How do you react to the statement “One cannot sing praise songs without noticing how first person pronouns tend to eclipse every other subject?
• I think the person who is saying it (I don’t know who but I know the type) wants to beware of narcissistic (self-centered) tendencies. They want to correct the excesses of consumer culture which says everything only has value in what it can do for me. But I think they are reacting in the wrong sort of way. Like I said above, the Psalms are often first person singular. We/us songs can be just as vacuous (shallow) as I/me songs. I would be sympathetic to the person’s concerns in that we want people to focus on God, not themselves, but the pronouns I and me are just part of the way we speak and are not inherently bad. Again, I would want to sympathize with the person making the criticism that Christianity is more than just praying a prayer to go to heaven. It is not just individualistic one-time thing that excludes ethical commitments, commitments to Christian friendships/community/church/accountability/critique. Again, the danger of the individualistic thing (me and my Bible on a mount
