Theological Song Review: Firm Foundation by The Belonging Co. Ft. Cody Carnes – 35/100 - by David Morrill

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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We've commented on some other articles written by Mr. Morrill. We've found that he seems to have an ax to grind, which colors his writing in a substantial way. He is simply looking for trouble in the "NAR" songs he reviews, and rigs his rating system to ensure they receive bad recommendations.

We recognize that everyone has their own tastes in worship music and in the way worship is conducted when the saints gather, so we have no quibble with Mr. Morrill's tastes. It's only when he attacks and impugns based on some imagined infractions that we draw the line.

Since Mr. Morrill cannot do us the courtesy of supplying the actual lyrics in question, we shall do so ourselves:

Christ is my firm foundation, The Rock on which I stand
When everything around me is shaken, I've never been more glad
That I put my faith in Jesus, 'Cause He's never let me down
He's faithful through generations, So why would He fail now?

He won't

I've still got joy in chaos, I've got peace that makes no sense
So I won't be going under, I'm not held by my own strength
'Cause I've built my life on Jesus, He's never let me down
He's faithful in every season, So why would He fail now?

He won't

He won't fail

He won't

Rain came and wind blew, But my house was built on You
I'm safe with You, I'm gonna make it through

Audio link.

In actual fact, these are pretty innocuous lyrics, which is probably why Mr. Morrill did not quote them. Not terribly profound, but not heretical or misleading in any way. And they have the virtue of being based on Scripture. 

We decided to examine a hymn that is based on the same theme, On Christ the Solid Rock, using the author's criteria. That is found at the end of our post below.

We should note that we are not here to defend the song, the songwriter, or any organization. We intend to evaluate Mr. Morrill's presentation.

Also, we examined another critique of this song here.

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The song “Firm Foundation” was released in 2021 by The Belonging Co. (Cody Carnes and Kari Jobe’s “worship collective”) as a single. The Belonging Co. describes itself as a “church movement” that has “become known as a place to find freedom, breakthrough, and healing through God’s Word, His presence and worship.” (Here's their rather orthodox doctrinal statement.)

Doctrinal Fidelity and Clarity: On a cursory listen, the song is mainly faithful to biblical doctrine. (Mr. Morrill makes this statement, then will subsequently invent a possible peril for those who are not Christians.)

The lyrics are written around Matthew 7:24-27, where Jesus describes the difference between the house built on the sands of false belief and false hope (leading to eternal destruction) versus the house built on the rock of Christ (enduring to the end). (Mr. Morrill would rather summarize the Scripture than quote it for some reason. We shall quote it: 

24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

The believing Christian will read between the lines, seeing the true faithfulness of Christ in lines like “He’s faithful through generations” and “I’m standing strong in you.” Unfortunately, the lost person or less mature believer will find plenty of opportunities to graft their own meaning on what Jesus’ faithfulness is to them, and especially what Jesus never letting them down is supposed to mean. (Here's the supposed peril. This strange objection makes no sense. Why should we be concerned with what non-believers infer from these or any song's lyrics? If this is a problem with this song, it's a problem with any song.

The message of the song is actually pretty clear. There should be little or no peril regarding misunderstanding the lyrics.

And isn't it true that everyone infers things from what is said, written, or sung in every sort of context? How is it possible to not filter sensory input through our understanding, experience, and world view? For this imagined offense, Mr. Morrill knocks off 10 rating points.)

15/25.

Doctrinal Specificity: Despite regular references to the imagery of the house built on Jesus, the song never addresses anything specific about Jesus other than general faithfulness. (Again Mr. Morrill fails us. These four Bible verses are about one topic. They do not contain a doctrinal treatise. They do not explore the intricacies of faith or practice. They do one thing, they illustrate a simple, profound truth. So why should we expect the song's lyrics to do more than this?)

This unspecificity, unfortunately, allows listeners/worshipers to insert their own meaning into what Christ’s faithfulness means – (Mr. Morrill does not tell us why this is a problem. And in fact, he's simply repeating his previous objection. Again, it's a strange objection.)

is it faithfulness to save from our sins, or might it be faithfulness to take care of whatever temporal issue concerns us at the moment? (Perhaps this is why Mr. Morrill never actually quoted the lyrics. The song is clearly not about sin, because Jesus' story is not about sin. The song is a largely unambiguous statement about the trustworthiness of Christ.) 

The song makes no distinction and doubles down with the lyrical self-focus typical of a Carnes song. (We also find reason to object to excessively self-referential songs on occasion. However, in this case we are inclined to cut the song writer a little slack, because this is clearly a song of testimony, and testimonies are by nature personal and self-referential.

Because the song remains true to the subject matter of the Bible text, Mr. Morrill knocks off 10 rating points.)

10/20.

Focus: As with so many popular modern praise songs, the lyrical point of view is first person, focusing on my role in my relationship with God. (The Bible text upon which the song is based is regarding the "role" of the person building the house.)

The song starts off with “my foundation,” my decisions, and the chorus characterizes God’s faithfulness as valid because of my perseverant decision. Out of the 28 lyrical lines in the song, 19 are self-referencing. No line in the song mentions “us” or the people of God in any way – strange for a song clearly written for corporate worship. (The Bible text reads, is like a wise man who built his house on

the rock. Perhaps Mr. Morrill might explain how "us" might build "our" house on a rock.)

Carnes basically gives himself credit for what should be credited to God. (Um, no. The lyric: I'm not held by my own strength...

A big deduction of 15 rating points.) 

5/20.

Association: Cody Carnes and his wife Kari Jobe are in partnership with Gateway Church, a seeker-sensitive megachurch that promotes New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) false doctrine. See more here. (This is not a link to something that explains Gateway Church or the NAR. It's just another song review written by Mr. Morrill that simply mentions Gateway Church and the NAR.)

The Belonging Co. is a charismatic “church” in Nashville that ordains female “pastors” and offers this neuchurch (sic) description: We desire encounter over entertainment, intimacy over industry, presence over presentation, people over position, and Jesus over everything.

Huh?

This is yet another unfortunate church-band combo organization that mixes (no pun intended) church and music industry together to form a kind of “emotion club” for spiritual consumers. 0/20. (No matter how good the song might be otherwise, this category is nearly sufficient by itself to knock the song out of the running.)

Musical Value: There is a reason that contemporary Christian praise and worship music has the reputation of being the easiest, cheapest, cookie-cutter music in the world. Because it is. And when called out for its cheap formulaic nature, the answer is usually that the music is a vehicle for the meaning of the song. The problem is that the lyrics are similarly vapid. (Previously Mr. Morrill wrote: the song is mainly faithful to biblical doctrine. Has he now changed his mind?)

Look at most modern worship lyrics apart from their musical context, and they look like they were generated by the Random Christian Phrase Machine™ rather than any effort to express glorious theological truth about God. (We think that Jesus' faithfulness as our firm foundation qualifies as a "glorious theological truth.")

This is no less true with “Firm Foundation,” which uses the exact same repetitive tropes as every other emotionally manipulative repetition fest churned out by the brainless CCM machine, ready to give hand-raising drones the Jesus fix they have clearly become addicted to. (Now Mr. Morrill turns to attack the worshipers.)

The musical execution is clean and professional, although there is no instrumental or vocal virtuosity whatsoever. (If the song contained virtuoso performances, Mr. Morrill would probably take issue with a self-focused guitar solo and astonishing, soaring vocals that only glorify man. But since there were no guitar solos or soaring vocals, he knocks the song for lacking virtuosity. Hmm.

This causes us to recall the last time our church did "How Great Thou Art." Looking back, we we disappointed in the organist's lack of pentatonic runs, and the song leader's total conformance to the written melody.

No instrumental or vocal virtuosity whatsoever.

And by the way, every NAR song gets a bad rating here, no matter how good it might be otherwise.)

5/15.

Total Score: 35/100. Seriously, stop playing this garbage. God deserves so much better than this.

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Now, let's take a look at Solid Rock, using Mr. Morrill's criteria and reasoning:

1 My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.

2 When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.

3 His oath, his covenant, his blood, support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay.

4 When he shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in him be found:
dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.

Doctrinal Fidelity and Clarity: 15/25 On a cursory listen, the song is mainly faithful to biblical doctrine. Unfortunately, the lost person or less mature believer will find plenty of opportunities to graft their own meaning on what Jesus’ unchanging grace is to them, and especially what it means to lean on Jesus' name. 

Doctrinal Specificity: Despite regular references to the imagery of the solid rock, the song never addresses anything specific about Jesus other than vague references to His oath, covenant, and His blood with no explanation. This unspecificity, unfortunately, allows listeners/worshipers to insert their own meaning into what these concepts mean.

The song doubles down with the lyrical self-focus typical of a Bradbury hymn (Jesus Loves Me, He Leadeth Me, Sweet Hour Of Prayer, Just As I Am). 10/20.

Focus: Out of the 10 lyrical lines in the song, 8 are self-referencing. No line in the song mentions “us” or the people of God in any way – strange for a song clearly written for corporate worship. 5/20.

Association:  Bradbury was closely associated with Lowell Mason, who in turn embraced the Pestalozzi method of education, which forms the foundation of modern education. 0/20.

Musical Value: The song is repetitive, with an abnormally short chorus. 5/15. 

Total Score: 35/100. Seriously, stop playing this garbage. God deserves so much better than this.

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Of course the hymn is actually a wonderful, simple expression of the trustworthiness of Jesus. We are just making a point, that any song or hymn can be failed simply by applying agendized criteria.