Christian death metal! No? Doesn't sound right, does it? But seriously, I think all of us Christians have encountered someone (or maybe it was ourselves) who has questioned or believed whether certain genres of Christian music are holy or pleasing to God. There are some who say that Christian metal/rock and rap is unholy and sinful. There are some who say that praise and worship music is unholy. Some even believe that hymns are unholy and displeasing to God. Some denominations, such as sects of the Church of Christ, believe that musical instruments are the devil's tool. Obviously these people are either putting too much of their own opinion "behind the scriptures" that they say support this, or they simply haven't been reading their Bibles.
Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, please allow me to introduce to you Psalm 150:
Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!
Hmmmm! Sounds to me like it is saying "Praise the Lord with music and dance and be heard". The main point can be summed up into one word: PRAISE. My wife's grandfather (his name is "Pa" by the way) told her something that she told me and it rings true to this day. "If you are not certain that it is Christian, then it is not Christian". How true is this! If the artist that you are listening to doesn't mention Christ or have any praises in His name, then this is what you need to watch out for. If they are truly Christian, then they will obviously have no trouble mentioning His name or glorifying Him in their songs. You also need to watch out for what kind of fruit that those musician trees are producing. It's hard to see Christ in a Christian musical artist who either sings about things other than Him, or sings in a way that you cannot understand what they are saying. How can the lost benefit from that? Or how can those who are consumed by the world benefit from Christian artists who dress like sinners and cover their bodies with tattoos and piercings and even lead personal lives of abuse and scandal? If holiness is void, then one would not know the change that can result from knowing Christ. I believe that this is the only example of Christian music that would be displeasing to our Lord.
Now I'm not saying that it is a sin to listen to secular music. That's between you and God. However, if your three meals per day is nothing more than junk food, soda, and candy, then a slow death it will be. Not to mention you will see a lot of spiritual health complications on the downward spiral. It is much the same with secular entertainment. Your soul thrives on what you feed it. If it is being fed with foul language and debauchery, then what will your mind and heart have an abundance of? A fellow that I work with listens to a local pop station. I used to be subjected to his music everyday and as anyone knows, modern pop music is full of graphic sexual content, language, and alcohol abuse. As these singers would sing about their graphic sexual encounters, I would have images appear in my mind that would haunt and torment me for the remainder of the day. Thank God for my MP3 player! But this is an example of what feeding your soul secular junk can do. Another reason why I don't believe you will burn for listening to secular music is that when I was saved, the Holy Spirit came into me and was doing great works within. But, even though God was making me new, for years I was still listening to secular heavy metal. At this point in my salvation, I do not believe that I would have burned in Hell if I had died because of what I listened to. Eventually, through the Holy Spirit, I felt that the music was leaving emptiness within me that I only could find fulfillment in with Christian music. Now I cannot bear to listen to the sex, drugs, and rock and roll because it corrupts my passion for He who has called me. You may ask "What's wrong with secular music?". I challenge you to look at your CD/MP3 collection and ask yourself "What is right with it?". It possibly isn't a sin to fill yourself with worldly things, such as secular entertainment, but the decay will eventually lead you to sin.
So, in a nutshell, we can see from Psalm 150 that there is no particular Christian music, or instrument, that is unholy or displeasing to God. As long as the music glorifies Him, witnesses and testifies in His name, leaves the listener feeling fulfilled of Him and with feelings of faith, hope, and love, and leaves the listener inspired for Him, then it's purpose has been achieved according to His desire. If it leaves you empty, saying "huh?", and wondering if the artist is Christian, then it has failed as belonging to Him. It is when the artist glorifies themselves, and not the Father, that it becomes unholy. To put it this way: Artists who exemplify Christ and seek to glorify Him first with their music are Christian artists. Groups who are more concerned with their music and image and only profess to be Christian are just a group full of Christians (1 Corinthians 10:23).
It makes no difference what it sounds like. There is an audience waiting for each genre. I went from listening to secular heavy metal to listening to Christian metal and then to praise and worship music and hymns. If the only Christian music available was hymns, then I never would have switched. I still liked my music heavy, not light. Each genre of Christian music has a purpose. We need to not put "God's music" in a small box with a tiny label and call everything else "sinful". So rock on, rap on, twang on, yodel on, dance on, and get out the kazoos. As long as it is for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). Again, thank you for your time and God bless.
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