Featured What are your thoughts on music?

Making this discussion even more subjective. I can't think of many other discussions/debates that are more subjective than the music one. But I still enjoy, nonetheless.

 

Okay, so, David is talking about sinners here; wicked and bloody men who take God's name in vain and hate him. This description fits a great many of those who stand in jeopardy of hell today. But you were saying that the thought of the lost going to hell angered and frustrated you. Why now, then, are you posting verses that talk about hating the very sort of people about whom you say you are so concerned? You seem to be contradicting yourself here...

I notice, too, that you have not responded to any of the other things I pointed out in my posts. Just saying...

Selah.

 

This, my friend, should be all it takes to "pump you up" enough to go out and win all those you can possibly win. If you're dependent on music (any music) to motivate you to service for God, then something is wrong.

I enjoy upbeat Southern Gospel music myself. It is uplifting to me. It is encouraging to me. But, I'll be the first to admit that there are groups and songs within this particular genre that are certainly not glorifying God in the least.

In the song you offered, I cannot see how it could possibly bring honor and glory to God on any level. I could only listen to maybe 15 seconds of it. I felt depressed almost immediately. I couldn't imagine having any degree of true spiritual worship during or after listening to that music.

That being said, I want to commend you for taking a very civil approach to this discussion. Talking about musical choices and styles can become a heated topic. I appreciate well reasoned responses.

 

I would say that so long as you are listening to it I do hope it is endearing your heart to the Lord. I have my doubts. I would never allow that music in my home or my church.

 

Music always attends to the emotions far sooner than to the intellect.

A mature believer will by virtue of their listening to the relatively still, whispering voice of the Holy Spirit will by nature reject any type of music that presents itself as ugly, worldly, and angry.

Lyrics actually matter very little when it comes to the performance of music.

For example, early in the thread, Simon and Garfunkel were mentioned.

I almost came out of my seat in protest when I heard their popular song "Bridge Over Troubled Water" being sung in a church. Did they not know that it was written specifically to endorse drug use?

Often "lyrics" are an excuse for all manner of excess in music.

But, there is no excuse. The more worldly, the more like that of those dancing to the golden calf.

"They sung a HYMN and went out."

Next time you need "pumped" try "Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated, Lord, To Thee."

1. Take my life and let it be
   Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
   *Take my moments and my days,
   Let them flow in endless praise.
2. Take my hands and let them move
   At the impulse of Thy love.
   Take my feet and let them be
   Swift and beautiful for Thee.
3. Take my voice and let me sing,
   Always, only for my King.
   Take my lips and let them be
   Filled with messages from Thee.
4. Take my silver and my gold,
   Not a mite would I withhold.
   Take my intellect and use
   Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
5. Take my will and make it Thine,
   It shall be no longer mine.
   Take my heart, it is Thine own,
   It shall be Thy royal throne.
6. Take my love, my Lord, I pour
   At Thy feet its treasure store.
   Take myself and I will be
   Ever, only, all for Thee.

(Frances R. Havergal)​

 

I'm with you on this, brother! I don't think, though, that getting amped up about it by listening to the harsh, threatening tones of death metal music is really going to be of any significant help to you in sharing the Gospel with the lost.

Selah.

 

What are your thoughts on music?

 

I read the whole thread, and then decided to sample the music. I didn't let my wife know the source of the music; I just let her listen to get her reaction. When she heard it, she responded, "You know I don't like satanic music." Personally, the music triggered my anxiety, and I had to calm down for a while before coming back to post this.

If there is a message to be gotten by this excerpt, it is ONLY through the music. The words were completely and totally unintelligible. And I read the lyrics before I listened to it. The OP even said that the words couldn't be understood through the first playthrough, but only with repeated listening. This means that the axiom stated before, "The medium is the message" holds 100% true in this case. Because the lyrics cannot (by the OPs own admission) be understood without repeated listening. This means that, until you listen to it enough to understand it, you are getting ONLY the message from the music, which is hate, violence, and anger. You can't tell what that hate, violence, and anger are directed to. You can only know that it is about those.

Those of you who know me will know that this next sentence I do not say lightly. That music made me want to kill. Now, with my background, the hatred it caused to surge into me was directed towards Al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Taliban, and so on. But we are not called to hate these people. We are called to love them.

To me, that was one of the most ungodly things I have heard in a very long time. To me, saying something along the lines of "at least someone is using a medium to reach people who won't listen to other mediums" is like saying, "I am a Christian prostitute. I sell my body for money, but I give them the gospel. These whoremongers might not hear the gospel any other way." That sounds harsh, I know. But I mean it sincerely. There are just some media that cannot be reconciled to a gospel message. And I believe that this is one of them.

 

This is something of a false dichotomy. There are more than just these two options, right? One can listen to old hymns and/or classical music, too. Either of these would preferable to much of CCM, and to secular pop or death metal music.

Popularity is not one of the standards the Bible offers as a sure sign of evil. Relatively few people are full-blown Satan worshipers or serial killers. Does that mean that Satanists and serial killers aren't doing what is evil when they worship the devil or murder people? Of course not. Your reasoning above, then, is a bit of a non sequitur. Death metal is not exempt from being demonic simply because it is unpopular any more than Satanism is exempt from being demonic because it is unpopular. You want to know if death metal is godly and right? Examine it in the light of what Scripture tells us marks what is godly: humility, meekness, peace, joy, love, faith, patience, gentleness, holiness, purity, self-control. Is Christ lifted up? Are you drawn to him and made more like him by listening to a genre of music that fosters anger and is associated in the world with violence, hate and the demonic? I seriously doubt it.

Selah.

 

If you were a bit more familiar with SapperWoody's story, I would hope that you would show him a bit more respect than to make a statement like this.

He is well-esteemed here.

How are those who cannot understand the lyrics supposed to know that?

 

The style of music itself communicates a message contrary to the holiness of God.

"Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind"

That music brings an absolutely devilish spirit, just listening to a few short sections of it is like listening to the voice of Satan. I promise you that kind of music is opposed to the Spirit. those who will argue otherwise can not discern between flesh and the Spirit of God.