Hypnotic Hymn Singing

[Deva]

Well ever since my parents went home from their weekend visit I have this hymn rolling around in my head. I am so programmed with this stuff it takes very little for it to resurface -only the presence of my fundamentalist Baptist parents. I used to LOVE singing these hymns when I was about 12. I could easily walk in a local Baptist Church and sing all this crap from memory. So for its therapeutic value, I am now trashing “Blessed Assurance”:

 

“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine”

 

Selfish, don’t you think? Mine and not my friend’s not my neighbor’s, but HEEEs MINE! Dear hymnwriter: I don’t want him, much less the assurance he is “mine” whatever that means. Sounds like a love struck teenager faced with a rival “He’s mine, keep your hands off him!” Childish.

 

“Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood”

 

An heir of salvation. What might that be? Maybe I will inherit it one day? Please, no pie in the sky when I die. Makes me think it must all be lies.

 

Purchase of God – yep, god bought me from the devil like a sack of dry goods. Nice.

 

Born of his spirit – I am not a real person, I must be something like a replicate pod person, sounds creepy, I don’t like it.

 

Washed in his blood – just plain yucky!!

 

Chorus: This is my story, this is my song, praising my savior all the day long (repeat over and over until hypnotized).

 

What, don’t you have anything else to do with your time? No productive work going on here. Furthermore, why would he want or need praise? Why do you need to praise him? Sounds a bit creepy.

 

2^nd Verse

 

“Perfect submission, perfect delight” – There just might be some truth to this phrase. By George, if you surrender your brain then you don’t have to think. Yep, that just might WORK. Give it ALL to Jesus. As for the work “perfect” – no such thing exists. Talk about creating a perfectionist obsessive compulsive condition through programming! No one does it better than Christianity!

 

“Visions of rapture now burst on my sight” – sounds sexual or hallucinatory. I didn’t get the connotation when I was 12. Creates an alternate reality in the poor hymn singer’s brain.

 

“Angels descending, bring from above, echoes of mercy, whispers of love.” - how sickeningly sweet and how far from reality. Why do we need mercy? Who gets mercy? Why do they have to whisper. Can’t they communicate out loud like normal speech? It’s all so subtle and unreal, isn’t it?

 

Verse 3

 

“Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my savior am happy and blest” Be a happy little brainless robot. Only think about Jesus and submit your entire self to him – that is, when you don’t have to do things and deal in the real world.

 

“Watching and waiting, looking above” – The whole rapture idea and the God is located in heaven notion, while we are “down here” on a flat earth. If you really think a person is going to appear suddenly in the clouds one day and your body will suddenly change so that it can fly into space or – hey at least into the stratosphere- you need mental help.

 

“Filled with his goodness, lost in his love” How is it that evidently serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is saved because he confessed Jesus as his savior before he was killed, but his poor victims are very likely in hell because they were not given enough time to make the confession. Dahmer was too busy drilling holes in their heads and pouring acid in. What kind of goodness is that? Or do you, Christians, think that a confession of faith in Christ is not enough. If not, what is?

 

I would like a Christian to come on here and defend this type of thing. What about hypnotic hymn singing until a person is so programmed that 40 years later they still can’t forget it? Isn’t it a very effective form of brainwashing? If it is indefensible, then why do you continue to participate in it?

 

 

[Deva]

Well, this thread sank faster than the Titanic.

 

Wow, maybe I am the only one with this problem. That would be nice.

 

Anyway, the repetitive hymn thing has departed my brain. That is good.

[florduh]

Anyway, the repetitive hymn thing has departed my brain.

Want to know where it went? THANKS!

[Deva]

Florduh you are the last one I would suspect would have this issue!

 

[florduh]

Florduh you are the last one I would suspect would have this issue!

Dad was the music director at his church when I was a kid. I heard that damn song a million times. Make that a million and one.

[Deva]

I recommend replacing it with something equally repetitive. I recommend Johnny Rivers "Secret Agent Man" on Youtube. I can't get it to link here properly. But, Florduh, I put it on my Facebook profile, which you know how to access.

 

Definitely helps.

[florduh]

Yes, Secret Asian Man. He performed frequently at a little club he owned on the Ohio river, about a 45 min. drive from where I used to live. I always liked him.

[bush country]

Well, this thread sank faster than the Titanic.

 

Wow, maybe I am the only one with this problem. That would be nice.

 

Anyway, the repetitive hymn thing has departed my brain. That is good.

If I signed on here more than once or twice a week I would have replied earlier.

 

Four years and one day after my official deconversion date, I still get xtian songs stuck in my head. I usually go with trying to think of something by Stevie Ray Vaughn to get rid of them.

[hereticzero]

I always get xtian music stuck in my head especially at xmas time! My therapy is to play Nazareth's 'Hair of the Dog' so loudly the windows vibrate.

[oddbird1963]

Hymns are designed to create group identity and cohesion - in other words,create mindless christ-bots. I guess there is a role in any organization for songs that help the members rally around a set of formative principles. A freethinker or skeptic is , for obvious reasons, best served by being suspicious of those efforts.

 

I'll get Christian songs stuck in my head from time to time. Next time I do, I think I'll attempt to analyze them the way you did with Blessed Assurance.

[Deva]

The real problem is that this hymn singing was the best thing about church for me during all the years I attended. I started hating everything else - especially the sermons. All that time I didn't realize that down the road these hymns would remain long after I had chucked all the rest of it.

[Thalia]

AND now it's stuck in MY head. I'll be over on The Lonely Island's YouTube page if anyone needs me.

[Overcame Faith]

One day not too long ago, I was in the shower singing, without really thinking, one of the Christian hymns. For some reason it was just there so I went with it. My wife walked in and heard me and got really mad at me. She accused me of making fun of Christianity by singing one of their hymns. The truth be told is that I must give it to Christians for having so successfully incorporated music into their services. Some of the songs are quite catchy and some of them evoke such emotions.

 

And, Deva, that damn song you brought up is in my mind now, too. Just for that, I think you should listen to this (all the way through).

 

[JadedAtheist]

I get hymns come into my mind all the time. Mainly Blessed Assurance, Shine the Light, Take my Life and of course Shout to the Lord. What's worse than that is Bible verses coming into my mind almost constantly about certain events. For example, I saw someone this afternoon bragging excessively about something and the first thing I thought of was "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips". Yes, in case you case you ask, it was ad verbatim.

[Deva]

Overcame Faith: Not on your life. After I have "Secret Agent Man" firmly in my mental playback loop, I have no intention of going back to the dregs of "Blessed Assurance" in any form. Thanks but no thanks!

[DesertBob]

I get hymns come into my mind all the time.

I have to say that I don't, and it's mighty odd, really, as I used to be a church pianist and organist. It seems that all of that evaporated almost at once and I scarcely think of it anymore. In fairness, I seem to have lost touch with most music. I'm soldiering through classical piano lessons with a great, even inspirational teacher, a former concert artist, and I should be enjoying it but it's mostly grim determination that keeps me going. The main reason I do it is it's an experience to share with my fiancee's 18 year old son, and it gets me out of the house and out of my fiancee's hair once a week.

 

The truth is that I happen to have some middling facility for keyboard instruments but have never really had that much actual interest. But as a kid in church I was told I had a "god-given talent" that I had a "duty" to nurture it (it didn't occur to me until years later that they didn't believe in paying artists a penny beyond maybe a "minister of music" in larger congregations, so this was really a way to flog lay people into providing free services). And I had one of those Moms who, bless her, automatically thought I walked on water and she bought right into that. I often wonder if, paradoxically, I wouldn't have had a better relationship with music if I'd been left alone to mess around as I please rather than turning it into some sort of responsibility and limiting it to a specific genre (four part hymnody and northernized southern gospel). As it is, my relationship with music is kind of weird and ambivalent.

 

At any rate ... you guys appear to have pointed out an advantage to my situation, which is that I don't have to be tormented by unwanted melodies :-)

 

--Bob

[Deva]

That's interesting DesertBob. I wonder if those who did not purely enjoy the music for its own sake, but were bound to do it because of "duty" are less likely to have this problem. Just makes me wonder.

 

I never looked on it as a duty but as the only pleasurable thing in the whole church experience.

[renoliz]

Well, this thread sank faster than the Titanic.

 

Wow, maybe I am the only one with this problem. That would be nice.

 

Anyway, the repetitive hymn thing has departed my brain. That is good.

If I signed on here more than once or twice a week I would have replied earlier.

 

Four years and one day after my official deconversion date, I still get xtian songs stuck in my head. I usually go with trying to think of something by Stevie Ray Vaughn to get rid of them.

 

You can't beat the Blues for cheering you up. Never have figured out why. Stevie Ray Vaughn is an excellent choice.

[renoliz]

I suggest you replace it with this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ygI3BZxdCY&list=PLBA6A09CB9DC1FF8C

 

Hotel California - you can check out but you can never leave.

[renoliz]

I still really like some Christian songs and occasionally find myself singing a hymn.

 

I just listened to Los Lonely Boys How far is Heaven the other day. I still like it. Its a happy song. Maybe i'll start thinking of it as being about how far is heaven on earth or good times.

 

Poor wayfaring strnager kind of sticks with me sometimes. A very haunting song.

 

 

Also, I used to love "I'll fly away"

[VacuumFlux]

That's interesting DesertBob. I wonder if those who did not purely enjoy the music for its own sake, but were bound to do it because of "duty" are less likely to have this problem. Just makes me wonder.

 

I never looked on it as a duty but as the only pleasurable thing in the whole church experience.

 

Oh yeah, turning it into a job ruins music. Growing up, my parents forced me to practice whether I felt like it or not. With some kids, that works. Problem is, they always phrased it as "won't you play for me now?" And whenever I was playing around just for fun, they'd make sure to listen and tell me how good it made them feel. It pissed me off to no end that I was never able to play for myself when they were around, they always stole it from me. And if I didn't practice, they'd tell me how sad it makes them feel. There's still some music I can't bring myself to play when they're around.

 

Then there's the playing for church. I appreciated being able to help out, but I really wasn't that good. Couldn't play as fast as they wanted to sing, even though I had a week's lead time to practice. And I was a classically trained perfectionist, so that was really stressful. I managed to sneak in classical pieces that I knew well for offertories. Problem with that was my parents again. Every time I enjoyed the piece I was playing, my mom would "commiserate" with me on how poorly I played. Every time I played ok but felt no emotional connection to the piece, she'd tell me how wonderful it was. That happened for years. It still hurts to remember.

 

Not that I didn't mess myself up enough just playing for myself. Practicing is depressing when you know how you want a piece to sound and can't get it there. And every time you get better, you realize other things that you can improve. Now that I'm older, I'm a little better at enjoying the process, not just the result, but... when I was younger, the realization that I would never "arrive" often left me with a gnawing empty blackness. Why try to get better when you'll never be good enough?

 

What helped me most is getting experience with a more relaxed (improv-friendly, playing by ear preferred to sheet music) musical style. If you're not supposed to play it the same way twice, it's easier to focus on enjoying the moment and this particular version of it than obsessing over an unreachable idea of the perfect performance.

[DesertBob]

Not that I didn't mess myself up enough just playing for myself. Practicing is depressing when you know how you want a piece to sound and can't get it there. And every time you get better, you realize other things that you can improve. Now that I'm older, I'm a little better at enjoying the process, not just the result, but... when I was younger, the realization that I would never "arrive" often left me with a gnawing empty blackness. Why try to get better when you'll never be good enough?

I didn't have the perfectionism thing going, my thing was more that the idea of playing was way more appealing than the reality. The reality is it's a lot of hard work and at my skill level will never become truly easy = enjoyable. With pipe organ it's even worse, as it's difficult to get access to a good instrument even if, as in my case, you can afford it. Not many people are willing to cohabit with 33 ranks of pipework (or technically in my case, 16 channels of audio). I've let that part go, it's way too overboard.

What helped me most is getting experience with a more relaxed (improv-friendly, playing by ear preferred to sheet music) musical style. If you're not supposed to play it the same way twice, it's easier to focus on enjoying the moment and this particular version of it than obsessing over an unreachable idea of the perfect performance.

Good for you! I've tried to go in that direction but my current teacher simply doesn't like to teach music theory other than by osmosis, and to the extent I've twisted his arm I've found him to be lousy at it anyway. I found a good improviser once but he was so into that edgy dissonant sort of jazz that I don't at all care for. One of these days I'll find a happy medium. I would just love to sit down and improvise a passable arrangement of a pretty ballad.

 

--Bob

[OnceConvinced]

Many worships songs are designed to brainwash and condition minds. You sing the same songs over and over and they are like kinds of postive affirmations. Repeat them verbally enough tmies and you will believe them. "god is great", "we are victorious", "What a friend we have in Jesus", "I love you lord", etc etc.

 

Here's a little song that my mother taught me that was like my bedtime prayer:

 

"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Look upon a little child. Pity my simplicity. Suffer me to come to thee amen."

 

Warped that a parent would get a small child to sing such words, which are meaningless to a small child. I mean, just look at the words. A 5 year old kid is not gonna know what the hell he's even praying. Disect this even more and it's even more stupid.

 

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild...

Jesus may have been meek and mild sometimes, but not all the time. He was also a man of wrath (as seen when he turned over the temple) and he also demonised those who didn't think as he did. He also showed a lack of respect for his parents.

 

Pity my simplicity...

Like this is a really great way to build up a kid's self-confidence. It pretty much tells you, Hey, you're just a stupid little kid who knows sweet FA.

 

Suffer me to come to thee...

What does this even mean? Even I'm wondering now. It is a terrible imposition for God to listen to my prayer or take mercy on me? I guess it is, after all he does nothing to help those children who are starving or being raped and abused. Why would he help a kid who lives in a good Christian home with loving parents?