question about music...

[Soup]

Hello everyone, this is my first post.
I am a high school student and I am really into music, especially classic rock, blues, and r&b (i.e. Rolling Stones, Procol Harum, Derek and the Dominoes, The Yardbirds, Allman Brothers Band, etc.). I have heard this music referred to as 'Devil Music'. This is often said sarcastically by my friends mimicking old people, but I wanted to look into it a little bit more. What is your opinion on this? Are certain songs like 'Sympathy for the Devil' bad to listen to? Personally, I don't think it is as bad as most of the popular music after it like the Ozzy Osbourne stuff, and especially the mainstream music of today, rap and hip hop.

 

[spirit1st]

Whatever we hear or see affects our entire lives!

Its really a form of brain washing!

Its really serious! The words that go into your mind can hurt you worse than a car wreck !

Our Minds record everything ! They can be damaged easy and filling them with junk is not Good!
We Need to protect them!

 

[Cherubpuff]

I'm not quite sure I agree with you spirit. I believe that for some people, especially young, the music could be detrimental. Especially rap.

I listen to all types of music, mainly metal. I find much beauty in the music I listen to and never do i let the lyrics influence me in any way, be it in regards to belief, thought, actions etc...

Many of the metal bands I like reside from the east where paganism thrives. The members themselves have their own beliefs which are not christian. I still find the music itself, no necessarily the lyrics, amazing.

A lot of the bands I listen to sing in grim vocals (growling/deep vocal type) and I don't even understand some of the lyrics. It's the music itself which I enjoy.

Now if I know of a band that explicitly curses or blasphemes God, I wouldn't bother. And to be honest, most of these bands sound like total garbage. They have no musical cohesion, no solid structure nor do they have any melody- no rhyme or reason.

Hearing good music from people who don't follow Christ makes me wish they did as I believe they would glorify him through the gift they have been given. but this is life. 95% of all the music we are exposed to doesn't really glorify God.

So Soup, I ask you:
When you list to songs like Sympathy for the Devil, does it in any way influence your thoughts or beliefs? If so, then I would suggest not listening to it. If not, then I don't really see any problem in it.

This is my personal opinion, Im in no way trying to tell you what to believe . Pray to God for guidance if anything
BTW, As i write I'm listening to Amorphis "The Smoke". The first 14 notes of the piano are simply beautiful! It's a great song!

 

[spirit1st]

Theses thought no matter what are entering your mind and these are seeds planted there! They grow to become a problem.

Many times its not the seed planted , but what takes place after this seed grows !

Its not hard to understand!

 

[davidengesser]

Greetings to you Soup

i can sympathize with your love of music. Before i gave my life in total surrender to Christ i had a music collection that was better than most radio stations.
As children of God, our goal, as mandated by His Word, is to continually strive to be Christ like. i believe that in order to achieve this, there are certain things that we can do in order to help this process along. For instance the Bible tells us to rejoice always, pray continually, and do not be drunk with wine. Pretty simple stuff but remember not everything is so plainly stated.
A good rule of thumb is remember, that if it is not of or from God, it is against Him. If you are not becoming closer to God, you are probably drifting further away.
Things like music that do not have an obvious message against God or condoning sin may seem like they are o.k. but over time it runs the risk of desensitizing us to hearing the Spirit of God speaking to us in our life.
I have found that for every genre of music in the world there is a Godly version of it. Good luck in your journey, i hope this helped.

 

[Boanerges]

Praying about it and following your conscience towards God should be your number one deciding factors.
While I would never advocate the outright rejecting of any genre of music I would recommend caution in what type of lyrics you subject yourself to. If you can listen to it comfortably knowing Jesus is right there with you then you are probably fine.

 

[Praiseius_Max]

music

i can relate to your issue. I used to have a large collection of heavy metal cd's.. i got rid of many of them when i became a christian. I know much of it is innappropriate, and some even demonic, but i enjoy that hard fast music.. the christian music industry is severely lacking in that area,, we need more good hard christian music to satisfy people like myself

 

[ImmanuelWithUs]

I too can relate to your dilemma. Before Jesus saved me, I listened to really depraved music, especially hard rock. Nine inch nails, Sevendust, I mean really raunchy stuff.

But when Jesus came to me and saved me, I didn't want to listen to that music anymore simply because it didn't lead me closer to Him. I want everything I listen to, read, and watch on tv (and movies), to draw me closer to Him, and if it doesn't, I cut it out of my life. Not because I have to but because I want to.

Holy Spirit will lead you in the way God wants you to go, friend. Trust Him.
:shade: