So, I am sitting in my office listening to Dave Matthews. I was asked a question yesterday that I didn't have an answer for.
"My dad says that I shouldn't listen to Christian Rock music because it is trying to be too much like the world. He says its possible for the actual music itself, not the lyrics, to be evil. What do you think?"
I have mixed feelings...
So, what do you think?
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4 comments:
If I were to wax philosophical, I guess I'd have to agree with your dad. Here's why:
Music, like words, have to be neutral when it comes to morality--they're only infused with moral, emotional, or ideological meaning as we give it to them.
Even words like "hate", "kill", bump and grind" only have the meaning we give to them. If used in the context of the Bible, "hate" could mean "I hate sin" in which case it has positive meaning. "I hate you, so much" on the other hand connotes something sinister. "Bump and grind" could describe something from a metalsmith's manual, or it could mean . . . er, well, you get the idea.
Same with music, I suppose, if the intent behind it is Bach's Mass in B minor, then it's employed in service of something divine. If, on the other hand, it's creation serves the purposes of Cannibal Corpse's "Necrosadistic Warning", then I think we're talking about something that is indeed evil.
I guess the real question then is not whether the music itself is evil or not, but what actually honors God--be it sacred or secular.
What do YOU think?
Note: It wasn't my dad that made this statement. It was someone elses dad.
For one, the idea that music itself - apart from lyrics - can be either good or evil is, in my opinion, ludicrous. Music is morally neutral - as Andy says, the only moral value to music (and, for that matter, to words) comes from what we put into it.
The other side to this is to ask the dad, "What, then, should I listen to?" If Relient K is "evil" because they are trying too hard to sound like Green Day, should you just cut out the middle man and listen to Green Day? Or should you just listen to classical music? Or maybe, to be safe, you should never again listen to any kind of music.
Finally, even though Christians are supposed to be separate from the world, we still have to live in it and engage with it. Shoving our heads in the sand and ignoring the cultural inputs of those around us is going to lead to our churches becoming like the Amish - completely out of touch with postmodern reality.
Okay, so you're using "Dad" to mean Kimber.
St. Augustine is often quoted as having said, "All truth is God's truth." Not sure if he did, but here is something he did say which may shed light:
"A person who is a good and true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord, wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature, but rejecting superstitious vanities and deploring and avoiding those who 'though they knew God did not glorify him as God..."--On Christian Teaching II.75
Or as St. Paul put it, "Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse." 1 Phil. 4:8, The Message
In light of all this, I would say U2=Good, DMB=Evil
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