Newsgroups: rec.music.christian

Well, I guess I'll jump into this discussion, too...first some excerpts that
intrigue me...

Peter Mielke:
 
>So what are the views out there? The way i see it, those that are
>against "christian rock" or any rock for that matter state that music
>is moral but they then run into the problem in defining a Godly style
>(which is something they then have to define)...

Jerry B. Ray:

>It has been my (considerable, right Bob?) experience that those who are 
>aganist rock music or contemporary music (inc. country, etc.) start off
>with the assumption that 'the beat is evil,' that music controls your mind,
>that rock music (literally, no joke, i've heard this) makes girls pregnant
>and causes plants to die and makes your brain grow funny.  Therefore, based
>on this assumption, 'Christian rock' is just as bad as the 'regular stuff.'
>
>I don't buy the arguement about the beat, etc, and instead feel that the]
>'morality' of the music is found in the lyrics, and a make my listening
>decisions accordingly...

Mike Faber:

>Two things about this subject, and I'll hold my tongue:
>
>1) God created everything.  If he didn't want music, he would not have
>allowed it.  However, everything that God created can be used for selfish
>or satanic purposes... 
>
>[2] ...music that in one way or another promotes Jesus as Lord is
>Godly, and that which on one way or another opposes Jesus is not.

Jon Ogden:

>...Is one music form immoral??? HORSE PUCKEY!!!!
>
>Music in itself is a medium, just like poetry, drama, and any other art form. 
>It in and of itself is not bad.  God created EVERYTHING.  Satan cannot create,
>but only pervert.  Therefore all these rythyms and notes that are "evil" had to
>have been created by God, and GOD IS NOT EVIL.  It is what we as individuals do
>with the music that makes it good or evil.  I am more concerned with the words
>that I listen to, wether they are easy listening or heavy metal.  The music is
>nothing in and of itself....

********************************

I guess I would contend that the truth about morality in music is somewhere
between the "music is amoral" and "music always makes a moral statement" 
extremes.

First, I do not agree that the only moral statement in a well-written song is
contained in the lyric. If I'm doing my job as a writer, the music is written
to specifically reinforce the lyric. The more succesful I am at that, the more
the music is infused with the same moral statement as the lyric. Now to say a 
genre is corrupt is probably stretching it, particularly if numerous examples
of the use of the genre can be found which make "good" statements. And one can
find such back to the earliest days of rock (calls for justice, for example).
On the other hand, remember the classic rock "feel like makin' love" by (??)?
The music under and around the hook line is basically a libidinous picture of 
physical sex. I can't think of anything *else* listening to that line. Put "I'm
livin in Gods love" on top of that music and I'm still gonna be thinking about
sex...and wondering about the competence of the writer.

Second, to those who hold that "only God can create, therefore everything is 
good", I think one should realise that *man* has been given a limited ability 
to create as well. And we can create both holy things and evil things. A *man*
created the rhythm we call reggae, for example. Did it exist earlier? If a tree
falls in the forest and no one hears, does it make a sound? So I would contend
that it *is* possible for a musical work, and possibly because of the intent
of it's founders, a *genre*, to be evil. [I don't think rock in the broad sense
fits that accusation, however...hold your fire, please]

My prescription? When a writer's heart is in touch with God and he knows his
craft well enough to marry the right lyric with the right music so they become
a seamless whole, that's what matters. Perhaps because of differing cultural
conditioning, another hearer might not understand the connection, but I would
contend that while the writer must be sensitive to his audience, if the work
is holy in the concert-hall of his Spirit-filled heart, let no man dare to call
it profane.

Bob Miller rhm@hpfirhm.fc.hp.com