Skip to main content

Worshipers for God or Hormone junkies - Madalyn Dillard

People use music for many aspects of life. Arguably, one of the most important places to have music is in the church; however, when the Christian church was first growing into a major religion, music was put into questioning. Pagans have used music before, and the leaders of the new upcoming world religion did not want to be anything but the complete opposite. Early Christians feared that God would be lost within music, and sadly, the early Christians were right to fear such a thing. 
  When someone sings, they experience an increase in endorphins as well as the hormone called oxytocin. All of these give a person a feeling of please, and they can “alleviate anxiety and stress” according to Time Magazine. This could be a natural process that God has given us where our bodies are rewarded by praising Him with songs. However, this natural process is abused like many other things God has given us. We lose sight of God when we are singing. We play songs so much that we become desensitized to the words. Artists release songs that have meaning, but we choose not to listen and comprehend the words. Of course, someone can say anything, but words do not have power until we mean them. Meaningless songs are a good as a blunt sword. 
  1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Let us try to remember this verse while we do everything. Even the tiniest of things can be used to glorify God. Let us also try to reignite the true meaning of why we sing in church in the first place. Worshipping is not to make us feel better with hormones and endorphins but to be honoring unto God, and God is the one to be our comfort.

I commented on posts by Rachael Gregson and Ian Blair

Comments

  1. Caroline TuckerJanuary 25, 2021 at 3:15 PM

    Wow. Your post is very well expressed and convicting. I sometimes catch myself singing a song at church and not worshipping. When that happens, it makes me think and reevaluate what I am doing. The best thing I’ve found to do is to stop and read the words on the screen and understand them and contemplate them. It is very easy to sing without meaning. While it may be easy, it is detrimental to the soul. We (more like I) need to remember to sing with meaning and praise in worship.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Addison ZandaJanuary 25, 2021 at 4:04 PM

    Well I'm now at a second attempt at this comment thanks to my computer crashing. Madalyn, this post truly hits head on and should to a lot of people. Mainstream songs have taken a different overview to what the artist is trying to portray. Whether if its on the radio or in a church, we've taken words to what we believe is trying to be said and never fully understand what the song is hinting at.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Emmett BryantJanuary 25, 2021 at 4:21 PM

    Your post was very well written and I enjoyed reading it. With that said, I have to disagree with you. Worship reminds us of who God is and what He has done for us, causing us to fill with joy, happiness, excitement, and gratefulness. All of these emotions are fueled chemically as with any other emotion. I think it is an exaggeration to use the term "hormone junkies." Experiencing chemical rushes in our brain is at the foundation of being human and does not change the fact that worship can be an extremely emotional act.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...
4 comments
Read more

Honor and Gain; Which Do You Seek?

 Pericles.... thanks? I can only imagine that's what the family and friends were thinking after they heard his historic funeral speech honoring the departed. What do I mean? Well, Pericles briefly mentions the men who have fallen at the beginning of his speech, but then goes on to discuss how great Athens is, and how the contributions the city has made to the world are unmatched.. why? I understand that he is also commending the citizens of Athens and empowering them to continue to make their city greater, but I thought this was supposed to be a funeral speech about dead war heroes, not about Athens. Another thing I found interesting is what Pericles said on page five about honor: "For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness" (Thucydides, page 5). Have you ever watched a show or movie, or read a book, about a duel between two men? There is always an unspoken agre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more