Anti- drum beat/syncopation

Ignorance, and mistaking personal taste and preferences for scriptural mandates.

BTW, welcome!

 

You can't back it up with scripture.

 

If folks have a conscience issue, I'm not going to ask them to violate it.

However, this issue of conscience isn't based on sound Scriptural interpretation.

Are there songs that a Christian should avoid? Absolutely. Can one draw clear lines, across a certain "genre" (and remember, even what fits in what genre is completely subjective) that states all within said genre is wrong? Not using Scripture...

 

Music is music.

Lyrics can be Christian, non-Christian or anti-Christian.

But music is music.

 

I'm Independent Baptist and was taught this all my life, also. I guess someone did a study on the "off beats" and what it does to the heart. Supposedly it can eventually cause the heart to go out of rhythm and it goes against the natural cadence of a one and three beat. In plants, classical music was known for producing good healthy plants and rock music wasn't. Same with cows giving milk.

I was also taught that rock music is bad because the term "rock and roll" originated in the ghettos as a slang term for promiscuity, which was encouraged by the "heathen" beat of the music. Some claim that music beats drive ungodly acts of devil worship and murder in places like Africa. Scripture regarding the putting away of heathen/ungodly practices and denying fleshly lusts is often quoted.

I have no idea who conducted these "studies" or if they are factual, but this is generally the basis used to teach against rock music.

 

They are lies. The biggest propogaters of garbage like this is av1611.org, and related sites. The heartbeat, plants, and milk stories have been scientifically tested, and disproven. The Africa story was concoted by racists who knew that linking something to "black folk" would rile up the uneducated white crowd.

Like I say...lies.

 

What happened to the thread, "should some beats be avoided"? We just went through this a couple of months ago. Thanks!

love,

Sopranette

 

I thought this sounded somewhat familiar.

 

The argument agains rock or jazz musice sounds a lot like what those who favore organ music in the 16th and 17th centuries faced. "It sounds like what people who I don't like listen to!" Martin Luther and Charles Wesley (and even, later, the great Fanny Crosby!) used melodies that were parodies of popular music of their times.

 

New posters typically don't realize that there's a useful search function that will help them find topics that have already been beaten to death.

 

Pun intended?:applause:

 

wouldn't that really be "backbeaten to death?"

 

Can you cite authoritative documentation to bolster your criticism, or are we just to take your word for it?

 

The same question to you. Can you cite any authoritative documentation so support this statement? Folks often assert this, yet, just as yourself, provide no supporting documentation.

 

I do not know all the science on these issues, but I continue to see news reports on shows like 20/20 and 60 Minutes reporting on studies that show that the plants and milk stories are indeed true, as are studies showing that babies who listen to classical music in their mothers wombs and thereafter have higher IQ's on average than children who've listened to only country or rock.

The heartbeat story, if I understand what you are talking about (that certain types of music can affect the heartbeat negatively) is also supposed to be true, and I'm surprised anyone would deny it as it is easily tested by going to a concert with loud bass guitar or a throbbing bass drum and sitting near the speakers. If you have a good home sound system or a car with a subwoofer, you can prove it that way, too. It is the low frequency pulse, creating a concussion wave that causes the problem, not necessarily the backbeat.

The question of whether rock/rap, etc. is in itself good or bad for you (or "Christian") is the subject of several good books. I read some of them as a teen. Certain chord structures, and their effect on human emotions, and the origins of these chord structures are of more concern to me than any beat.

As for my opinion, I find that most rock, country, and rap trouble my spirit, so I avoid them.

 

That's a myth. There has never been any substantial proof of that.

love,

Sopranette

 

That was an arguement used back in the "50's or so, to portray rock and roll as the "devil's " music. In fact, most of the rhythyms found in today's rock originated right here in the U.S.A. The beats used in Africa are a different part of their culture than they are here, and so therefore, they can be excluded from this argument.

love,

Sopranette

 

Sure.

John Newton's "Amazing Grace" was set to an anonymous folk tune.

The tune called "Old Hundredth" was a popular French air and has been used in many hymns, such as "Praise to God" by Isaac Watts.

"What Child Is This?" is set to a popular English folk tune called Greensleeves.

Thomas Moore had a hymn book called Sacred Songs, which has 32 hymns set to popular airs of his period, including "Relief in Prayer."

In Poland Kolendas are Christmas songs set to popular tunes from the 13th century.

"Be Thou My Vision" (my favorite hymn by the way) is set to a popular Irish folk tune.

"There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood" by William Cowper is often set to a popular early American melody.

And Fanny Crosby, according to this biography, utilized popular tunes as well as Irish and Welsh folk songs for her many hymns.

Many more examples could be given.

Also, a simply Google book search will reveal that perhaps my statement about Luther (minus one example of an obscure Christmas song) was wrong but it does appear that Charles Wesley used popular tunes. Do you really think that he had time to write music for each of his 7,000 hymns!