Featured What are your thoughts on music?

Paul didn't mention dithyrambs in Epheshians 5:19, though they were a well-established form. "Be not drunk with wine" is tantamount to a ban on the form. Music isn't the point in that passage, and neither in Col. 3:16. Demeanor is the point, and the styles are invoked as examples thereof.

 

Ain't is a word too, if one is going by usage.

 

I don't care what you say... Aint aint a word, irregardless of usage!!!

 

Have you ever heard of the phrase "The medium is the message"?

It was coined from a book with the same title. It focused on advertisement, but biblical scholars have made use of this as well applying it to genre and structure of Scripture (among other things).

I think it fits here as well. The medium is "death metal". As you see it, the function is determined by the lyrics. But if the axiom "the medium is the message" is true, then lyrics be damned. What message comes through is the aggressive, get pumped, violent music. And so I draw a line.

 

Nope not possibel

 

James White agrees too, having just (I mean like yesterday) critiqued another death metal group and pointing out based on style and substance that lack of Christian virtue. Just sayin'

 

So you like the music b/c it pumps you up like a pre-game hype video? Is that the job of worship music? Or rather is music supposed to be a response of worship? I would challenge your theology here. What is the operative force in your service for Christ? Is it your pump up music hyping you to go out in self effort to do God's will? Or is the Spirit the operative force working by grace through faith in the gospel what is energizing you to do God's will? Your statements here make it sound like the first. And thus theology matters.

Secondly, the fact that you admit this style of music has a penchant for violence and you have to be careful when you listen to it so as to keep Satan at bay is a huge red flag. Thus my point above about the medium being the message. If the medium is violent, then the corresponding message will also be violent. You can put the lyrics of twinkle twinkle little star in the same music, but it won't help my babies fall asleep. You can put Scripture to the same music (though you wouldn't be able to make out the words), but it won't cause anyone to worship. The medium is the message.

Third, CCM isn't the debate here. But I agree it is a lot of fluff and poor music.

 

The rest of your post speaks to the subjectivity in this argument. So I'll skip it.

However I have to point out to you the objective flaw here. You try to discredit a solid axiom with a tautology. "The medium isn't the message. The message is the message." That is not helpful in the least. The axiom is that the message (the gospel) is conveyed via the medium (music style). The funny thing is, you go on to make that point. When you talk about millions dying w/out Christ put to classical music having a different effect... EXACTLY! That is because the medium of the style of music is the message. And you want an appropriate medium to convey the message of Christ. I can't see DM doing that at all.

I get personal preference and all that. Like I said, I enjoy deep, rich lyrics in Christian rap (so Lecrea isn't high on my preferences). But worship music has to be more than about preferences. This is where the argument in church fails. Hymns vs contemporary style is meaningless. They both, in their respective cultures, convey the message of the cross. The only culture I can hear DM speaking to is a depraved, death-seeking culture. If you can get something out of it, I am not able to sympathize. I have a hard time even mentally empathizing. But I'm sure you knew that, which is why you started this thread.

Good discussion, bud. Stick around here and enjoy more of the forum!

 

So, where is the love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance in the music sample you offered? I could discern none of the fruit of the Spirit in what I heard. Although I could not distinguish a single word of the song, it did, however, leave me with a strong impression of violent rage. The song sounded like the background music to a horror movie. How, then, does it evoke the beauty, love, gentleness and holiness of Christ?

Actually, the Bible no where urges this sort of motivation for evangelism. It is love for God and for others that is to fuel our sharing of the Gospel, not frustration and/or anger. I wonder, too, how many people you've evangelized or led to Christ in the last, say, six months? Has this threatening, angry music actually aided you in being salt and light in the world? Are you a better ambassador for Christ, more like the holy, gentle, faithful Jesus, because you've made a diet of death/black metal? Like begets like, brother.

Selah.

 

Well, I am using "rap" in a broad sense. But there are certainly subgenres of rap just as there are in rock and even further in metal. The rap I enjoy is not the hardcore gangsta rap or booty shakin' kind that you hear in a club. It thought provoking with a good beat. Head bobbin' mind blown' lyrical theology. I'd say the same about your stuff, but you can't understand a single word.

Back to the axiom. I think you are more naive on just how much the medium is the message. That was what made the corresponding book so enlightening. We don't realize it until we are exposed to it. When you see this at work in the text of Scripture, it is nearly jaw dropping. A great example is the 80 page introduction of John Sailhamer's book The Pentateuch as Narrative. It will change the way you understand the first 5 books of the Bible. It is rooted in the idea that the medium is the message. This is one of those things that I can only point you to the truth. You have to seek out its validity on your own.

Good on ya!

 

Certainly, we should be powerfully moved by the fate of unrepentant sinners dying in their sins. But where in the Bible is anger or frustration urged upon us as motives for evangelism? And how do you reconcile the rage so evident in black/death metal with the gentleness, peace, joy and love that Scripture says ought to characterize a disciple of Christ?

Proverbs 29:22
22 An angry man stirs up strife, And a furious man abounds in transgression.

Selah.

 

Yeah... that's never happened to me.