Day 17: This is Amazing Grace by Phil Whickam

I've done it again. I made the mistake of reading the comment section on a site talking about worship song, This is Amazing Grace, by Phil Whickam. As you hopefully have seen in my other writings, I really strive to have grace for people, that's why the name of this site is Bucket Full of Grace. For this reason, an overly critical spirit in people really rubs me the wrong way and I need to just stay out of comment sections where people seem to congregate just to argue. However, this was a group of people arguing over the song that I was about to share about in my post, so I fell into the trap of reading the back-and-forth. After I got over the disappointment in myself for getting sucked into the argument I realized the issues they were discussing might be ones you have with this or other songs, so these would be good for me to address.

The Argument Went Like This:

Critic 1: "The line that you would bear my cross is not biblical. The bible doesn't say that. It says that whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me[Jesus] cannot be My[Jesus'] disciple. So clearly it is us that have to bear the cross, not Jesus carrying our cross so this is terrible blasphemy and I'm so angry right now."

Critic 2: "My problem is that the words I or me are used TEN TIMES so this reeks of meism and says that the Gospel is all about me when it should be all about Jesus! This is terrible blasphemy and I'm so angry right now."

Critic 3: "Well... actually the bigger issue is that the capitalization was all wrong on the video that I saw, completely disregarding the convention of concepts about God being capitalized like King and Glory. This is terrible blasphemy and I'm so angry right now."

My Responses Would Be:

1 Peter 2:24 "and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed."

For Critic #1, this is what matters. Have Grace for one another, please. When Christians fight over a song meant to bring Glory to Jesus, it's a bad look. When the song says "that you would bear my cross" it means the payment for sin that was meant for me has been carried by Jesus. I firmly believe that we shouldn't condemn a lyric unless we have asked the author what they meant and it is clearly false.

For Critic #2, there certainly are songs that are in the category of Meism and are not exalting God, they are just songs about how things are going in the first person. This doesn't necessarily make them bad songs, although it can, it just means that they might not be suited for a church service where the focus is supposed to be on God, not on the self. I don't think this song fits in that category.

For Critic #3, have some grace for the person that made the video and for the creative license of the author of the words in the song. Songs are usually originally written as poetry where the punctuation rules are often thrown out the window and this can make it very difficult to transfer onto slides for people to sing a long to. Also, mistakes are made. You can give people a bucket full of grace instead of being the Punctuation Police.

Lyrics

Who breaks the power of sin and darkness?
Whose love is mighty and so much stronger?
The King of Glory, the King above all kings

Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder
And leaves us breathless in awe and wonder?
The King of Glory, the King above all kings

This is amazing grace
This is unfailing love
That You would take my place
That You would bear my cross
You laid down Your life
That I would be set free
Oh, Jesus, I sing for
All that You've done for me

Who brings our chaos back into order?
Who makes the orphan a son and daughter?
The King of Glory, the King of Glory

Who rules the nations with truth and justice
Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance?
The King of Glory, the King above all kings

This is amazing grace
This is unfailing love
That You would take my place
That You would bear my cross
You laid down Your life
That I would be set free
Oh, Jesus, I sing for
All that You've done for me

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
Worthy is the King who conquered the grave
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
Worthy is the King who conquered the grave
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
Worthy is the King who conquered the grave
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
Worthy, worthy, worthy

This is amazing grace
This is unfailing love
That You would take my place
That You would bear my cross
You laid down Your life
That I would be set free
Oh, Jesus, I sing for
All that You've done for me

All that You've done for me

Abundant Life Version

Original Phil Whickam Version

Final Thoughts

When you comment, have a bucket full of Grace for everyone. Speak the Truth in Love.

Comments

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