Secular music limit?

[WannaWitness]

Having been influenced by music my entire life, there is lots to be said on my part when it comes to this issue. I've been able to really research, examine, and analyze the world of music over the last few years, and discovered some amazing things, many too numerous to include in this thread. When I was a child, I heard music on a daily basis, and was therefore exposed to music of various kinds. I actually didn't know about Christian music (mainly CCM) until I was almost a teenager. I heard hymns when I was in church, and any Christian music I owned was children's Christian music (Psalty and the like). Then when I was about 11 (or thereabouts), I attended an Amy Grant concert, exposing me to my first real taste of CCM. It was the Unguarded tour, I believe, and it wasn't long after that concert that I took interest in collecting CCM (starting with Amy Grant), which to me, was like the popular music I was hearing all around me, just with Christian lyrics. So I started building my own collection of Christian music, and for a time, that's the only thing I would basically listen to (aside from playing with the radio and listening to snippets of non Christian music so as to expose myself to other things and for comparison purposes). However, as the years went on, I started a casual research on my own of music, and the various issues on which Christians disagree (music being a very commonly debated "hot topic"). I also started viewing music in the way I viewed television/movies and reading material. A program or book can be moral and have a message in it without explicitly mentioning God or Jesus (for instance, The Brady Bunch, Full House, or any Shirley Temple movie), and the same thing can be said of music. The fact remains that being a Christian, I hold to standards based on the Bible, and I have discovered that there is still some decent music that is not labeled a "Christian" song, but have lyrics that are not against Biblical principles, therefore, I will listen to them.

There is a lot more detail I can get into, but I don't want to drag this on and on. I know everyone has different convictions on this; it's one of those "doubtful things" Romans 14 talks about.

Here is a Website that covers more about this topic as it relates to Christianity for anyone who might be interested.

https://musingsonmusicinthechurch.wordpress.com

 

[Goodbook]

I listen to whatever is lovely, whatever is true, ...

Mostly carpenters ...love songs mostly, happy music.
Songs I can sing along to. melodies. Bible says make melody in your heart...

 

[keith99]

Anything that blasphemes God (or The Trinity in general) everything else is fair game. I don't like hardcore rap or metal though.

That is a 95% answer. For the little bit left one needs to know what you consider blasphemes God means.

Let's get specific.

What do you think of Blasphemous Rumors by Depeche Mode?

Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Or Sympathy for the Devil By The Rolling Stones

Open question, not just directed to you. I know many consider both of these blasphemous, I would disagree.

 

[Blue Wren]

I've never heard, either of those songs.

I listen, to anything, that I like. That's all, really.

 

[Idromos247]

I do not listen to any music that blasphemes God or is pro Satan. So I listen to Megadeth, but not slayer. I listen to NILE but not behemoth. I listen to Overkill, but not Sodom. Just nothing that knock on, or makes fun of God. But I make sure to listen to ALOT of Christian music. If I am going to use my freedom I need to feed my spirit and keep Jekyll well charged.

 

[Dave-W]

If I am going to use my freedom I need to feed my spirit and keep Jekyll well charged.

And not Hyde out in the shadows?

 

[majj27]

Everything. If I'm so easily controlled that song lyrics can make me do bad things, then I've got MUCH bigger problems than my choice of music.

Oh, one exception. I don't like listening to BAD music. For example. I don't listen to Justin Beiber. Because his music is AWFUL.

 

[Idromos247]

And not Hyde out in the shadows?

Did you mean that to be a ?

 

[keith99]

Did you mean that to be a ?

No, it was pretty obviously an appropriate reply to your post.

 

[Chanticleera]

Back before I was a christian when I was a happy little fence sitting agnostic, I had a conversation with a rather fundamental christian. It was a pleasant conversation, they were a very kind-hearted person. I remember talking about music, movies, books etc that were not christian in nature. This person had chosen not to engage with any of them, preferring to surround themselves with only overt christian things - and those carefully selected.

At one point I protested, "I can see your resistance to a lot of secular things, but what about things that are secular but don't do you any harm? There is some beautiful opera and classical music, very good old movies, and a wonderful array of secular books that don't do any harm towards a christian life at all! What about those?"

And this person responded, "My one goal in this life is to grow closer to God. So whenever I look at something I am considering bringing into my heart and mind, I don't ask...Will it harm me or my christian walk? I ask..what good will it do me? If the answer is none, I don't want to waste my time on it."

While I am not QUITE that extreme (listening to Andre Rieu right now after a bit of Il Divo), it made me sit back and think. I respect that viewpoint, and while my view of whether something will do me good or not may vary from theirs, am trying to follow it.

So I am somewhat a number 3. I don't allow anything in. The last time I turned my radio dial of an old school christian station was before I was saved. My choice in music has narrowed down to christian, classical, or old-school stuff...and I mean OLD school. When my roomate is home we often listen to stuff I wouldn't otherwise choose - 80s, etc. But I draw a finer line these days than I use too, and have nixed out a lot of the harder rock stuff we used to listen too.

She is still free to listen to what she wants in her room, and fortunately there hasn't been any fussing since I am gone to work most of the day and she is home.

 

[Lik3]

I am a person who listens to different types of music, but I don't like any cursing, blasphemy, or misogyny (or misandry). I understand that all have sin in us or are redeemable sinners, so there are some artists who have done horrible things that I have a horrible time separating the music from the sin.