Music For the Conservative Christian

[Skellington]

Your thoughts?

[Colabomb]

Um.....

Music?

[daveleau]

Anything that is edifying and has a Scriptural basis, if you are speaking about Christian music. Hymns, praise & worship, gospel- the genre is not important. The message is.

If you are speaking about secular music, which I assume may be a portion of what you speak about, we should avoid music that denigrates God, Christians, or Christian values. No genre is necessarily bad, as I have heard Christian music with a good message that comes from the both rap and metal genres. Granted, much of the secular rock, metal and rap genres are pretty awful, though.

I like your church's statement of faith. (http://scumoftheearth.net/v2/about_statement_of_faith.html)

[Skellington]

Anything that is edifying and has a Scriptural basis, if you are speaking about Christian music. Hymns, praise & worship, gospel- the genre is not important. The message is.

If you are speaking about secular music, which I assume may be a portion of what you speak about, we should avoid music that denigrates God, Christians, or Christian values. No genre is necessarily bad, as I have heard Christian music with a good message that comes from the both rap and metal genres. Granted, much of the secular rock, metal and rap genres are pretty awful, though.

I like your church's statement of faith. (http://scumoftheearth.net/v2/about_statement_of_faith.html)

I agree with you, and thank you for your comments. I do understand your opinion on rock, metal, and rap, which are three genres I do listen to somewhat (though rap is not frequently a genre that accosts my ears).

When it comes to music, though, I find many people will throw out the baby with the bathwater. They find an artist who sings a variety of songs, but because of one song that artist sings, they refuse to listen to anything else by that same artist. I take my music on a song-by-song basis. For instance, I will listen to Godsmack's "Good Times Bad Times" Led Zep cover, but won't listen to some of their other songs. I really enjoy Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams," but find his song "White Trash" to be very offensive.

For those artists, I won't buy the album, but I also don't throw out the good with the bad.

[daveleau]

I am a former head-banger, and I avoided some bands because of their overarching bad vibe. Dio, Metal Church, and Judas Priest were popular with my friends when I was in high school, but I never listened to these because of their overt anti-Christian lyrics that pervaded most of their songs. At the same time, I listened to selective songs from some bands like Metallica and others that had some songs that had bad messages. I did as you do and avoided those songs. I just liked the sound of heavier music.

In the past few years I have forced myself to listen to Christian radio only. It's not the sound I like, but it is the message I love. But, when we fly long missions, we like to listen to music over the interphone, and a strict diet of Christian music would not suite the crew. So, I have a mix of my old tunes intermingled with some of my favorite Christian music.

I was going through some of my music as my wife got me a new iPod as an early Christmas present. I was deciding what to transfer, and got to my Rammstein selection. I looked up translations of the music, and was shocked to see what these guys were saying (in German, of course, but still!) So, I tossed all their music except their one song that served as a tribute to the Ramstein AFB airshow crash that killed hundreds. So, I still do somewhat of the same thing...

I have found that my mood is much better and my relationship with God better when I listen to Christian music of any genre. I pretty much never turn my radio of KLOVE.

[RND]

Anything that is edifying and has a Scriptural basis, if you are speaking about Christian music. Hymns, praise & worship, gospel- the genre is not important. The message is.

If you are speaking about secular music, which I assume may be a portion of what you speak about, we should avoid music that denigrates God, Christians, or Christian values. No genre is necessarily bad, as I have heard Christian music with a good message that comes from the both rap and metal genres. Granted, much of the secular rock, metal and rap genres are pretty awful, though.

I like your church's statement of faith. (http://scumoftheearth.net/v2/about_statement_of_faith.html)

I found this book extremely helpful in understanding the role of music and the Christian. You can read four of it's chapters online.

The Christian & Rock Music
A Study on Biblical Principles of Music (http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/rockbook/index.html)

Enjoy!

[Skellington]

I am a former head-banger, and I avoided some bands because of their overarching bad vibe. Dio, Metal Church, and Judas Priest were popular with my friends when I was in high school, but I never listened to these because of their overt anti-Christian lyrics that pervaded most of their songs. At the same time, I listened to selective songs from some bands like Metallica and others that had some songs that had bad messages. I did as you do and avoided those songs. I just liked the sound of heavier music.

I will agree with you that many bands put out a largely negative, anti-Christian vibe. I avoid those bands altogether, but will listen to selective songs from other bands.

In the past few years I have forced myself to listen to Christian radio only. It's not the sound I like, but it is the message I love. But, when we fly long missions, we like to listen to music over the interphone, and a strict diet of Christian music would not suite the crew. So, I have a mix of my old tunes intermingled with some of my favorite Christian music.

I have a pretty broad love of the music I like, in terms of various genres. That having been said, I went through a time in my life where I listened to strictly Christian music. Like you, I didn't enjoy the music as much as the message, but later I was able to find Christian groups who combine the music and the message that I love.

As far as the band Rammstein goes, I agree with you that much of their lyrical content is horrid. However, I do appreciate the song "Ohne Dich (Without You)," as well as "Rammstein," which is the tribute you mentioned. They also have some other songs they have done with collaborators which are perfectly harmless.

I have found that my mood is much better and my relationship with God better when I listen to Christian music of any genre. I pretty much never turn my radio of KLOVE.

KLOVE is a mainstay in my musical diet, but I also get a healthy dose of Christian heavy metal like A Plea For Purging and oldschool Zao. They're loud and proud in their Christian message.

[PrincessKait]

I listen to Christian Rock, Punk, and Alternative. It has the same thing the main stream rock, punk and alternative have, minus the bad language and horrible messages. Good bands are Relient K, Hawk Nelson, Jars of Clay, Audio Adrenaline... and so on. Check out Steven Curtis Chapman's latest album, it's awesome.

[Skellington]

While I definitely appreciate the bands mentioned, I also appreciate:

Inked In Blood
Dead Poetic
Means
Bloodlined Calligraphy
xLooking Forwardx
Far-Less
The Fold
As Cities Burn
Flee the Seen
FAIR
A Plea For Purging
Kingston Falls
Manafest

etc.

[Izdaari]

I like a wide variety of music, including classical, blues, jazz and reggae, but my favorite is rock of all kinds but especially metal and punk. Also some pop, show tunes, rap and weird Icelandic stuff (Sigur Ros, Bjork). I eliminate songs from my playlist if the message is too anti-Christian or otherwise negative, but generally not bands unless all their stuff is that way.

Christian music? I like classical (Mozart's Requiem, etc.) and gospel. Also P&W, but I prefer it in rock style: "Christian contemporary" is too "elevator music" for me. Our church worship band plays a lot of Hillsong stuff, but they do it in pretty much classic rock style, and that's as it should be!

She does mostly secular stuff, folk and bluegrass, but nothing is better than when Alison Krauss does a Christian song. "Voice of an angel" is an accurate description IMHO.

In Christmas music, I can recommend Twisted Sister's version of O Come All Ye Faithful. Nothing fancy there, just a very well done rock arrangement of a Christmas classic.

[Christian Soldier]

She does mostly secular stuff, folk and bluegrass, but nothing is better than when Alison Krauss does a Christian song. "Voice of an angel" is an accurate description IMHO.


Enjoy! :)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9upE_PGJVq8&mode=related&search=

[twistedsketch]

I listen to various rock bands. One of the more influential bands would be No Innocent Victim (http://www.purevolume.com/noinnocentvictim). These guys have actually had guns drawn on them for their uncompromising message, in the States.

[Izdaari]

Enjoy! :)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9upE_PGJVq8&mode=related&search=

Thanks for that, Christian Soldier! That's a perfect example of what I meant. :clap:

[jive4005]

All music is good... it is the pervertion of same that brings problems and sin.

My advice to those finding it hard to locate decent secular music... try instrumentals!

rev (full time entertainer)

[WannaWitness]

I believe God can work through a variety of styles of music. I know there are some out there who think any style of music they deem "non-traditional" (like pop and jazz) is sinful, and for them it may very well be. However, that doesn't make us more versatile folks any less holy because they don't think the same. It's all a matter of conviction.

Besides, wasn't the music that's deemed "traditional" today considered contemporary in its time?

[StephanStrategy]

I listen to AirOne down here in the Ft. Hood area. It opened up a whole bunch of Christian artists that I had never heard of before. I really like the "alternative" sound that they air.

Mike

[jive4005]

I can't tell you how often I'm listening to some tune on the radio and discover that secular tune is actually purposfully spiritual. So many hit tunes where indeed written for God... then dumbed down or arranged to fit secular audiences.

rev

[WannaWitness]

A few artists have done the ingenious feat of changing lyrics to mainstream songs that were popular over the years into Christ-centered lyrics. Sadly, there are a fair number of people who think it's irreverent to do such a thing. They think it's a mere attempt to "fit in with the world" when such is not always the case.

They seem to be forgetting about some of the popular hymns that apparently had Christian lyrics put to popular folk tunes of the era. For example: "Greensleeves" (attributed to the evil King Henry VIII) was turned into "What Child Is This?", and seen in several hymnals across the country and all over the world.

Just a little interesting thought regarding music to ponder on.

[SwirlingEd]

A few artists have done the ingenious feat of changing lyrics to mainstream songs that were popular over the years into Christ-centered lyrics. Sadly, there are a fair number of people who think it's irreverent to do such a thing. They think it's a mere attempt to "fit in with the world" when such is not always the case.

They seem to be forgetting about some of the popular hymns that apparently had Christian lyrics put to popular folk tunes of the era. For example: "Greensleeves" (attributed to the evil King Henry VIII) was turned into "What Child Is This?", and seen in several hymnals across the country and all over the world.

Just a little interesting thought regarding music to ponder on.
I think this can be done well, but most of the time I think it's just derivative and shows a lack of originality.

[JPPT1974]

I can't tell you how often I'm listening to some tune on the radio and discover that secular tune is actually purposfully spiritual. So many hit tunes where indeed written for God... then dumbed down or arranged to fit secular audiences.

rev

Very good point my friend!
You hit it on the nail.