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CCM Pop: An Introduction

© Jason Ewert

Now that I have changed my topic from Delirious? to CCM Pop I thought that it might be a good idea to tell you what exactly CCM Pop is. If you're wondering why it takes a whole article to define CCM Pop it is because they kind of music I'm talking about is very specific. Along with the definition of CCM Pop, you will also why or why not certain artists are going to be featured on this page. This article will serve as the introduction to my topic and I plan to use it as a "help file" for people who are wondering what exactly I am up to.

In case you're wondering what the word "CCM" means, I'll give you that definition first. "CCM" is the acronym for the three words "Contemporary Christian Music". There is no difference between this and the word Christian music except for the fact that CCM stands for artists who are on the more popular side. I will not, however, limit myself to artists who are popular and you may find that I will not be featuring many popular artists on this site.

My criteria for picking artists to listen to and write about is simple:
1. They must have good lyrics. I believe that one of the essential parts to Christian music are the lyrics. If I find the lyrics very offensive, humanist, or simply not what I believe, I will not listen to that artist. (Mark 4:24) Arguments could come up from defending themselves saying that they like the music but don't like the lyrics. So they don't listen to the lyrics, just the words. However, I find this argument to be false because I find that if I like a song, I will start singing it. This means that the lyrics have penetrated into my brain and that they will influence my thinking.
2. The artist must have a good lifestyle. People who have divorced, had affairs, or any such thing, don't meet my standards. I don't believe that people who have done these things should stay in the Christian music biz. My reason is this: when somebody in the Christian music biz gets divorced (Sandi Patti, Amy Grant, Gary Chapman to name a few) and stay in the CCM world, they are saying that divorce is not a sin. While there are certain times for divorce, most of the time a divorce occurs in the CCM world it is not for righteous reasons. I don't think that it is wise to support people who have done sinful things and say afterwards that what they did was OK. When we do that, we are agreeing with that artist and saying, "Yeah, I don't think that is wrong." To me, that is a sin in itself.

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