Recovering Pharisee Confession #1

The Evils of "Secular" Music

I used to be thoroughly convinced that any music that was not written by a Christian with the expressed purpose of glorifying God was evil. No, seriously. I did. Even "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I also believed that music that did not come from a Christian perspective was bound to make me think and act like the world. Now, it is certainly true that there was a time in my life when music, and some which did have lyrics that had a negative impact on me, was an unreasonably huge part of my life. I identified so closely with all the bands I loved, that in reality, my identity was not my own, but whatever reflected the point of view of this or that band. This happens to many teens, especially. Getting away from "secular" music for a time was perhaps good for me, but I began making its prohibition a biblical command in and of itself, when it is not. Let’s look at my reasons:

1. Anything not done for the glory of God is wrong, right? And "secular" music was not written with that motivation.

Of course, I can’t guarantee that the chair I’m sitting on was made for the glory of God, unless, of course, I call the company that made it and see if there’s a bunch of Christians working there, and then make sure their repentance is up to date and that they are indeed doing their job for God’s glory.

You get the point. Just because something was not made with the clear purpose of glorifying God does not mean it cannot be used for that purpose.

2. It might influence me in a negative way.

There’s some validity here, but not across the board. "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" has not likely caused anyone to commit sin. This is entirely a matter of personal conviction. Furthermore, I’ve noticed that most Christians who hold to this opinion, that secular music will influence them in a negative way, don’t have the same problem with "secular" movies or "secular" TV shows. They may stay away from rated R or even PG-13 movies, but Gs and PGs are just as "secular" as the others, though they may not contain as much blatant sin.

These two points made, let me make one more. In my struggle with this issue (which involved convincing all my friends to throw away all their secular music, too), I listened to a lot of Christian music. You know what? Most of it is lousy. And it has bad theology. And I would rather listen to the honest music of a secular artist who’s making no pretensions, than the supposedly "Spirit-anointed" ramblings of a Christian singer with bad theology, bad melodies, and cheesy music. Thankfully, some better Christian musicians have been emerging in the last 10 years or so. You just can’t be certain they’ll be popular in the CCM world.