Same goes for the latest GVB Christmas album. I was very vocal about the fact that I did not enjoy it near as much as I’d hoped I would, and I backed my opinion up with facts about the album.

I used to hate reading reviews in the Singing News or even Country Weekly because they felt more like publicity spots than reviews….never a cross word could be found.

Actually, a healthier mindset would be to accept criticism as part of life, develop the ability to separate the reasoned from the foolish, and learn from it. We all have to do that in every other area of life. But for some reason, many SG artists and fans are of the opinion that their work is above criticism because it’s being done ‘for the Kingdom’.

Now if criticism is sniping or ill-spirited, that’s one thing. You can’t question a person’s spirituality because they shave pitches or can’t conjugate a verb to save their life. But you can criticize their art.

If your career is built on superlatives you give yourself or self-congratulatory ads in the Singing News, how do you expect to grow a thick enough skin to listen to objective criticism? The horror isn’t a critical review that skewers a bad project or performance; the horror is that it happens so infrequently that mediocrity is allowed to perpetuate and flourish, costing SG any sense of credibility in the broader marketplace, making it look like a fourth grade playground fight to onlookers.

So God forbid someone like our esteemed host comes along and calls a spade a spade. All hell breaks loose. I say, bring it on.

It’s not the SG genre, but there is an excellent website that reviews contemporary Christian music - www.christianmusictoday.com - and the editor and reviewers actually write reviews of albums. They’re not judging the character or spirituality of the artists, but they do evaluate the art. The reviews are not soft puff pieces; sometimes they’re searing in their criticism. But if any artist in any genre is putting their stuff out their for public consumption, it’s fair game for constructive criticism. The irony is that while SG demands the same playing field as other genres of music, it lacks the fortitude and willingness to be judged on the same basis.

Someone just brought me a fresh, still warm apple pie. But she was not attractive. Her teeth were crooked, her hair uncombed, and her coat too big. For those unsure of the point, that is not a critique, that is a critical spirit. The pie was wonderful, by the way. And I am enjoying it as I type.And should not that be all that matters. Along with the fact that she wanted to bring me some pleasure, just as the SGM artists do.

My enjoyment of SGM does not rely on either critique or critical spirit. And since I can not appreciate the critical spirits of many on this site, I am off to a site where I can share my love for SGM and most of the artists, who do NOT have such critical spirits, and leave you few to your own warped kind of enjoyment.