On Judging Music
by Dan Wells
Christians would probably agree that there are appropriate and inappropriate movies and TV shows. We even agree about the concept of boundaries for things like dancing and clothing. The lines may be drawn different places for each of us, but there should be lines – let your conscience, guided by God through the Word and prayer, be your guide.
However, questions about musical style and consumption are almost always dismissed purely as matters of taste. It is common to allow personal preference to be the sole arbiter of musical choice. We tend to regard music as an area of freedom, devoid of any biblical guidelines, since stylistic preferences are not directly addressed in the Bible.
Music does, however, have definable content and characteristics, and the people making music are knowable. It is not as though we would have nothing to go on, if we determined to judge the integrity of a given song. When we screen our music, are we looking first and foremost for what is good? Or are we looking primarily for what is appealing? Which was Samson looking for when choosing women? Sadly, our human quality filters are not sufficient to determine the fitness of anything. As in all things, we need a standard.
Christians are called to measure everything, even music, against the Scriptures. Among the virtues espoused in the Bible and demonstrated perfectly in God’s Son are excellence, creativity, permanence, meekness, non-materialism, sacrifice, discipleship, and joy. God is also concerned with our motives as we strive to adhere to these standards (Prov 16:2, 1 Cor 15:32, Phil 1:15-17). Therefore, we should be careful to judge the writers, producers and marketers of our music, as well as the music itself.
Contemporary Christian music of various styles displays priorities and motives far removed from the above characteristics, in content, creation and marketing. Priorities of artists and agents in this genre unquestionably include profit, novelty, imitation of mainstream secular music, immediate gratification, ease of consumption, entertainment, success, transience (it is disposable, so that you will always go get the next thing), homogeneity (sticking to proven formulas), and mediocrity. Quite a contrast to Biblical standards!
We want our music to glorify God, but does it do so just because we want it to? I think, by and large, that we have become too easily satisfied. What does God think of the music that is distributed in His name? Have we been good stewards of the gift that King David and Asaph cultivated and nurtured?
With music we can magnify God, or we can reduce Him. We can focus on His mighty works, or we can call attention to ourselves. We can celebrate the depth of His creativity with uplifting, skillfully crafted songs, or we can recycle the same old chords, riffs and sentiments. There are many thousands of Christian songs being recorded this year, but the sum of them all will not likely approach the potential God has given us to express in music His awesome nature and His glorious church. Worse, their success will be measured in the industry that created them by sales.
God may not have addressed musical style in the Bible, but we can certainly know that He digs the Psalms, and that’s a good starting place. He gave us biblical principles and God-given critical thinking skills to make decisions about music. Christ was here, not to reveal His taste in music, even though He invented music. He was here to tell us about His nature and how we should strive against our own nature to know and be like Him, in order that we may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Phil.3:11). Can we strive against our nature when choosing our music? Absolutely. We should always be careful to critically evaluate that which entertains us.
To sum up, I believe that while taste plays an important part in choosing what goes into our ears, it should be subordinate to the excellent standard to which God calls us. Individual songs should be judged by the listener as worthy or unworthy. We should also beware of whole stylistic categories of music that are not fit, either to carry the news of the Gospel, or to go into the ears of a Christian, because their very nature is opposed to God’s nature.
It is a lot to think about, but worth the time. Our response to music in worship interacts dynamically with our personal preference. We want to hear what we like, and when we don’t, it affects our attitude toward singing. I have a few questions and suggestions:
1) Are you sometimes disinterested with the singing on Sundays? Why?
2) Do you sing Christian songs at home with your family or by yourself? It is a wonderful thing to sing to the Lord at home. Why not sing some of the songs we do at church?
3) Assuming you enjoy listening to music, is the enjoyment derived primarily from the music itself or from the God it glorifies? Hint: the music should be wonderful, but what it says about God should be better.
4) What would Jesus say about some of our music? It is interesting that He chose to live in a generation where there was not a great diversity of musical styles. Do you think He is pleased equally by all Christian music?
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