that got everything right 100% of the time, and that was Jesus. He’s the only one that knew exactly what the words of God meant because He IS the Word of God. He’s the only one that never sinned, not even occasionally by accident, much less repeatedly with intent. Not the guy on YouTube, not the woman writing her blog, and definitely not me. Only Jesus.  So I’m not going to teach you to throw stones.

What I do want to teach is how you can determine if a song lines up with scripture using… scripture. The way we study this is going to be so beneficial in so many ways. Studying the Bible will become an act of worship as we listen to music and sharpen our knowledge of the word of God, and it will develop our discernment as we learn to distinguish the truth from the twisted. I'll be creating these lessons around songs that are popular right now, songs that you listen to, songs that you request. 7                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

But what if a song is about 85% accurate but misses the mark on some key points? Or what if a line in the song could be maybe accurate if you just thought of it this way or related to it that way, or turned it upside down and flipped it backwards? Still not my place to tell you not to listen. That’s what the Holy Spirit is for. Instead we’ll get creative, challenging ourselves and each other to consider ways that a lyric could have been more clear or accurate.

Whether you choose to listen to something others pass judgment on is your decision. But the more you know, the more firmly you can stand against Satan’s attempts to confuse you. We don't need that monkey wrench. So I really look forward to teaching you, whether you are attending in person or participating online. Or both! I know that message boards are kind of a thing of the past, but they're really great tools for interactive studies. In addition to each lesson being in a fillable PDF that you can complete at your convenience and save to your device, I'll also be posting videos of the songs as well as bonus material, like interviews by the artist who wrote or recorded it, or other things that may give historical or cultural context. It's a useful tool to be able to enter discussions with others who are studying too, sharing your thoughts and hearing other perspectives. There's a place also for praying together, and for just fellowshipping online. You will get way more out of the lessons in these fun and interactive ways. 

I look forward to getting to know you!

Christie Smith