Photo by Trent Erwin
Fellow Bereans,
I don’t receive many song requests that are about human love with each other. These songs are often excellent. However, I find it extremely difficult to Berean Test review such pieces without resorting to “everything here aligns with the Song of Solomon”, which is extremely easy for me to write and boring for you to read. While I’ve chosen to allow some of these songs in the past, I decided it’s best to avoid reviewing them. Therefore, I added “I also don’t review romantic/love songs between humans” to the song request form.
In the most recent poll, the song Casting Crowns – Scars in Heaven falls under this category. Therefore, I will not review it. I moved Brandon Lake – House of Miracles up and replaced it with the poll’s 3# pick, which happens to be a tie! Based on my tiebreaker policy, Hillsong Worship – Still will be reviewed since it was requested first.
Updates:
10/28/2022 – After a brief conversation with Elijah, I’ve changed my mind about this announcement. I humbly apologize to the person who requested Casting Crowns – Scars in Heaven and the voters who wanted me to review it. Therefore, I have done the following:
1. Restored the polling results to what it was before this announcement. This includes a review of Casting Crowns – Scars of Heaven.
2. Added Hillsong Worship – Still to the end of the Extra Songs list. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to review more than two songs per week in the foreseeable future. Also, since I already made this announcement, it doesn’t seem fair to not review this song.
3. Changed the policy to “I will consider submissions with lyrics primarily focused on love between humans on a case-by-case basis.”
Thank you Elijah for speaking up!
Comments
Neal Cruco
Vince,
I just saw this announcement and was going to make a comment along the same lines as Elijah, but it seems like your mind has already been changed. So I’ll just say that I fully agree with your proposals. Also, I’ve honestly never thought of “Scars In Heaven” as primarily a human love song, even non-romantic love. The core message is “The only scars in heaven are on the hands that hold you now”. In other words, Casting Crowns is certainly dealing with the loss of a loved one in these lyrics, but that leads them to the truth that their loved one is now experiencing eternal peace and comfort in heaven, which brings them comfort too. It really isn’t about their love for the person, but about how they deal with the loss.
Vince Wright
Neal,
Thank you for your comments!
Yes, I agree with this assessment. If I’m being honest, I feel a bit embarrassed by writing this announcement in haste. I’ll be more careful next time around. However, I think a worthwhile discussion came out of it concerning love songs. Elijah has some awesome ideas that I hadn’t considered before, hence my proposal. As the saying goes, “God doesn’t waste anything”.
-Vince Wright
Elijah
Mr. Wright,
I think it is a respectable decision to limit submitted songs to songs with lyrics that can actual be compared to the Bible by stopping the submission of songs with little to no biblical ideas. However, I personally think that you should have continued to a review of Casting Crown’s song, “Scars in Heaven,” regardless, seeing that it was already submitted before this new requirement. Furthermore, it triumphed in the polls by popular vote of site visitors wishing to see it reviewed. Granted, the review may not be the most interesting read nor would it be the most interesting for you to write. That being said, the people who visited you website have overwhelmingly shown an interest in seeing the song “Scars in Heaven” reviewed–boring or not. Also, I would note that the lyrics to “Scars in Heaven” talk more than just of humanly love. Ideas of heaven are seen here too. Even if most of the lyrics cannot really be well evaluated by Scripture, there is certainly some lines in the song that can be.
Again, I respect your decision and it is your web page, but personally I think that you should review “Scars in Heaven” by Casting Crowns because so many have voted to see it reviewed. Even if the song no longer meets the submission requirements, it was submitted and voted upon before those requirements were enacted.
On another note, I do think that you should allow some human love-type songs so long as they posses ideas that can be assessed by scripture in an edifying way. For example, if a human love song was to contain lyrics that directly talked about Christian or biblical concepts, even if it is not the primary focus of the song, I would argue that the purpose of your website is to determine if songs Christians today listen to do align with scripture or if they should be eschewed by the believe for misleading messages. I would think this stands true with all types of music, regardless of their primary focus, God, Christ, praise, love, thoughts, problems, self, etc. Of course, I agree that their needs to be limits, and I have no qualms with you wishing not to review lyrics which cannot be well compared to the Bible as they are purely unbiblical. I just don’t think you should ban the submission of all these songs–even the ones which contain re-viewable material.
This is your website, and I will take no issue with whatever you ultimately decide here, but I hope you bring this into consideration if you haven’t done so already. I thank you for taking the time to read and consider this.
Chloe
I agree with this.
Vince Wright
Elijah,
Thank you for your challenging, yet polite, comments! I spent half the night last night thinking and praying about what you said.
I agree with everything you said. I trampled on the will of the people by retroactively shoehorning a policy that, in your estimation, should have never occurred. For that, I humbly apologize to the person who submitted the review and the voters who asked for it.
Ironically, when I attempted reviewing this song a second time, I managed to write section 2 without a single reference to Song of Solomon! This gives me hope for future submissions, that I can find ways to include Biblical concepts that are present in human love songs. it also gives credence to your suggestion that I could accept love song submissions on a case-by-case basis.
Therefore, I propose the following:
1. Restore the polling results to what it was before this announcement. This includes a review of Casting Crowns – Scars of Heaven.
2. Add Hillsong Worship – Still to the end of the Extra Songs list. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to review more than two songs per week in the foreseeable future. Also, since I already made this announcement, it doesn’t seem fair to not review this song.
3. Change the policy to “I will consider submissions with lyrics primarily focused on love between humans on a case-by-case basis.”
What do you think of these proposed changes?
-Vince Wright
Elijah
Thank you for your kind reply and considering all that I said. I think your proposals are more than fair. I will be looking forward to your future reviews, and I think it is a grand idea that you are planning on reviewing Hillsong’s “Still” as an “extra.” Moreover, I think your policy change is good as well. I leaves room for your discretion on the songs without completely banning songs that could potentially make good, edifying, reviews. As you said, I think this had led to a good discussion and I am glad I was able to provide a different perspective and ideas.
Vince Wright
Elijah,
Awesome! I updated the content.
Also, as an addendum, my review of Scars of Heaven turned out MUCH better than I expected! I hope you enjoy it!
-Vince Wright