I had a conversation with a legalist on music last week. It didn’t go very well. I’m really not very good at verbal communication. I do much better in writing (which should give you some idea of just how bad I am in person), so I thought I would put my thoughts on subject in writing. I rattled off a post on the subject last night for posting this morning, but it seems to have disappeared during the night. I’ll try to reconstruct it sometime this week. In the mean time, since my practice of listening to secular music is what sparked the controversy, I’ll leave you with some food for thought from Paul Simon.
Leaves That Are Green
I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song
I’m twenty-two now but I won’t be for long
Time hurries on
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
And they wither with the wind
And they crumble in your hand
Once my heart was filled with the love of a girl
I held her close, but she faded in the night
Like a poem I meant to write
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
And they wither with the wind
And they crumble in your hand
I threw a pebble in a brook
And watched the ripples run away
And they never made a sound
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
And they wither with the wind
And they crumble in your hand
Hello hello hello hello
Good-bye good-bye good-bye good-bye
That’s all there is
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
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2 Comments:
#1 || 09·03·31··06:29 || Daniel
"Ive built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
Its laughter and its loving I disdain."
Paul Simon's songs are quite poetic; syncopated, rhyming, and certainly evocative.
There are people who believe that the only time married people should have sexual relations are when they intend to procreate - certainly not for pleasure. Likewise, there are some who think that while it is not sinful to drink wine, you should never drink it just for the joy of it - it must be consumed with a meal to enhance digestion. These sort of people form an ilk that readily accepts the idea that all music must contain lyrics that explicitly glorify God, or the Christian sins in enjoying it. They forget that just as the multitude of leaves on the growing tree glorifies the Creator who made it in that it puts on display all that the tree is, so too even unregenerate heathen glorify God when they do things that they were designed by God to do - things like sing, and make poetry.
God made ears and language, and beauty to be enjoyed.
Even the most heinous, sinful, Godhating song gives glory to God in that He imparts the skill by which the song is crafted, so that even those who hate God unwittingly glorify Him.
Which is only to say that I find it more than a little immature and artificial when someone tries to make a distinction between "Christian" music and other music. Hymns and Psalms and Spiritual songs serve a direct purpose in that they edify and are worshipful - these can rightly be called Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual songs - but there is no restrinction given in scripture against non-spiritual music. Even Paul the apostle quotes from heathen poets, suggesting that he was not only familiar with the poetry of his day, but felt no guilt in recording it as scripture.
I admire and respect anyone who stands on their convictions, I just don't admire it when the same people imagine that their convictions ought to direct my conduct, if I find myself unconvicted or unconvinced by their reasoning. Ought I to obey men or God? I let the reader decide.
#2 || 09·03·31··10:21 || David
Even the most heinous, sinful, Godhating song gives glory to God in that He imparts the skill by which the song is crafted, so that even those who hate God unwittingly glorify Him.
Of course, I’m not going to suggest that Christians should listen to just any music, and neither are you. What I am going to say is that the sacred secular divide is, as you have said, artificial.
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