Music fills the courts of heaven as heavenly beings praise our Lord and Creator. When God created the world, the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy (Job 38:7). God created man in His own image, to be a instrument of praise. He gave humans the ability to sing and to make music with musical instruments to complement the voice.
Music was an important part of the worship service at the temple. Certain groups of the Levitical tribes were designated as temple musicians and singers, offering their praises to God. David had a real gift of music, providing soothing harp music to King Saul when the king was distraught. David also commissioned most of the instruments and songs for the temple services. He also wrote most of the songs in Psalms, the longest book in the Bible.
Songs and poetry were also means to improve the memory, to help remember significant events or warnings.
Sometimes I think about the way we talk about Music and Music Videos and realize how utterly unobjective and rambling we are. We sometimes talk about music in its context, how the artists grow, what the songs sound like, and do stuff that “real” reviewers do, but we find that it’s not as interesting as just talking about what we feel and what we think when we talk about songs. We like music, lots of music, and whenever we like it we do so because it speaks to us on a different level than just the aesthetic.
Music for us is often how we dog-ear the pages in the book of our lives. So, yeah! That’s what we do with music a lot of the time. We tell the stories of our thoughts and lives and feels, and suck at being objective reviewers. Hopefully we don’t bore you too much with our thoughts. And, um.., I just realized that I talked a bit too deeply about a song and video when in my actual review of the video I was commenting on how I thrust my crotch at the singers. As long as it does not go against humiliating GOD of its lyric contents, I would listen to soft music. I am not into rock since most of the time, the nature of songs is too loud (sorry rock band fans) and it permeates through my senses which I tend to get irritated at times.
Hearing soft and modestly-written music genre still echoes to my heart. Furthermore, Jazz genre does the same as ballad,
Psalm 150:1-6
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
The content of the lyrics. Since neither the purpose of music nor the style of music determines whether a Christian should listen to secular music, the content of the lyrics must be considered. While not specifically speaking of music, Philippians 4:8 is an excellent guide for musical lyrics: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” If we should be thinking about such things, surely those are the things we should invite into our minds through music and lyrics. Can the lyrics in a secular song be true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy? If so, then there is nothing wrong with a Christian listening to a secular song of that nature.
However, much of secular music does not meet the standard of Philippians 4:8. Secular music often promotes immorality and violence while belittling purity and integrity. If a song glorifies what opposes God, a Christian should not listen to it. However, there are many secular songs with no mention of God that still uphold godly values such as honesty, purity, and integrity. If a love song promotes the sanctity of marriage and/or the purity of true love—even if it does not mention God or the Bible—it can still be listened to and enjoyed.
Obviously, the best kind of music is that which praises and glorifies God. Talented Christian musicians work in nearly every musical genre, ranging from classical to rock, rap, and reggae. There is nothing inherently wrong with any particular style of music. It is the lyrics that determine whether a song is “acceptable” for a Christian to listen to. If anything leads you to think about or get involved in something that does not glorify God, it should be avoided.
