Music is central to much of American culture, and it is no
different amongst Christians. We use music to for entertainment, socializing,
and worship. It is so engrained in our lives that we seldom stop to consider
anything about it. Sure, there are some old-school people that think that some
music is “bad”, even so much as demonic, but this discussion often appears to
be a fringe argument of the young against the old; boring dead Puritan ideals
against a “living fire”; legalistic against “livin’ for Jesus”.
Many of us were raised in a home where, in music, a beat was
bad. Mom and dad muted the musical interludes during movies, we weren’t
“allowed” certain CDs in our house, and we all stood somewhat awkwardly during
worship services when we visited friends’ more modern churches. We understood
that some people just had it wrong, and we would obstinately push through life
without electric guitars or drum sets.
Then… things would start to happen. A good, trusted,
Christian-ly solid, friend would begin to listen to, horror of horrors, Casting
Crowns. Or perhaps you began to listen more closely to some music that your
family listens to and recognize, “Wait a second… this is actually just as rocky
as some artists out there… even more than the Gettys!” Or maybe you finally
heard a pop Christian song you could understand the words to, and thought “Wow;
that’s a very poignantly stated Biblical truth. You could preach a sermon from
that!” We started to ask “What’s wrong with it?”
Then we started seeing inconsistencies – the music was bad
in some cases, but other songs that sounded the same to us were ok to our
spiritual authorities. We would be told “We don’t listen to that artist because
they’re immoral.”, yet Mozart was prominently played and even performed by
members of our household. A few oldies songs with absolutely no spiritual value
might be played by our parents, but our Christian songs that were just as
musically subdued would be “off limits”. We started to ask “Why can’t I listen
to it?”
Then… more things would start to happen. Some of our friends
that had blazed this trail of listening to “modern music” would start making
blatantly un-biblical decisions. You would look up one day and in shock say
“What AM I listening to?” We would start looking more into the lives of these
“amazing Christian artists” and questioning their real motives…
It is in this state that I begin to ask these questions:
·
What music can
Christians listen to?
·
What music should Christians listen to?
·
What do I do about the people who condemn my
choices?”
I will ask these questions with the following
pre-suppositions; if you do not agree with these, please do not continue to
follow these posts:
·
There are authorities in my life I must respect;
even if they’re wrong, as long as they aren’t telling me to disobey God, I
ought to honor them (Exodus 20:12, 1 Timothy 5:17)
·
God has an opinion about music – He is the
author of it, and His principles that guide everything about life (including
music) are in His Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
·
Satan can twist anything and even deceive
believers who have not imposed God’s truth on the situation (2 Corinthians
11:3-4, 13-14)
·
I COULD BE WRONG! I am going into this study
with a certain view, but I am willing to be proven wrong; my own understanding
could be incomplete. (Proverbs 3:5-7)
