There obviously has been a cold debate on this. Some gospel artistes say they listen to secular music to get a well rounded sound. Some 'çhristians' say there really isn't nothing wrong with listening to secular music.
Well, is that really true? Our guest blogger digs into the issue and brings insights that will sure educate you on this.
Is music just music or is there more to it? You sure need to find out right here and right now. We brought this out to the CiTy for you and yours...
Why Christians shouldn't listen to Secular Music
by @JaySmoke
Music Music Music...many of us, in fact very few people can live without it! Music is everywhere...from politics to sports...you will find an element of music being played! We simply cannot live without music! Am sure everyone of us right now has
some form of music on our cellphones or mp3 players! Music is good but since we live in a perverted world, everything good has been turned into evil! The same music that is used to worship and praise God has been turned into something use to promote sex, lust, and everything contrary to God's word!
Many people would argue the fact that Christians can listen to secular music.
Secular music is any kind of music that isn't Christian! I personally believe that listening to secular music isn't healthy at all and should be avoided by Christians! Why?? Lemme give you an illustration...let's say you take a bunch of frogs and you put them in a pot filled with water...What will happen? They will swim around and get comfortable right??? Now take that bowl and put it on the stove and gradually increase the temperature...the frogs will not notice the change and will simple try to adjust to the heat...now turn up the temperature again and they will continue to accommodate it before u know it, the frogs will all be cooked and dead!
And thats what happens to our spirit man, when we continue to listen to these music. Gradually with time, you slowly begin to kill your spiritman and your prayer life starts declining, you start thinking differently, you start doing stuffs that you shouldn't be doing as a believer. Basically, whatever we take in whether it be what we listen, watch, or even read, affects how we live our lives whether we want to believe/accept it or not. A lot of secular music sounds great...I give you that, but why are they great? God knows music, but so does Satan. Before he fell he was the absolute definition of music in heaven, He knows what he's doing. So it's only natural that music would be one of His most powerful tools that he will use to lure souls away from God.
So the question now is...how does it affect us as Christians? Well secular music affects our Christian lives from following God, because of its contents, no matter what kind of music, whether it is love song, hiphop, reggae, rnb, etc., These kind of music are "very deceiving" and have "rebel lyrics", "breakup relationships" and stuff, because all of its contents focus on the "world", and not to "God".
So the question now is...how does it affect us as Christians? Well secular music affects our Christian lives from following God, because of its contents, no matter what kind of music, whether it is love song, hiphop, reggae, rnb, etc., These kind of music are "very deceiving" and have "rebel lyrics", "breakup relationships" and stuff, because all of its contents focus on the "world", and not to "God".
Take for example a secular song about 'peace'. Even though it's content seems good and talking about peace for the world etc...it's focus is not on the peace that you get from God. It's telling you that we can have peace on earth without God. So you as a Christian will listen to it and gradually, you start thinking that way. Another example would be a love song...they prolly telling you to treat her special and all but this "special way" is focused on the world. Take her out, goto the club, buy her expensive gifts, take her shopping, make love to her which are all nice but they are not God-focused.
A christian love song would prolly teach you to pray with her, go to church with her, love her the way Jesus loves the church etc.
You have to ask yourself this question when listening to a secular song...are the lyrics focused on sinful things? Is there swearing in the song? Would you feel comfortable listening to it if Jesus was sitting next to you? We are told in (1 Cor 10:31) to do all things to the glory of God. If we are listening to music that goes against God given Biblical guidelines, He certainly isn't glorified.
Have you ever found yourself singing and humming the songs to which you have recently been listening to, as you go through your day? If we are listening to songs that glorify and encourage sinful things, or have swearing in them, we end up singing about these things during the day. On the other hand, if we are listening to music that glorifies the Lord, we will be singing and humming songs to glorify the Lord throughout our day. Wouldn't you rather be repeating songs that glorify God?
Take a look at this survey about the top 10 tracks in the states, which was carried out some years back!
You have to ask yourself this question when listening to a secular song...are the lyrics focused on sinful things? Is there swearing in the song? Would you feel comfortable listening to it if Jesus was sitting next to you? We are told in (1 Cor 10:31) to do all things to the glory of God. If we are listening to music that goes against God given Biblical guidelines, He certainly isn't glorified.
Have you ever found yourself singing and humming the songs to which you have recently been listening to, as you go through your day? If we are listening to songs that glorify and encourage sinful things, or have swearing in them, we end up singing about these things during the day. On the other hand, if we are listening to music that glorifies the Lord, we will be singing and humming songs to glorify the Lord throughout our day. Wouldn't you rather be repeating songs that glorify God?
Take a look at this survey about the top 10 tracks in the states, which was carried out some years back!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Rihanna - "Unfaithful"
"And I know that he knows I'm unfaithful, And it kills him inside, To know that I am happy with some other guy..."
1) Rihanna - "Unfaithful"
"And I know that he knows I'm unfaithful, And it kills him inside, To know that I am happy with some other guy..."
2) Nelly Furtado - "Promiscuous"
"Promiscuous Girl, Wherever you are, I’m all alone, And its you that I want... Promiscuous Boy, I'm calling your name, But you're driving me crazy, The way you're making me wait..."
4) The Pussycat Dolls - "Buttons"
"I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby... I'm a sexy mama... Come on baby, loosen up my buttons babe, Loosen up my buttons babe, Baby, won't you loosen up my buttons babe..."
5) Shakira - "Hips Don't Lie"
"You make a woman go mad, So be wise and keep on, Reading the signs of my body... You know my hips don't lie... All the attraction, the tension... Oh boy, I can see your body moving... My will and self restraint, Have come to fail now, fail now..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice that half of the top ten songs are all about the promiscuous, unfaithful, 'pick-me-up' kind of sex, something that God does not condone. And there are many more songs just like these which are being played on our radios and tvs every minute! We can't run away from them but we can stop ourselves from letting them into our hearts. How do we do it...you just turn a deaf ear to it.
We may be attracted to a particular song because it has a great tune, the chorus is catchy, but if the message it portrays is not in line with what we as Christians believe, listening to it may alter our perception of right and wrong, away from what God dictated in His Word. We may, for example, think that promiscuity is cool because the music associated with qit is cool. Nowadays, it's not a surprise to see kids in movies kissing and making love, smoking and doing drugs...now if you are not strong spiritually and you see or hear such stuffs...you may end up thinking it's cool and you have to do it to be cool.
If you really want to listen to secular music, the content of the lyrics must be considered. While not specifically speaking of music, Philippians 4:8 is an excellent guide for musical lyrics: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." If we should be thinking about such things, surely those are the things we should invite into our minds through music and lyrics.
However, much of secular music does not meet the standard of Philippians 4:8. Secular music often promotes immorality and violence while belittling purity and integrity. If a song glorifies what opposes God, a Christian should not listen to it. However, there are many secular songs with no mention of God that still uphold godly values such as honesty, purity, and integrity.
If a love song promotes the sanctity of marriage and/or the purity of true love—even if it does not mention God or the Bible—it can still be listened to and enjoyed. But the question I always ask is this...why would I want to listen to a good secular song by an artist who does another bad secular song???
Whatever a person allows to occupy his mind will sooner or later determine his speech and his actions. This is the premise behind Philippians 4:8. Second Corinthians 10:5 says we should "take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ." These Scriptures give a clear picture of the kind of music we should not listen to.
Obviously, the best kind of music is that which praises and glorifies God. Talented Christian musicians work in nearly every musical genre, ranging from classical to rock, rap, and reggae. There is nothing inherently wrong with any particular style of music. It is the lyrics that determine whether a song is "acceptable" for a Christian to listen to. If anything leads you to think about or get involved in something that does not glorify God, it should be avoided.
Job said in (Job 31:1), "I made a covenant with mine eyes." This is a great verse in the Bible. What Job was saying in the rest of this verse is that he did not want to look lustfully at a woman; however, this is something that we should carry over into all areas of our lives. We should make a covenant with our eyes not to look on ANYTHING that will cause us to sin or place bad images in our minds. This includes sinful t.v. shows or movies. I believe we would also be wise to make a covenant with our EARS not to listen to anything that speaks of sinful things or places bad images in our minds.
Whatever a person allows to occupy his mind will sooner or later determine his speech and his actions. This is the premise behind Philippians 4:8. Second Corinthians 10:5 says we should "take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ." These Scriptures give a clear picture of the kind of music we should not listen to.
Obviously, the best kind of music is that which praises and glorifies God. Talented Christian musicians work in nearly every musical genre, ranging from classical to rock, rap, and reggae. There is nothing inherently wrong with any particular style of music. It is the lyrics that determine whether a song is "acceptable" for a Christian to listen to. If anything leads you to think about or get involved in something that does not glorify God, it should be avoided.
Job said in (Job 31:1), "I made a covenant with mine eyes." This is a great verse in the Bible. What Job was saying in the rest of this verse is that he did not want to look lustfully at a woman; however, this is something that we should carry over into all areas of our lives. We should make a covenant with our eyes not to look on ANYTHING that will cause us to sin or place bad images in our minds. This includes sinful t.v. shows or movies. I believe we would also be wise to make a covenant with our EARS not to listen to anything that speaks of sinful things or places bad images in our minds.
It is said that for every secular band, there is a Christian band that sounds similar. I have found for the most part, this is true. I used to be soooo into secular hiphop music myself! Not only hiphop...I was a diehard fan of r&b and it really got me doing things am not so proud of. And the funny thing is, at the time I was doing it, I felt that it was the right thing to do cause I hear it in the songs, watch it on tv and everybody was loving it. And I felt good but spiritually I was dying. So when I got serious with my spirit man, I had to stop listening to all the secular stuffs. But the challenge came when I had to find a SUITABLE replacement.
Here I was a crazy hiphop fan...and when I say hiphop, I mean the tupacs, snoop dog, 213, no limit, dog pound, warren g, xzibit etc and so finding a replacement was quite a challenge back then....but today, there are tooooons of good quality christian artists out there who are equally as dope as these secular cats. We have Christian hiphop, Christian r&b, Christian jazz, Christian reggae and even Christian hiplife. So we really don't have any business listening to secular music when we have equally good christian alternatives.
Apart from that, we have lots of good christian radio stations....yeah I know that some of the songs they play are not your type since many of yall prolly love the latest musical trends...thats why I have my shows on radio...so that we can give you an alternative to what the local christian stations give yall. We play everything from reggae to hiplife so am sure there'll be something there for everyone.
In concluding: Lemme ask all those who are currently listening to secular songs this question, how can you sing worship songs to God on sundays and then go home and listen to these destructive music? The bible speaks about God spitting out a Lukewarm person. You cannot listen to Godly music and then at the same time listen to secular profane music???
In concluding: Lemme ask all those who are currently listening to secular songs this question, how can you sing worship songs to God on sundays and then go home and listen to these destructive music? The bible speaks about God spitting out a Lukewarm person. You cannot listen to Godly music and then at the same time listen to secular profane music???
It just doesn't work and God will spit you out. If you believe you have any form of secular songs with you, I want to encourage you to throw them all away now and repent. I pray you don't fall victim to the devil's deceptions.
This is a fabulous writeup! I luv it absolutely, its true and timely
ReplyDeleteWow! This is awesome. I can hear God speaking to me (and others) through this write up. He who has hears ler him hear.
ReplyDeleteit wasnt easy for me to stop listening to secular musics but i did it...nd trust me iv seen a change in me, a growth in my spirit. im so glad i can do without what seems to hold so many bondage. im all for praising God.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I know a lot of people will wish they could hang me after saying this. But imma say it nyways. Who even came up with that name Circular Music? I don't see it anywhere in d bible. Show me One ( Just One) Gospel musician that has not picked up a concept, a line, a transition, or even a beat from a "so called circular" music. Look let's stop all this hypocritical sherade. Music is music. Be it sung by flavor or cross movement. Your ability to filter what is right from wrong depends on how rich u are in the Holy Spirit. If not so, the best way to avoid hell is to get a hot iron and pierce our eardrums with it so that u don't hear them by mistake. Cos whether u like it or not YOU MUST HEAR THE "CIRCULAR MUSIC" on the streets, on ur tv and even in church ( e.g KOMOlE by vector n d other guy). Nice examples there by the blogger which shows he has had his own fair share of circular music and since the human brain does not have a delete button he is doomed for hell right? ( Sarcasticly speaking) left to me u should have started ur blog from the paragraph " if you really want to listen to circular music..........."And ended it at "music and lyrics" May God Help us
ReplyDeleteI love dis site.dis is what we need in dis our generation"awareness"keep d good work on.God will strenghten u d more.
ReplyDeleteLovely
ReplyDeleteKnowledge from God brings understanding and that comes from God's presence. This presence is seen in fellowshipping, study, worship, and Godly living.
ReplyDeletenow back to the point at hand. the famous 'happy birthday to you' song can be termed as a 'secular' song but it is not unGodly or speak against the scriptures. but there are songs that are down right vulgar and disrespectful to God which speaks and promotes everything Christ frowns at. Jesus spoke in simple terms when he said: "if you love me, you will keep my commandments" The love of God is enough to keep me from listening to music that promotes the very things Christ came to die for.
So i dare say this: if anyone truly loves God, apart from other things that person will keep away from such kind of music. Everyone can be a vessel to be used by God or the devil but we create that choice who to serve.
It will be impossible to say we don't 'hear' secular' music. its played every where: radios, busses, taxis barbing salons, etc. but listening to it is different. its impossible (I repeat) not to hear 'secular' music but we can stop ourselves from listening to it. Faith comes by hearing (listening) so what we receive from our ears play a great role in who we become in Christ. Choose your music wisely; worship God with your ears too.