Updating Hymns

[Oldiesfreak1854]

My church seems to do this a lot too, and it annoys me a lot.  Some examples:

All the Way My Savior Leads Me

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(Probably done because Adventists are mortalist and don't believe people go directly to heaven or hell when they die.)

Christ the Lord is Risen Today (Second verse)

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An entire verse of "Jesus Loves Me" was changed:

Original

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Updated

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This was probably, at least in part, for the same reason as the "All the Way" one.

Rock of Ages (Last verse)

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(See above)

A classic example in the vein of the "Amazing Grace" one (one that my pastor fully acknowledged):

At the Cross

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Even Christmas carols aren't immune.  "Good Christian Men Rejoice" became "Good Christians Now Rejoice" (probably to make it more "gender neutral"), and nearly all the traditional verses of "Silent Night" (except for the first) were changed into something completely foreign.
One of things that annoys me the most, though, is when they set the hymns to music that isn't used for them in any other church.  "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" is set to a tune that I've never heard in any other denomination, as is "I Gave My Life for Thee," "My Lord and I," and "Hark the Voice of Jesus Crying," among others.  (In fact, the latter got its title changed as well, to "Hark the Voice of Jesus Calling.")  I'm assuming that most of these "new" tunes were written by Adventist composers (There are a few that I know were.)Honestly, I think the mortalist updates are unnecessary too, because even if people don't go to heaven or hell immediately after death, they do at some point after death.

I could go on and on, but simply put, hymns are poetry, and poetry is fine art.  Some of these hymns were beautiful the way they were.  Why change them?  If you disagree with the theology, then don't sing them (or those verses, if they're not in the first one.) 

[Oldiesfreak1854]

One of things that annoys me the most, though, is when they set the hymns to music that isn't used for them in any other church.  "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" is set to a tune that I've never heard in any other denomination, as is "I Gave My Life for Thee," "My Lord and I," and "Hark the Voice of Jesus Crying," among others.  (In fact, the latter got its title changed as well, to "Hark the Voice of Jesus Calling.")  I'm assuming that most of these "new" tunes were written by Adventist composers (There are a few that I know were.) Honestly, I think the mortalist updates are unnecessary too, because even if people don't go to heaven or hell immediately after death, they do at some point after death.

Keep in mind that many older hymns were not originally associated with any particular tune.  So it's probably just that the first Adventist hymnal to use it picked "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" at a time when it had not yet become associated with any tune.  Indeed, according to hymnary.org, there are two different tunes most commonly associated with "I Sing the Mighty Power of God".  The arranger of the tune Adventists use "Varina" doesn't appear to have been an Adventist, and certainly not the composer or lyricist since  they both lived in the 18th century. According to hymnary.org the tune "Varina" is most commonly associated with the hymn "There is a Land of Pure Delight".  It was not uncommon in older hymnals to print the lyrics and score separately and use one score with several lyrics that have the same metrical scheme.  This allowed the hymnal to either be smaller or include more hymns.  It also saved money as typesetting music back then was considerably more expensive that typesetting lyrics, especially if you embed the lyrics in the music as is now customary.

The most probable course of events here is that an early Adventist hymnal included both "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" and "There is a Land of Pure Delight" at a time when the former did not yet have a customary tune associated with it. The website I keep citing in this post  has both being used in the 1941 Adventist hymnal, altho "There is a Land of Pure Delight" is not in the 1985 Adventist hymnal.  So I doubt there was any intent at separatism, at least at first.  Choosing to retain "Varina" as the tune instead of switching to either "Ellacombe" or "Forest Green" may have something to do with trying to maintain Adventist particularism, but more likely it's just that by now using "Varina" as the tune for that hymn is traditional to Adventists and with "There is a Land of Pure Delight" no longer competing for the tune, there is even less need to consider switching.  Besides, Adventists use "Forest Green" as the tune for "Eternal God, Whose Power Upholds". which is one of several common choices for that hymn.

Thanks.  I still would rather sing "Mighty Power" with one of the traditional tunes.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I just thought of another:

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less (The Solid Rock) (Second verse)

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I don't understand why the SDA Hymnal would change this one at all.