Christian Music?
"Is there any merry? let him sing psalms." Jm.5:13
by Michelle Stace
Rock, alternative, rap, hip-
In the Old Testament we learn
that music is for the praise of God. Psalm 147 is one of many examples of this. There
are ballads (stories), as in Ex.15, a noise or shout (instantaneous burst of song
as in Ps. 51, 98:15), and songs of laughter and happiness (II Sam.6). I Chronicles
15 shows that music was in the house of God and was to be done with skill and purpose,
and it was to give a message ( I Sam.21).
There were also songs that were evil
and were rejected by God, such as in Ex. 32:6-
In the gospels, it is recorded that
our Lord Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn after their Passover meal before He
was arrested in the Garden of Gesthemane. And in Col. 3:16 it says: “Let the word
of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
Lord.” (See Eph. 5:19) It is clearly shown in this passage that the mind or understanding
is to be involved in music -
Looking in the concordance
we see that a song is defined: ode (term used for words sung); spiritual is defined:
non-
This gives us a good foundation for what music is to be in
the Christian context. To summarize: the purpose of music is to praise God, it
is to be done with skill, it is to give a message, it is to involve the understanding(the
mind) as well as the emotions.
According to the encyclopedia, psalms were sung
in large part from Biblical times forward. Psalm singing was at the heart of musical
worship among the Puritans. With the beginning of camp meetings in the 1800’s (religious
gatherings to which people came from miles around and stayed for days), came the
camp meeting hymn. A section of a favorite hymn was taken and choruses were added. “Stanza’s
were improvised in the emotional fervor of what came to be called ‘singing ecstasy.’” Sound
familiar?
What I found especially interesting, is man recognized, well before
the time of Christ, that “music had power over physical and mental health, that
it had great influence on the moral character.” This is easily verified by today’s
research. In a Reader’s Digest article it said when music begins to be as loud as
the traffic you would hear on an ordinary street, it begins to create physical effects. When
it becomes more intense arteries narrow, blood pressure increases, throat and mouth
get dry, eyes dilate, stomach quits producing gastric juices and muscles contract. That
is why you feel uncomfortable -
A test
was conducted in which plants were placed in their own sound booths. All the plants
were the same. A different kind of music was piped into each plant. Plants where
rock music was piped in suffered physical effects and within one month died!1 Further
on we will see how music affects the moral character.
What are Christians listening
to today? Two of the most popular forms of music are praise and contemporary (which
includes a variety of rock music). Much of the praise music has a few simple lines
that are repeated over and over again. Now when the words are overly simple, they
certainly do not engage the mind for long or encourage one to ponder the meaning. The
repetition in this type of music is designed to stir the emotions, which aren’t to
be trusted, especially if the mind is blank. Our Lord told us not to use vain repetition
in prayer as the heathen do. Cannot the same principle be applied to music?
The
most serious problem is with so-
You may be thinking, what is wrong with Christian rock? Let’s first take a look
at secular rock, which is where Christian rock originated. It is heavily interwoven
with drugs, immorality, violence, political protest, idol worship, rebellion, wild
behavior, theatrics and big money. Need I go on? God’s word tells us to “abstain
from all appearance of evil,” “love not the world, neither the things of the world,” “enter
not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men,” “let all things
be done decently and in order,” “be sober . . . as obedient children, not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lusts.”
But many think Christian rock is
harmless and even good. I say it is extremely dangerous. I grew up listening to
the world’s music. I know the attraction that it has and the bad behavior it promotes. When
I’ve listened to current Christian music, often I can’t make out the words. It sounds
just like the secular and promotes the same immoral feelings. Have you seen clips
of Christian concerts? Have you been to one? Have you noticed the singer's indecent
dress, their sullen, rebellious or provocative facial expressions? Does the music
promote deep respect and honor for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Does it reflect
a godly attitude of soberness, modesty, humility, etc.? Many of the things listed
above that occur at secular concerts, are occurring at so-
Christian rock is more dangerous than you realize. There
is a website with testimonials from young people who used to listen to this music. These
are some of their comments: the music is addictive, it leads to worse types of
music, it leads to rebellion and immorality, they find it difficult to read their
Bibles, it is satanic. This is frightening. I have watched with a broken heart
some of these same things happen to people I know. It is not something to be taken
lightly or with the thought that it couldn't happen to "my" child -
What in the world are we doing? A little
leaven, leavens the whole lump. God is not being honored, rather the flesh is being
indulged. This music serves as a compromise, a foothold, an open door for Satan to
enter and lead astray. We are defiling the church with bands and theatrics. We
are creating worldly entertainment for those that are to be pilgrims, strangers and
aliens, and that are to be sanctified -
1. Christian Standards, What About Music? Henry Morris III
Chapel Library, Pensacola
FL
http://www.ScriptureSongs.com "God's word set to beautiful music." Ron Vaillant,
Vaillant Recordings, RR 2, Site 1, Box 13,
Rocky Mountain House, AB Canada T4T
2A2 Phone:403-