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

Welcome to Honors! (Please Read This)

     Welcome to Honors! My name is Abbie Hedden and I serve as President of Honors. Jamie Peters is our Vice President, and Caroline Tucker is our Secretary. I look forward to getting to know all of you in class during this upcoming year! There are a few things you need to know about Honors.      There are no quizzes or tests in Honors. Grades are provided based on attendance/class participation, blogs, explication papers, and the research paper. The papers will be addressed at a later date, as they aren't due until later in the semester. However, there is a blog post due every week. Bearing that in mind, here are the requirements! Criteria Blog posts are due Monday at 11:59PM , and comments are due Tuesday at 9:29AM . DO NOT BE LATE ON ASSIGNMENTS. Points WILL be deducted from late assignments! Be sure to have your name in your Blogger profile Blog posts should include at least one to two paragraphs on that week’s reading assignment.  Blog posts shoul...
Post a Comment
Read more

Topsy Turvy Day—Lily Caswell

  I cannot remember how old I was when I watched T he Hunchback of Notre Dame  but I was at least 8 or 9. I didn’t realize until probably a couple of years ago that the song  “Topsy Turvy” and the corresponding event was actually based on a real festival. The Feast of Fools was usually held on January 1 though it could have also been held on the 6 th  or the 13 th  of January. It was portrayed as a parody of Catholic feasts. Church bells were rung improperly, songs were sung out of tune, and the celebrants “wore strange garments and masks, and used puddings, sausages, and old shoes as censers.” (Seaton, p 77) In the song “Topsy Turvy”, it says “It’s the day the devil in us gets released / It’s the day we mock the prig and shock the priest / Everything is Topsy Turvy at the Feast of Fools… And it’s the day we do the things that we deplore ‘ On the other three hundred and sixty-four.”  I commented on Haylee Lynd’s and Jamie’s posts. Sources: https://www.brita...
1 comment
Read more