Gospel Music performed by secular artists

What do you guys think of gospel performed by secular artists? I like Johnny Cash and I think he kinda blurs that line. I bought the "God" CD from his box set and it has some pretty good stuff on it. There is a song in particular that is about Paul and his life prior and leading up to his conversion that I like.

 

i don't see anything wrong with it. what, ya got to be in a special club or something before you can sing and praise God?

 

Some artists would come off as hypocrits.

 

well, aren't most people? which artist are singing christian music, anyway?
God is available to everyone, and he loves us way before we get our act together.

 

I agree with that but some artists could sing gospel and I would not be able to get anything positive from it because it would be so in opposition to what they normally stand for.

I think it is mostly country artists that mix in gospel on their albums or have albums that are solely gospel. I am still waiting on that Ozzy Osbourne's favority hymns album.....

 

Because they are "secular" singers, doesn't mean they aren't Christians. I believe Johnny Cash proclaimed he was a Christian.
How many of us don't work in the secular world?
I don't have a problem with it, I hate to see the wordl "hyprocrite" thrown around, because quite honestly I feel like one myself sometimes.

 

Me too but I think a gospel effort by someone like Madonna or Eminem would be taking hypocracy to a new level.

 

Yea, I would agree with that.

 

The thing I like about Cash is that he comes across as real and as a humble sinner who has received grace. Many full time gospel singers do not do that. They are so slick and produced that they come off as being a little higher than the rest of us.

 

Excellent point. :applause: And I think the reverse has been known to be true as well.

Sometimes I do have a problem with secular artists singing religious music. In Johnny Cash's case, I've never heard the tracks you're talking about, JB, so keep that in mind. But I wouldn't doubt he gave his life to Jesus in his later years. He lived a hard life and had a terrible time when his wife died. That's definitely a formula to bring a man to his knees and encourage him to look up with a repentant heart. I'd guess the Man in Black was sincere, but ultimately I don't get to make that call anyway. JMO.

Where I get a little annoyed is when I see hoochie-mama pop 'artists' cut a Christmas album and start singing how precious Jesus is -- someone who makes a VERY good living using sex as a marketing tool, and then tries to put on a white dress and sing 'Silent Night' with deep emotion, only to go right back to the same old same old after the holidays. THAT is hypocrisy, and yeah -- it burns me.

Hypocrisy by definition is pretending to be someone or something you're not. In the Bible, Jesus equated hypocrites to actors playing a role (Matthew 6), and it's as big a problem in today's church as it was back then, and for the same reasons. Nobody in church has it all right, at least not for long. The difference is authenticity and humility. Or, like my pastor said recently, "The solution to hypocrisy is realizing we're not all that and a bag of chips, and not trying to live like we are."