Does it matter what sort of music one listens to?
A large number of Christians of our time have no qualms about listening to and singing worldly music. After singing hymns of faith and spiritual songs on Sunday in church, they would spend the rest of the week watching R-rated movies and listening to R-rated music. They learn by heart the lyrics of those profane songs. Their minds are filled with the sights and sounds of the filthy themes of those songs.
Let us not be foolish to embrace the secular music of our time. It is highly pernicious and certainly perilous to the Christians’ pursuit of holiness. The “Beatles” of yesteryear had helped to bring up a generation around the world that was characterised by loose morals, drug abuse and blasphemous beliefs / conduct. The members of this band themselves were fornicators, drug abusers and profane people. And yet, we hear of Christian musicians declaring themselves to be ‘Beatle fans’.
Today’s famous secular musicians are not any better than them. If anything, they are coarser in their songs and conduct. The secular musicians and their music have been one of the greatest contributors to the moral erosion of our society. Not only do they promote sexual promiscuity and violence, they also sneer and belittle godliness and purity.
The irony of it all is: why would Christians, who are called unto holiness, give themselves to such ungodly entertainment? Are not Christians taught in the Scriptures to have no association with people and activities that would stain their minds and instil ungodliness?
Every singer and song that glorifies that which is opposed by God should be rejected utterly by Christians. The apostle Paul warned the Ephesian Christians to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11). Likewise, Christians are admonished in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
Why are Christians warned against associating themselves with those things that are forbidden in the Bible? It is important to realise that the things we watch and listen to, do affect us - just as we are affected by the people whom we have associations with. When it comes to our sanctification, it is an absolute necessity that we keep ourselves away from that which corrupts us. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 reminds us: “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication.” Similarly, 1 Thessalonians 5:22 insists that Christians are to “abstain from all appearance of evil”. This is particularly true when it comes to our struggles with sin. The perverse things we watch and hear will entangle us in sins that easily beset us. For instance, if a Christian who is struggling with the lust of the flesh gives himself to watch obscene movies or listen to sensual songs, he will be led to temptations of lust whenever those scenes and songs come to his mind. If a man struggles with swearing, and yet closely associates himself with vulgar people (or listens to songs with lots of swearing), it will be harder for him to have purity of thoughts and words. So give diligence to remember Christ’s words: “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:29).
Please abstain also from socalled Christians who try to influence you with the wicked entertainment of this sinful world. Take heed to the warning in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
Rather than dwelling on that which defile our minds, let us give ourselves to all things that will influence us unto purity and godliness. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).