Christian
Music?
"Is there any merry? let him sing psalms." Jm.5:13
by Michelle Stace
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
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:403-845-2839