Turn the music up? - Should Christians listen to secular music/musicians

Turn the music up???

Answering the secular music question

We all have hard tough fights with this question, “should I only listen to Christian music, or is anything ok?”

You see, one great thing about living as a Christian is the fact that we get to choose or make up our own rules.

Christ, before he left didn’t leave behind a list of dos and don’ts, instead he trusts us as Christians to work out the best way to live through the Holy Spirit.

That doesn’t mean we do whatever we want. He gives us clear guidance, by telling us in the Bible the kind of things he loves and the kind of people he wants us to be, and by giving us his Holy Spirit who is working to make us Christ-like.

One area of our lives God leaves us to make our own rule on is the kind of music we listen to.

Hotlink: Miley Cyrus makes fun of Christians in an interview

Here are some thoughts to help you out.

1) What is music meant for? Is music solely for worship, or also designed to be soothing and/or entertaining? King David, a famous musician in the Bible, used music for worshipping God (Psalm 6:1, 54, 67:1). However, in the story of King Saul, when he got tormented by evil spirits, he called David to play the harp to help soothe him (1 Samuel 16:14-23). In the New Testament, Paul instructs Christians to encourage one another with music: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:19). The Israelites also did use musical instruments to warn of danger (Nehemiah 4:20). In other words, while the primary purpose of music does seem to be worship, the Bible definitely allows for other uses of music, c’mon even we all use music for various reasons hmmm let’s say when bathing, if you know what I mean.

2) My style of music! Though, we Christians can be very much divisive when it comes to music styles, I know for sure I am. There are Christians who strong headedly want no musical instruments be added to the music they listen to. There are Christians who only choose to sing the hymns of the ancient times. There are Christians who prefers more of upbeat and contemporary music. Now, this is where we got a problem, instead of recognizing these choices as personal preferences/ cultural distinctions, some Christians declare their preferred style of music to be the only “biblical” style of music and declare all other forms of music to be unedifying, ungodly, or even satanic.

The thing is, nowhere in the Bible is declared any particular musical instrument to be ungodly. Neither did the Bible condemn any particular style of music. The Bible did mention numerous kinds of string instruments and wind instruments (Psalm 68:25; Ezra 3:10). Nearly all the forms of modern music are variations and/or combinations of the same types of musical instruments, played at different speeds or with heightened emphasis. Basically, there isn’t any biblical basis to declare any particular style of music to be ungodly or outside of God’s will.

3) The music lyrics and its content. Now, we all understand that neither the purpose of music nor the style of music determines whether a Christian should listen to secular music, so what determines it then? Well, the content of the lyrics must be considered. Though it wasn’t specifically speaking of music, Philippians 4:8 is an excellent guide for musical lyrics: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Awesome right? So if God wants us to be thinking about such things, surely Philippians 4:8 are the things we should invite into our minds through music and lyrics right? Okay, the question now is can the lyrics in a secular song be true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy? If so, then there is nothing wrong with a Christian listening to a secular song of that nature, the Philippians 4:8 nature right?

However, the sad truth is much of secular music does not meet the standard of Philippians 4:8. Often, secular music belittles purity, godly living, integrity while promoting immorality and violence. If a song glorifies what opposes God (sin), a Christian should not listen to it. However, there are many secular songs with no mention of God that still uphold godly values such as honesty, purity, and integrity. If a love song promotes the sanctity and beauty of marriage and/or the purity of true love—even if God or the Bible aren’t mentioned —it can still be listened to and enjoyed.

The truth is whatever you allow to occupy your mind will sooner or later determine how you act, talk and behave. This is the ideology behind Philippians 4:8 and Colossians 3:2-5: establishing Christ thought patterns. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 it says we should “take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.” These Scriptures gives a clear picture of the kind of music we should not listen to. If your desired choice of music is feeding you with unrealistic expectations about relationships then it might be a good idea to listen to some other music.

Finally conclusion!!!

Okay, so the best kind of music is that which praises and glorifies God. In this modern times, talented Christian musicians work in nearly every musical genre, from classical to rock, rap, and reggae. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with any style of music. What matters is if the music you listen to is acceptable for a Christian to listen to. If anything leads you to sin or think about it or get involved in something that does not glorify God, you should runaway and avoid it.
As for music that’s not Christian, you should keep your brain switched on to make sure you’re not swallowing careless teaching about God, make sure you’re not accidently picking up the attitudes in the music you’re listening to, without first running it by the bible.