"Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful" (Plato).
Music is one of the most powerful tools for good and evil known to man. Is there any difference spiritually between different music forms or is music spiritually neutral? Should Christians only concern themselves with lyrics? This page will reveal the shocking truth about many forms of both secular and religious popular music.
Examining the music of any given person or culture reveals their spiritual temperature. What is your spiritual temperature? What is the spiritual temperature of the culture in which you live? Given that the various elements of any given culture tend to resonate in harmony - pure or perverse - have you considered the possibility that the music you like may in fact be part and parcel of something that is not only dead, spiritually-speaking, but actually harmful?
"Popular culture focuses on the new, discourages reflection, [is] pursued casually to “kill” time, gives us what we want, tells us what we already know, celebrates fame, appeals to sentimentality, relies on spectacle, tend[s] to violence and prurience, leaves us where it found us, reflects the desires of the self, tends toward relativism, [is] used. Healthy culture (traditional, high culture) by contrast, focuses on the timeless, encourages reflection, [is] pursued with deliberation, offers us what we could not have imagined, celebrates ability, appeals to appropriate, proportioned emotions, relies on formal dynamics and the power of symbol, transforms sensibilities, encourages understanding of others, tends toward submission to standards, [is] received" (Ken Myers).
"If music is a divine thing, it can become a demonic thing. It seems to me that you do an injustice and irreverence to the greatness of music by not allowing that it can ever be evil" (Peter Kreeft).
When you are moved by music in your soul, you are worshipping. The question is: What are you worshipping? What are you moving to? Read the articles below to find some answers...
|