Music is a part of everyone¡¦s life. It is a language that is universal. It has the power to cheer us up, make us sad, make us laugh, and make us cry. Human emotions are a wonderful gift from God that can enhance the life of an individual. Unfortunately at times people in positions of influence use emotions to manipulate human behavior. The topic of rock music when it comes to worship is an issue that has received a lot of attention. Is there more to rock music than just chords and rhythm? Is the music itself an appropriate medium to preach the gospel? An ethical dilemma that faces many Christian leaders today is whether or not rock music should be used to influence a person¡¦s decision for, or commitment to Christ.
An argument brought up within the Christian church is that ¡§music is void of moral qualities for either good or bad. Consequently, nothing is wrong in adopting rock music by changing its lyrics, because the message is not in the music but in the words. This view of course has brought a great deal of change in the way we worship in our churches today. We must ask the question, however, is music, indeed, void of moral qualities? In this paper I will attempt to prove that music alone does have moral qualities, and that because of this, it is wrong to use that medium to influence a person, especially when it comes to that persons decision for Christ. If music is used in this manner, it can give someone a false view of God, and sometimes make a person feel like they are committed before they actually are, resulting in the feeling of failure when they don¡¦t follow through. In this paper I will discuss the three elements of music and how they relate to the three elements of the body. I will then show how music affects these areas, and end with a scriptural approach to a Christians responsibility in light of this issue.
There are three basic elements that make up music, rhythm, melody, and harmony. Just as music has these three different elements, humans also are made up of three basic elements, body, mind, and spirit. Each different element of music has a connection to a specific area of the human being. Rhythm is the heart beat of music. It is what moves music, whether it be fast or slow, it is the heartbeat, or pulse if you will. Rhythm connects to the physical body. This is why many times, when a beat is heard, people start tapping their feet, or feel like dancing. Sometimes a beat is purposely used, in the military for instance, to get everyone to march in time. The melody is the logic of music. It follows logical steps and sequences to make familiar tunes. The melody connects with the mind of an individual. This is where a person makes decisions based on logic. The final element of music is the harmony aspect. Technically it is referred to as a chord progression, vertical chords that are always present in the background. This is what gives music a soul, it is what give it feeling. Of course we as humans were created with feelings. Many time we will let those feelings affect the way we make decisions. It is our spirit.
The reason I have made this connection is because of the fact that the Bible simply does not have anything to say about twentieth century music. The apostle Paul never got to meet the Beetles, and none of any of the other writers ever heard what we call ¡§rock and roll¡¨. Just as in many other areas of the Christians life, it is necessary for us to draw parallels using principles. It should be our goal as Christians to become spiritual persons. To do this we need to get our priorities straight. We need to get these three elements in the right order. Spirit first, then the mind, then the body. Just like it says in Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." This clearly states that we need to put spiritual things first. Another text that supports this is Ephesians 5:18-19: "18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;" Verse 19 continues, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;" Notice how it talks about being filled with the Spirit, and then talks about singing and making melody. There are three different types of music mentioned here. Dr. Frank Garlock, describes them in his video "The Language of Music" Psalms literally means to play a stringed instrument with the fingers. It was instrumental music that the words of scripture were often set to. Hymns are vertical, they are songs of praise and worship of God. Spiritual songs were songs of testimony, they were referred to as odes, what God has done for me.
The word rhythm comes from the Greek word (rheo) which literally means to flow or to pulse. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The word used here in Greek is (rheoo-soo-sin). The significance of this is that this "pulse" is life. Jesus said that He came not to take away life, but that we might have it abundantly. In this same reasoning, music that does not have rhythm, or a pulse is dead. Music that has too much pulse, just as in a human body, if the pulse gets out of control the person becomes sick and likewise with music.
So as you can see, music is more than just notes on a piece of paper. There is one more analogy that I would like to use to show that music is a moral medium. If we look at speech, the letters of the alphabet. No one would consider the letters of the alphabet to have moral values, but when you combine those letters they make words that then take on moral value. The same with art. Art is made up of lines and circles, and are just lines and circles until you begin to combine them. We all know that there is good and bad art. It is so easy to take those lines and circles and use them to draw beautiful pictures of nature, or even God, but those same lines and circles can be used to draw indecent pictures of death and pornography. I believe that this same connection can be made within music. The notes on the scale are just notes until you combine them. Once you combine them they take on moral value.
Now that we can see the moral value of music, it is important to for us to see what impact that has on an individual’s life. In his video, Dr. Frank Garlock mentions a survey that had been done by a national group that works with college age students. The study was of a Christian rock concert at which over a thousand young people had risen their hands in a commitment to Christ. A follow-up was done to see how many of them had followed through in their commitment. After months of interviews and research, it was found that not one of them had been genuinely converted. One can¡¦t help, after looking at these statistics, becoming a little bit curious as to the reasons why.
The answer lies in the music itself. The very nature of the music is that of brain wash and mind control. Let¡¦s take a look at the counter part of contemporary Christian music, secular rock. I find it interesting that the secular musicians tend to recognize rock music more for what it is than we as Christians tend to. Now we all know that rock star Jimi Hendrix isn’t exactly the model Christian, but I found an interesting quote from him in Bacchiocchi’s book: "You can hypnotize people with the music and when they get at their weakest point you can preach into their subconscious minds what you want to say"I find it rather sad that something that the "world" admits freely, so often is explained away and justified in the Christian community.
We also see example of the power of music when we look in the Bible. Let’s look at I Samuel 16:23 "Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him." (NIV) It is important to see that Saul was not affected by any lyrics David was singing. David was playing his harp, relief came to Saul strictly from the instrumental music.
The very nature of rock music is an attitude of chaos and rebellion. This is an attitude that is not befitting to a Christian. Teens across America use this medium to block their parents out. In anger they retreat to their rooms behind closed doors and blare this music that distances them from their own parents. We are reminded in the book of Exodus what this behavior results in. "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." (Exo 20:12 NIV) When music causes a home to split, we can clearly see the devils hand in it.
We now must look at the affects of rock music on the body. It has been proven that rock music actually stimulates sexual arousal. This is a fact that is known by the secular rock industry and exploited. The process is explained in Bacchiocchi¡¦s book. "When the beat generates high levels of sensory excitation (that is, when due to the pace of the rhythm and loudness of the music the auditory impact nears maximal reception), the brain is put in a state of stress. This state of stress is measurable in ¡§driving¡¨ brainwave activity. This driving activity occurs in all people when highly stimulated; subjective evaluation of the input - such as whether one likes or dislikes the music - is not a factor. To force its activity levels down and to achieve homeostasis, the brain releases the body’s natural opioids. These opioids are naturally produced opiates chemically similar to drugs like morphine. They are used to control the body¡¦s sensitivity to pain¡KConsiderable evidence confirms that rock music generates or enhances sexual arousal by the way of this same process. Because of this chemical reaction in the brain, the body’s response to this adrenaline rush is addiction. It starts out slow, and eventually the body requires more and more beat to acquire the same results of stimulation. It seems highly illogical to me, to use music that causes such brain stimulation, even to the point of sexual arousal, to use this as any type of tool to bring people to Christ. Even if it does bring some to Christ, it presents a false image of the God we serve.
Music also affects the mind in very significant ways. Joseph Crow, a researcher at the University of Seattle, conducted an interesting study of the rock culture and its music. He found that "Rock is a use of music based on mathematical formulae to condition the mind through calculated frequencies (vibrations), and it is used to modify the body chemistry to make the mind susceptible to modification and indoctrination. Rock music can be (and is) employed for mindbending, reeducation, and re-organization." He continues "The perceptual changes that occur may well manifest themselves in children as decreased performance in school, hyperactivity, and restlessness; in adults, as decreased work output, increased errors, general inefficiency, reduced decision-making capacity on the job, and a gagging feeling that things just are not right - in short, the loss of energy for no apparent reason. This has been observed clinically hundreds of times. In my practice I have found that the academic records of many school children improve considerable after they stop listening to rock music while studying¡¨." Studies also showed that "young people who listened to rock reported a higher rate of a wide range of reckless behaviors, including driving behavior, sexual behavior, and drug use. They were also less satisfied with their family relationships".
It is important to see the affects that rock has on the mind because it shows us that decision-making capabilities are greatly impaired while listening to rock music. A Christian needs to take this into account when selecting the music that they will fill their mind with. The Bible has much to say about partaking in activities that inhibit the mind. If one truly is interested in fighting in the battle of good and evil, it is to that persons advantage to have their minds in the best condition possible.
Let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say about the state of mind Christians should be in. I’d like to start with Philippians 2:5. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:¡¨ (KJV) This is a general statement that admonishes us to aspire to have a mind that is Christ-like. Let’s look at what kind of a mind Jesus had and see how that contrasts with the theology of rock and roll. I believe that we can find the answer to this question in the book of Romans.
"The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can It do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." Rom 8:6-11 (NIV)
God wants us to have life. As we have seen rock music is actually detrimental to the living brain, and the physical body. The mind of a Christian is controlled by the Spirit of God, not by rock music. There are thousands of Christian teens around this country who feel that it is wrong to listen to rock music, but cannot stop listening to it because of the addicting power it possesses. God is not out to gain control of our brains by force, or by means of trickery, this is why He has given man the free will to choose to follow Him or to choose not to. When rock music is used as a medium to exhibit God’s character, the very nature of the music presents a false image of that character by manipulating the mind. This can actually, in the long run, end up being more detrimental than it is good.
It is important, when dealing with the topic of music, to see the whole picture. Don¡¦t just look at the surface, but dig a little deeper. Understand the connection that music has with the body, mind, and spirit. Understand what affects the music has on your body. Not only how it makes you feel inside, but what affect it has on the brain, and your overall relationship to Christ. I feel taking these facts into account, one can clearly see the fallacies in using rock music as a means of influencing a persons decision for Christ. On a deeper level, it is also important that we in our personal lives make decisions that will always better our relationship with Christ and not be detrimental in anyway. Let us not forget that our eternal soul depends on what we dwell on while we are here on this planet.
In closing I would like to share a passage from scripture a motto that can help when making decisions of what to listen to: "Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord." Eph 5:10 (KJV) It is always important to find what is acceptable in God’s eyes as opposed to what we may FEEL is ok.
