Disclaimer: I exaggerated the subject title and listen to POG on a regular basis, because they can be comforting and because their new album is so praise & worshipful. They were even my very favorite group at one time, so it's not like I never liked them. I loved Point of Grace.

I have been told that I am too legalistic and am trying to slam them, but I have only written this to bring these things to your attention. I'd kind of like to take my essay down, because it criticizes POG, or rather just Terry. We as Christians cannot take things at face value. I told someone else that I could go on and on about the good things POG has done, but if I wrote those things in the essay it might seem like I wasn't trying hard enough to prove the viewpoint of what the this was supposed to be about. ...Besides, people already know! My essay is meant to bring up some things in a different light than what other reviewers were doing.

They are friendly, but they aren't that deep. They're just kind of immature Christians, I think, and they're spreading non-committal ideas to teens. While they are not as bad as the Spice Girls, and uphold some Christian values, they have really disappointed me. So while I have still bought every record they have come out with, I still think they are a major disappointment to their fans and the CCM industry, and a harmony group w/ an unoriginal sound.

Terry Jones was my "first" favorite member of Point of Grace. Everything about her was cool. Then it was Heather, then it was Shelley, and I've always liked Denise. But, when I was thirteen years of age, I was appalled, when I read one certain issue of CCM Magazine. I thought that Terry shouldn't have said what she had said: Brad Pitt was cute. Not only did she say that Brad Pitt was cute, but she said that if she wasn't married to the husband she was "stuck" with, heck, she'd marry him. I totally overreacted because I thought (at that point) that Christian artists were supposed to be perfect [3]. A lot of other people overreacted (or reacted righteously, whatever), because the POG-ers, or at least Terry was telling people that oh yeah, we just got back from seeing "Legends of the Fall" and oh Brad Pitt... That's how conversation turned to Brad Pitt. The Brad Pitt controversy was in print in CCM way back in March 1995.

Before I read their first devotional book [1] I really came to dislike Terry Jones because of that Brad Pitt thing. I did not like Point of Grace at one Point [2], but realized that I just did not care for Terry Jones (and that all of the other members were fine), so I've bought each album since then.

I'll admit that I did cry when I read the book Life, Love and Other Mysteries, because Terry Jones' life was so hard and really bad when she was young (like a teenager, like I am). But it is still Terry Jones who gave really bad advice in the devotionals...about dating and relationships.

So in the devotional, Terry talked about that issue, "I remember once a magazine interviewer asked us what recent movies we had seen and who our favorite actor was. I had just seen Legends of the Fall, so I said Brad Pitt. I added jokingly, 'he's so cute,' or something flip like that. Well, we got some letters."

I was one of those letter-writers. And said before, she didn't just say she was cute. She said that she wanted to marry him, but was stuck with her husband. Yeah, yeah, yeah I do know that she was just "joking" but at the time, I was really, really depressed and let down and just astounded.

Here's something else. When I was thirteen or fourteen I thought that I'd wait to kiss (a guy) until we got engaged to each other. Now, if you're not familiar with my parents and their rules on dating, they won't let me date at all. Now, they'll let me court. It would take a whole other essay to try to explain "courting" since my parents confided in me that they weren't sure about it. But anyway, people in the courting "movement" had, or have, this big thing of not kissing before they got married. I thought that was a little too strict for me, but hey whatever anyone else wants to do is okay, if they are abstaining from something. And this is what Terry Jones said concerning that:

While saying "No one can tell you how far is far enough for you," She says "I'm sorry...There are those on the extreme side who would say you shouldn't ever kiss before you're married. I think that's ridiculous! To never kiss somebody and then marry them would make them completely foreign to you; you'd be scared to death."

Like I said, Terry or the other Points of Grace aren't very deep. If they were, they'd know there were other things to do besides kissing, like talking, that would get you to know a person. A good friend argued that as a relationship progresses, so does the trust, and so should the kissing, et cetera. But I would like to point out that so many Christians think totally different on this issue. Some people are tempted in other ways when they kiss, and kissing someone before they got married would just be a stumbling block.

She also said, "When you're younger it's okay to have firm boundaries. If it's against the law to drink until you're 21, then don't. If it's against the law to go see an R-rated movie until you're 17, then don't." She rationalizes any action she might make by saying: "Once you've passed that age, then it's a personal decision for which nobody else can or should be the judge."

So, what? Are we supposed to loosen up when we get older? Does "nobody else" include God? 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

Nobody else should judge, but they can point out in love that you're doing the wrong thing. But read Philippians 4:8, "...Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things."

These are the Points' favorite TV shows followed by their favorite movies:

Denise: ER, White Christmas
Terry Jones: Oprah, A Christmas Story
Heather Floyd: ER, The Color Purple
Shelley Phillips (now Breen): Friends, Miracle on 34th Street

All of them like shows that I'm sure you wouldn't want your children to watch. Then, probably because of what Terry said, they put their favorite "most innocent" movie. They all ended up being Christmas movies with the exception of Heather's favorite. I've never seen The Color Purple, but someone told me it's good.

I've seen their video "Keep the Candle Burning." Others have expressed the same displeasure I have had experiencing watching this video. It shows POG signing autographs, stepping of a plane to greet fans with Point of Grace signs, it was just -- disturbing that they brought so much attention to themselves.

On an interview I heard before their album was released in 1998, they were asking the President of Word Records to bring donuts to them, because they knew he was listening, since it was in Nashville. So an hour later the president of Word Records came in. And POG was like, oh "we'll just die if we don't get donuts." They were acting really spoiled and wanted to be served, when we as Christians are supposed to serve others.

Just be careful, because if you (or your kids) are not careful and so highly esteem them that they buy one of their devotionals, they might read some of the advice and actually follow it.

Afterword

Sometimes, I really like making fun of Point of the Grace, but in no way would I want to condemn POG. They are Christ's. The thing is: we cannot take everything at face value. Just because you trust someone and see they are Christians does not mean that you should take their word over the Bible's. They might be mistaken.

I'm not trying to open some secret sin about Point of Grace, but am trying to bring the realization that they are not perfect. That is the moral of this long essay: to point [2] out that Point of Grace is not a group with perfect girls and they should not be idolized.

And speaking of idolizing Christian singers, go to this link if you would like to know more about what I think about that subject.

Thank you for your time.

Bibliography

Life, Love and Other Mysteries by Point of Grace with Davin Seay (quotes from Terry Jones appear on pages: 43, 48-49) For Terry Jones' whole story, read pages 56-100 New York: Pocket Books. 1996.