Rock, alternative, rap, hip-hop, contemporary(soft rock), gospel, praise, inspirational.  Choose your flavor.  By trying to serve two masters, the church has gotten far away from godly music in following the trends, glitz and popularity of worldly music. With all this confusion, how does one establish a guideline for determining what is appropriate Christian music?
      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 (story), 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.  In Ex. 32:6-18, the Israelites corrupted themselves with immorality. These people were supposed to be believers - God rejected them. He also rejected the songs of evil nations in Ezk.26.  Another example of evil music is found in Job 30.  Here we have base men singing songs ridiculing a righteous man.  Read these words of wisdom from Eccl. 7:5: “It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.”
     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 - not just the emotions. “Teaching and admonishing” is to be done through music as well as other means.
     Looking in the concordance we see that a song is defined: ode (term used for words sung); spiritual is defined: non-carnal, supernatural, religious;  hymn is defined: religious ode, one of the psalms to celebrate God in song (this is what Jesus sang); and psalm is defined: psalm, sacred ode.
     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 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 - the body is reacting.  Sounds like a good recipe for major stress.  I suspect that those who are used to loud music probably don’t notice this uncomfortable feeling anymore. Have you noticed that when you are placed on hold when calling a business, often you will hear quiet, soothing music - that way you stay more relaxed and wait more patiently.  And during sports events loud, rowdy, fast music is played to stimulate the fans into almost a frenzy.1
     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 word 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-called “Christian” rock. The church has gone to great lengths to copy the secular world in many different areas for the reason of appealing to and attracting unbelievers. This has resulted in a very serious compromising and degrading of God’s holy word. Yes, it has attracted unbelievers to the church, but it has also been a contributing factor to a multitude of spiritually stunted Christians and has severely polluted the church.
     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-called Christian concerts.  There is little difference.  And all of this is done in the name of our most holy God.  May He have mercy upon us.
     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 some of these same things happen to a  very dear one. It is not something to be taken lightly or with the thought that it couldn't happen to "my" child - sadly it can happen more easily than we realize.
     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 - holy and set apart.  How is the church being different from the world? May God wake us up and help us.  May we use His word as a guideline for what is truly honoring to Him.

1. Christian Standards, What About Music? Henry Morris III
Chapel Library, Pensacola FL

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