Featured Are musical styles amoral?

No.

It can. Music can communicate an emotional response. Relaxation or tension, for example.

This type of question is called question begging. You have not established that there are "musical styles that are meant to communicate sin and rebellion", therefore your question is invalid. This type of question is in the style of, "have you stopped beating your wife"?

 

Funny how when strict Baptists want to make their point they quote depraved sinners...

 

My statement is pretty much the same as before: music styles are amoral when they can be demonstrably be used for both good and bad

It doesn't matter what nonbelieving rock and roll musicians say. Their opinion doesn't change something that can be clearly demonstrated.

 

Out of curiosity--is your purpose in these threads to learn more about this subject since you are still not entirely settled on it?
Because if that's not your purpose, I don't want to add to your frustration by shoving opposing viewpoints in your face.

 

Okay.

The source you are using right now sounds exactly like the tracts I grew up with. The arguments they use are faulty and subjective--they only really make sense if you already agree with them. At least that's my opinion.

Anybody can make a case against something by taking quotes here and there and using them whether the context fits or not.

 

Music is ....

....What music does!

In other words, what one style of music [let's say Rock and roll] does within the heart and mind and even body of you, may not be what it does to another.

I may be weird, but RNR has never caused me to get all hot and bothered. I do like most beats, and the tunes; the words do not even register with me. In fact, some people can sing every word to songs, while I barely know the title.

Some say country is immoral. And while it is about sex and cheating and drinking, once again, it does not inspire me to go out and do any of those things!

So, I guess a person has to know what certain things do to them, and if it is bad for them both spiritually and morally, and stay away from the things that cause you or others to stumble or sin!

For instance, for some, their kryptonite may be a large chocolate malt shake! Others a pack of cigarettes. Still others may have a hard time avoiding bars and liquor stores. And still others, have tempers, or lose lips, assassinating everyone they know with words that can ruin a life and reputation.

We needed to know that which is our achilles tendon and stay at least at arm's length! And that goes for styles of music!

That is my two cents of opinion ... and by the way, some are guilty of spending and over spending, because money burns a proverbial hole in the pockets! :smilewinkgrin:

 

Mainly coming to the conclusion that the tracts' arguments didn't really address the issue. Their proof essentially amount to quotes by rock musicians, their poor lifestyle choices, and the like...and, that's not really proof.
The quotes...well, they're opinions rather than facts, and calling them facts doesn't prove that they are such. Plus, we have no clue what the original context of the quotes were.
Examples of unGodly lives led by rock musicians and especially Christian rock musicians...well, there's no way to prove that the music is the cause. And we believe people are born with a sin nature from birth, so why would something else be the cause of their sin? Especially when I began to look into it and found that there were some pretty legit and commendable Christians behind some Christian bands. (Even some "secular" artists are actually Christian, it may just not be the focus of their music.)

I just checked things out for myself and what I saw didn't line up with the picture the tracts had painted.

 

To paraphrase Orwell:

"All musical styles are equal, but some are more equal than others."

No, but they can lend themselves to certain moral mores better than others.

Yes.
Madrigals are great examples."Word-painting" carries a message.

 

When I'm feeling melancholy I like to put on the headphones and drown myself in Mozart. 55 minutes of Requiem in D Minor and I'm good to go.

equiem aeternam dona ets, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat ets.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Requiem aeternam dona ets, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat ets.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
and may perpetual light shine on them.
Thou, O God, art praised in Sion,
and unto Thee shall the vow
be performed in Jerusalem.
Hear my prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.
Grant them eternal rest, 0 Lord,
and may perpetual light shine on them.

What's not to love? No rebellion here! Don't you just love the Christian emphasis in the lyric wrapped in classical music by one of the best known composers of his time! Mozart wrote 17 sonatas, 19 masses, and at least 35 compositions in a genre known as sacred music.

Except Mozart also wrote this....

My dear lady, this is a list
Of the beauties my master has loved,
A list which I have compiled.
Observe, read along with me.
In Italy, six hunddred and forty;
In Germany, two hundred and thirty-one;
A hundred in France; in Turkey, ninety-one;
In Spain already one thousand and three.
Among these are peasant girls,
Maidservants, city girls,
Countesses, baronesses,
Marchionesses, princesses,
Women of every rank,
Every shape, every age.
With blondes it is his habit
To praise their kindness;
In brunettes, their faithfulness;
In the very blond, their sweetness.
In winter he likes fat ones.
In summer he likes thin ones.
He calls the tall ones majestic.
The little ones are always charming.
He seduces the old ones
For the pleasure of adding to the list.
His greatest favourite
Is the young beginner.
It doesn't matter if she's rich,
Ugly or beautiful;
If she wears a petticoat,
You know what he does.

Leporello's "Catalog Aria" from Don Giovanni

Now even classical music is of the devil. What's left Gregorian chants or silence?

 

Funny how all the examples are derived exclusively from Western/American culture.

This is the real problem with fundamentalist views of music and other things, it lacks any awareness of the broader global culture.

 

So how do you define what classical music is worldly and which is not? There is at least one Mozart hymn in most of our conservative hymnals.

And we use plenty of Haydn, who was a friend and contemporary.