As a youth pastor there is one inescapable influence upon young people today. That is music. In fact I am willing to say that music is one of the most powerful tools for spreading a message in this day and age of MP3 players and Ipods. It is so powerful that preferred styles are often used to define friendships, churches, and social groups.
In seeing this influence on young people today I am always asking my youth and friends what kind of music they are listening to. Not so much as to figure out what is new and what people like but to see what kind of message and influence it has. Now I am not a solid believer that all music must be Christian to be good. But I am amazed at the music many Christians listen to. Songs full of lyrics that speak directly again what the Bible speaks of. Words that glorify premarital sex, drugs, and many other things that as Christians we claim to be against. Yet I know of many Christian leaders that listen and support these artists because they like the sound or in the name of freedom. But is is really, as Paul would say, beneficial? In fact I know many Christians that publicly mock Christian music and artists that are trying to put out positive messages.
Now I agree that listening to a song is not going to send you to hell. But is it really helping you in your walk with God? What about the message we send others? I guess the real questions I am asking for you opinions on are:
1. What do you see as a line between Godly music/fun music/ungodly music?
2. Is the sound or style more important than the lyrics to you?
3. Can negative lyrics actually have an effect on a person?
Let me know I am curious.
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1 comment:
Well, friend, let me tell you where I'm at.
I want to get better musically, and have a broader range in my styles. One way to do this is escape the christian realm.
I won't promote a band that I know stands for something that i"m against.
Even if lyrics talk about the glory of premarital sex and such, it doesn't really affect me, because I know it's wrong.
If a song has a swear word, I might let it pass, depending on the context of what's being said. If it's saying something to the enxtent of *** life, then I won't have anything to do with that... where as if the question , "What the **** is going on here?" Then I might let it slide... might.
The music we listen to does affect us, regardless of how much we think it won't. That is why most of a congregations learning comes from the songs we sing in church.
The sound and lyrics are both important to me. However, I listen to how a song sounds before I listen to the lyrics, and the reason is I'm listening to the music for the music, not the poetry.
The line in music, whether it's Godly, fun, or ungodly is a hard one to define, and you're going to have extremists in both ends, liberal and conservative, so you'll never have the happy medium. So really, it's a matter of intent of listening to the music.
That's not everything I could write on the topic, and you may not agree with it. I don't fully agree with everything I just said either. I'm just throwing those thoughts out there.
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