I'm back from my vacation, so I wanted to get a post up. This is going to be a little different than most of my posts. Instead of writing about bands and letting you hear some songs, I wanted to open up a discussion about secular music. I've heard a lot of things from various people and my opinions aren't set in stone here. My goal is less to convince anyone than to get many points of view on the table so that all points of the discussion can be considered.
I did not grow up a Christian, so I didn't grow up listening to Christian music. By high school, my CD collection included such things as Rammstein, Metallica, Audioslave, Soundgarden, and the Halo Soundtrack. So when I first started going to youth group, I knew all of nothing about Christian music. But my youth pastor began encouraging us kiddos to have discernment in what we listened to, because things like music can subtly influence our thoughts. That meant giving up listening to music that wasn't Christian, which I did for a few years. During this time, I discovered that there were a lot of Christian bands that were far better than most people give the genre credit for.
But there were large holes in that kind of thinking. There is not a very sharp line between Christian music and "secular" music, or non-Christian music. What about bands that are only partly made up of Christians? What about songs that are about God, or address religious issues, that aren't sung by Christians? What about songs by Christian bands that have nothing to do with God (some Christian songs about relationships are indistinguishable from non-Christian songs about relationships)? What about the non-lyrical portion of a song?
According to this youth pastor (who I don't mean to trash on; he's a good guy), the only acceptable music was music that was written by Christian bands, seemingly separated from the lyrical content. Songs about God, written by non-Christians, were not okay. Songs that were not about God, written by Christians, were not okay. Even if the music was in a language that you couldn't understand, it wasn't okay if it wasn't Christian.
This brings me to a debate of intent. Is it the intent of the songwriter, or the listener that matters the most? I am a writer at heart, and I always think that it is the author's intentions that matter the most. But with music, I find that I think it is how listener's interpret the lyrics that matters more. It is what the songs tell the listener, more than what the artist is trying to say, that determines how the song will influence that listener. Audioslave may not be a Christian band, but I am still encouraged by Show Me How to Live. We can gain things that help us from all sorts of different sources.
The next point that concerns me is whether or not music that doesn't have to do with God (by intent or interpretation) is valid. According to this youth pastor, if it isn't Christian, it isn't worth listening to. Even if we alter what he meant by Christian music, is that a reasonable opinion? I don't think so. I've noticed that the people who hold this kind of opinion are rarely consistent in it. They may condemn Christian music, but they rarely restrict themselves to only Christian movies, only Christian books, or only Christian artwork. They accept beauty or entertainment from other sources than only Christian ones. This seems like a mistake to me. Beauty was created by God, and if we can feel it and find it in other places besides from Christians, does that make it invalid? I don't think so. If we cut out beauty (including music) that comes from other sources than strictly Christian ones, we'd be missing out on a lot, probably even a majority of what's out there, and I don't think God wants that.
That all said, there are definitely kinds of art, including music that can be bad influences, even if they are well done. It all comes down to discernment and judgment in deciding what is acceptable and what is not.
I'd love to hear others' opinions on this or even to turn it into a debate/discussion kind of thing. Let me know in the comments below!
