Blog

The Whys of Music

Published 2/6/2024

Fair warning:  this topic is touchy and as our pastor often says is “ground where angels fear to tread.”  You might just want to skip to the bottom information on this one.  

Sunday night was the 66th Annual Grammy Awards featuring and celebrating some of the most vile, anti-God (the one, true, Biblical God anyway) music and artists mixed in among more palatable selections.  I remember many years ago coming across a music awards show ~ maybe the Grammys~ at the exact moment Marilyn Manson was singing.  Unfortunately, the closed caption was on.  I can’t even put into words how evil it was.  “It” referring to both the music and the demon that was performing.  I quickly shut it off.

Next Sunday, in Las Vegas, there will be a major, world-wide, watched by millions event featuring. . .Taylor Swift . . . cheering for …. well, does it really even matter?  Playfully known as “Swifties”, her fans are a massive, earth-shaking force not to be trifled with.  Compared to Marilyn Manson, she seems more like an adorable puppy dog.

All across our nation, on the Lord’s Day, there were many Christians who chose to tune in to the Grammys and who also gleefully pump Swift’s music out of their speakers on a daily basis.  They will sway, swing, sing, and dance right along with the artists.

I have no desire to wade into a debate about personal musical preferences and all the vitriol that comes with it.  I get it.  It’s your life and no one has any business…etc.  

To avoid confusion or conflict as much as possible, I will just make these statements that I believe to be true from two decades of working with students and families.

  • I am no musical expert, but I do know that no one in the world can deny the powerful influence music has on us physiologically.

  • Music’s effects on us go beyond just the words.  Beats, rhythms, rhyming, all work to grab our attention and keep it.   The dah-dum, dah-dum beat from Jaws is a good example.

  • Without music in all its iterations, the entire entertainment industry would suffer.  It is that integral.

  • Music ~ making it, hearing it, singing it ~ is truly universal.

  • The music industry is a multi-billion dollar industry right up there with the NFL and by proxy, there is an agenda that is not aligned with a desire for spiritual growth.

  • Music (soundtracks and songs) is inextricably connected to most formative memories.

  • The Bible discusses the role of music even in the spiritual realm.  David played a harp to rid Saul of an evil spirit.  There is much more in the Bible about music, but I assume most of you can find that information for yourself if you want to know.

  • What we choose to listen to matters to God.

  • Knowing all of that, Christians still carelessly allow themselves and by proxy, their children, to be influenced and entertained by the music of a world that stands firmly against the Jesus they claim to love and serve.

  • One commonality among most of the ones who end up in my office in trouble is a steady diet of the music of the world. 

  • If you’ve kept reading this far, that uncomfortable feeling you have may be conviction.

  • We may not sacrifice children to Molech like they did in the Old Testament, but many still condemn their children to a lifelong battle against musical influences and addictions that began at a very young age when it was pumped into their hearts and brains by mom and dad.

  • While we will never be able to prevent our children from hearing or even being drawn to the world’s music, will we be able to say that we were not complicit?

By what standard or principle do we decide what music we will allow into our hearts?

Do we even bother exercising discernment or instead just drift along in the currents of mass popularity and nostalgia?

Does our music diet consistently feed our spirit or our flesh?  Is it true and pure or does it just make us feel good?

Does our musical taste make us yearn more for God or for more of the world?  

Does our Spotify playlist bring peace and calm to the soul or make our hearts pound and our bodies move?

The “WHY” matters.   We must not treat it lightly. 

A steady diet of the world’s music will make us more like the world.  God’s word commands us to “…come out from among them, and be ye separate,….” 

Just some food for thought presented in a spirit of love and true, deep concern for the spiritual maturity all of our Falcon Family.  

AACS PODCAST:  Information directly from Washington ~ AACS Podcast is Back!  The AACS has brought back the “AACS Today” podcast! Each episode is designed to help school leaders and educators understand the work of the AACS in Washington and navigate today’s issues from a biblical worldview.   Join our hosts Matt Ticzkus and Jamison Coppola along with special guests for 30 minutes each week of news, policy, and interviews dealing with the most pressing policy issues of the week. You can access the podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.