Secular Music

Hey guys, I've read this post from Kenny's Blog. It's about Secular Music and I thought you might want to check it out.

--------------------------------------

I looked at the top ten songs on a radio station in my country (Power 98) then, and their lyrics:

1) Rihanna - "Unfaithful"
"And I know that he knows I'm unfaithful, And it kills him inside, To know that I am happy with some other guy..."

2) Nelly Furtado - "Promiscuous"
"Promiscuous Girl, Wherever you are, I’m all alone, And its you that I want... Promiscuous Boy, I'm calling your name, But you're driving me crazy, The way you're making me wait..."

4) The Pussycat Dolls - "Buttons"
"I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby... I'm a sexy mama... Come on baby, loosen up my buttons babe, Loosen up my buttons babe, Baby, won't you loosen up my buttons babe..."

5) Shakira - "Hips Don't Lie"
"You make a woman go mad, So be wise and keep on, Reading the signs of my body... You know my hips don't lie... All the attraction, the tension... Oh boy, I can see your body moving... My will and self restraint, Have come to fail now, fail now..."

10) Paris Hilton - "Stars are Blind"
"If you show me real love baby, I'll show you mine, I can make you nice and naughty, Baby i'm perfect for you It could get physical, oh no, no no"

Notice that half of the top ten songs are all about the promiscuous, unfaithful, 'pick-me-up' kind of sex, something that God does not condone. Furthermore, 4 of the 5 top songs are on this topic.

I also looked for songs with meaningful lyrics, and found just one about counting your blessings when you're in trouble:

7) Hoobastank - "If I Were You"
"You seem to find the dark, when everything is bright... If I Were You, the first thing I'd do, is thank the stars for all that I have..."

-------------------------------------
Many of us love music, and listen to secular songs, from 'top-ten' pop songs to heavy metal and jazz. However, a lot of the stuff out there isn't too healthy, from the examples given above. We may be attracted to a particular song because it has a great guitar riff, or a nice jingle, but if the message it portrays is not in line with what we as Christians believe, listening to it may alter our perception of right and wrong, away from what God dictated in His Word. We may, for example, think that promiscuity is cool because the music associated with it is cool.

One example comes to mind. I chanced across some really cool guitaring by a band called 'Dragonforce', and thought to explore their music. Furthermore, they were going to have a concert in my country. Fortunately, I had the sense to check out their lyrics (you can never hear what they're really singing, the music is so loud, and the guitaring is way cooler), and it turned out to be quite satanic, with song titles like "Invocation of Apocalyptic Evil".

On the other hand, I became interested in Tommy Emmanuel's (a talented acoustic guitarist) music last year. Turns out (at least what I found on the net) that he is a devout Christian, and somehow his music, although instrumental, is infused with his gentle and kind personality, and makes you feel that you can be a better person.

Hence, we must be very careful in choosing the things we listen to. I'm not advocating that secular music per se is wrong, because I believe that God gives us music to enjoy, and also because secular music is one platform we can use to build bridges to non-believers. So examine the lyrics of the songs you listen to, and read up on the bands' & artists' backgrounds.

posted by kenny on Thursday, May 24, 2007

You may visit Kenny's Blog here. htttp://guitarpraise.blogspot.com