The following has been a struggle, issue, or what have you for several years. Which lyrics are okay for me to listen to? Some bands/songs are obvious; satanic, excessively sexual/suggestive or which contain political views which I oppose (e.g. I do not listen to Rage Against the Machine, as I strongly oppose their views on politics and Christianity). But, the majority of lyrics are not this extreme. I cannot expect non-Christians to behave as Christians, thus I cannot expect all lyrics in the “secular music industry” to be “family-friendly”; e.g. I ought not be surprised when Ben Folds uses the F-word. But does his use of this word, disqualify him from my listening to him? Do I skip those songs which contain cussing, or do I chose to avoid the whole album or even all of Fold’s music? (I am not deliberately picking on Ben Folds, he was an arbitrary example, any other similar artist could have served as an example.)
Often we say; “Well there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s not going hurt me, is it?” The overarching question ought rather be; will God be glorified as I listen to this? Will I grow in my relationship with Him? Will this benefit or take away from my relationship with Christ? As a side note; these questions are also applied to movies. Interestingly, I have never heard anyone apply this to sports. There nothing bad about watching a baseball game, but how is it profitable? How will my faith be strengthened to see the Braves lose yet another game? I struggle to see how this is any different than watching a movie or listening to music which is not directly beneficial to you or honoring to God.
I do not have any definite answers to this whole issue, I can simply notice that I go through phases. Sometimes I’ll skip the song, other times avoid the artist all together, yet other times I’ll happily listen to the song without any problems. I am anything if not inconsistent :-/
Some people would say that this whole issue would in some way be resolved by deciding to only listen to Christian music or music made by Christians (Is there a difference between the two?) This might in some ways be true, yet naïve. There are many drug-taking, alcoholic, fornicating “Christian” artists. How are they different from a non-Christian? (If Christians are known by their fruits (Mt 3:8, 7:16, Lk 3:8, Jn 15:4-5, Col 1:10) and that those who love Jesus obey his commands (Jn 14:15, Mt 7:24))
Much rambling and very little content, sorry. As you can see, my thinking on this issue is very muddled, hence the struggle. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll arrive to a completely satisfactory conclusion until I stand before God Almighty.
3 comments:
Ooh, sick burn on the Braves. I laughed.
I'm so far removed from keeping in mind what is offensive to myself and some people, it's a shame. Someone had to point out to me the other day that some people seriously think Harry Potter is evil.
So I respect you for considering the issue. To me it seems subjective not only to the person but also to the time.
Standupbean wrote:
"To me it seems subjective not only to the person but also to the time."
yeah, and that's a part of the struggle to me, that it is so subjective; yet, ought it to be? We are to do everything unto the glory of God, right? If our pursuit of Him is to permeate everything we do, then how are Ben Folds, Harry Potter or the Braves beneficial? But taking this to it's logical extreme would mean there would not be any room for any kind of entertainment, relaxation or "just hanging out", all we'd have time for would be Bible, prayer, evangelism and discipleship.
I do appreciate your sensitivity. Faith and lyrical issues is a topic I'd forgotten about sometime in high school. That seems to say to me you are more in touch with the Spirit, so you can't be that bad off, Ben Folds or no.
With music and television, I think that there can be some benefit to a better understanding of the art, interpersonal relationships, self-expression, ideas, interpreted philosophy, etc. expressed in both.
But the Braves lose.
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