Bad Worship songs - Gone, by Elevation Worship

From time to to we examine the lyrics of worship songs. Our desire is not to mock or humiliate, but rather to honestly examine content with a view to calling forth a better worship expression.

With the great volume and variety of worship music available, none of us should have to settle for bad worship songs. We should be able to select hundreds or even thousands of top notch songs very easily.

What makes a song a good worship song? Is it enough to contain words like God or holy? How about vaguely spiritual sounding phrases? Should Jesus be mentioned? We think an excellent worship song should contain as many as possible of the following elements:

• A direct expression of adoration (God, you are...)
• A progression of ideas that culminates in a coherent story
• A focus on God, not us
• A certain amount of profundity
• A singable, interesting melody
• Scripture quotes or coherent allusions to Scripture
• Doctrinal soundness

Further, a worship song should not:

• contain lyrics that create uncertainty or cause confusion
• be excessively metaphorical
• be excessively repetitive
• imply that Jesus is your boyfriend

It's worth noting the most worship songs contain at least something good. That is, there might be a musical idea or a lyric that has merit. Such is the case with today's song, Gone.

Video link.

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]
It wasn't for nothing that You shed Your blood
So I'm gonna live like my shame is gone
Won't be shackled to the way I was
Oh, I'm gonna live like my chains are

[Chorus]
Gone, gone
Now my sin is dead and gone
And I sing hallelujah
Done, done
He is risen, it is done
And I sing hallelujah

[Verse 2]
Praise is a weapon that will overcome
Oh, I'm gonna shout like the battle's won
Fall back devil 'cause your time is up
Oh, I'm gonna live like the stone is

Overview

This a fun song. It's catchy and has a singable melody, plus the dropped beat leading into the chorus is unexpected and interesting. We certainly enjoy these retro-type songs that just lay down a heavy beat and encourage celebration.

For the most part the lyrics are uncontroversial. However, it is not actually a praise song because only the first stanza addresses God. This is a testimony song, that is, the lyrics are mostly focused on the benefits we have received because of Jesus and what we're going to do as a result. 

So the song is about us. But it is important to note that this is not necessarily bad, since for example the Psalms have a lot of self-focus at times (Psalm 3, 39, 71, and 123 among many others). If the song turns the focus back to God, which Gone does, then the self-focus resolves into praise.

In addition, context is important. Some songs (even some Psalms) are not appropriate for a congregational worship context. An excellent example of this would be Lauren Daigle's "You Say," which opens with the lyrics

I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I'm not enough

We would assert that no congregation should ever sing these lyrics, because they articulate an idea that most people don't experience (voices in my mind), and even if they did, it's not good to sing such a thing in church. 

An example from Psalms might be:

Ps. 58:6 Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; tear out, O LORD, the fangs of the lions!

Ps. 58:7 Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows be blunted.

Ps. 58:8 Like a slug melting away as it moves along, like a stillborn child, may they not see the sun.

So this means that worship songs should not force people to sing things that aren't true, and also aren't true for them. And they should not sing things that draw the focus from God.

Doctrinal Problems

Our opinion is that minor problems do not automatically disqualify a worship song. But this would greatly depend on the context of the rest of the song. If the song is generally fluff, then a minor error is more significant. But if it has robust theology, then a minor problem could be overlooked. 

Gone has both minor and major errors:

• Minor error

Praise is a weapon that will overcome

Is this actually true? We agree praise is a weapon:

Is. 30:32 Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.

But do we find the idea of overcoming connected with praise? Well, not really. Our victory is because Christ overcame the world (Jn. 16:33). Our faith in Jesus, giving us new birth, overcomes the world (1Jn. 5:4). Knowing him overcomes the evil one (1Jn. 2:14). Good overcomes evil (Ro. 12:21). But we don't find that praise overcomes anywhere in the Bible.

• Major error

Fall back devil 'cause your time is up

Satan is directly addressed, which in this song gives the enemy equal time. We think praise songs should actually praise God and not threaten the enemy. 

• Doctrinal error

The devil's time is short, not up (Re. 12:12). 

Conclusion

The song has several strong statements of doctrinal truth and is a crowd pleaser. Unfortunately, it also makes some fairly substantial errors. We really wanted to recommend it, but cannot.