Influence of Christian Rock

I had no idea...I, well, I made an observation a while back, but I'll get to that in a minute.

I was over at another blog ("Bitter Sweet Life") and made a joke about Larry Norman's "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music." I decided to look up information about the man. If Wikipedia is to be believed, Mr. Norman has been influential in music, not just Christian music. He is, apparently, very gifted as a musician and that has been the source of his influence. He has protected that gift and used it, solely, for God. Amen.

Anyhow...I have noticed that if you find a Christian artist that has a distinct style, you can find a secular artist with a similar style. Often (not always) the Christian gets there first. Such is the case of one Jennifer Knapp. (LOVE her, btw.) Her style is somewhat similar to (though, uh, cleaner than, in multiple ways) Jewel's. Well, Jenn isn't singing anymore, at least not producing records. And Jewel has continued on. But Jenn got there, slightly ahead of Jewel.

I don't know why this is important to me. I guess that it's just to say that we Christians have gifts and talents comparable to that of the world at large (well, why not? We're people too!), but we choose to use them for different gains, mostly.

I think that is why I take on debates with secularists so readily. It is important for me to know and to proclaim that Christians have reasons to believe, that we are entitled to our faith and that the faith we have is not entirely blind. It is blind, in some areas, and that is why it holds such great value, but we are not intellectually stumped, nor mentally impeded because we choose to believe in a God others choose not to see.

Regi G