A Biblical Philosophy Of Music

  Did you know that God cares about the kind of music you listen to?  A wrong philosophy of music generally accompanies a misunderstanding about life’s purpose.  Contrary to what our culture instills in us, it’s not about me or you; our lives belong to the Creator, the Giver of life.

  What Is Music?  In the most basic sense, it is a mode of communication.  Obviously the words of a song communicate a message, but good science reveals that musical composition communicates as well, making it possible for a song to effectively communicate two messages simultaneously.

  As letters are building blocks for printed communication, notes and chords are the building blocks for music.  With these building blocks, the composer/performer communicates his message(s).  So, music is not just a matter of preference or taste, it is a moral issue.

  In his book, Rock: Making Musical Choices, Richard Peck says, “Drugs, immorality, satanic lyrics, backward masking – you’ve heard it all before.  Meanwhile, books and lectures about rock continue to warn that rock kills plants; rock will damage your hearing;  rock’s low frequencies affect your heart rate and body metabolism; the music bypasses your brain’s conscious control centers, and the rhythm stimulates immoral desires.  You’ve heard all of this, too.

What you may not have heard is that the real issue is holiness.  The word is seldom used today, but the Bible makes it clear that Christians are to be a holy people.  They are to be separated from the world unto God.  (Psalms 1:1, 1John 2:2-6). 

By talking about house plants, hearing, and heart rates – instead of holiness – far too much discussion of rock has focused on rock’s effects upon man rather than its offensiveness to God.  The result is that many are more interested in what God might permit than in how He might be pleased.”