Imagine if you will an Indonesian bushman we will call Fred. Fred has heard a strange message about Jesus and forgiveness of sin. An islander from a different tribe testified of the power of God being greater than that of the spirits, and he gave Fred a copy of the Bible that he had received from some foreign missionaries. Fred takes the Scripture portion home with him, as he journeys back to his home tribe. There isolated from almost any foreign influences, he comes to believe in the Jesus of the Bible, and a small band of believers emerges.
Now Fred has a New Testament with the Psalms. And in the Psalms, he finds numerous exhortations to sing to the Lord, and to sing a new song. So he and his fellow believing tribesman pick up their native instruments and start composing songs for their newfound Savior.
There is one problem with this story, though. Fred and his friends are singing songs with the same instrumentation and the same cultural sound as those they used to sing before they were converted. Indeed many tribes use that kind of music in their pagan rituals and songs to spirits. Isn’t the music then that Fred is using inherently evil? Doesn’t it have a morality of its own, independent of the wonderfully Christian words that Fred is using in his new songs?
Such is the question of morality and music. And here is my latest attempt at discussing this thorny topic. What follows is taken from a comment I recently made on my blog here, in response to yet another discussion about these very issues. At the end of this discussion, I’m going to return to the example mentioned above.
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Music is amoral, because music is a creation, an entity — merely noise. But music is never used or created or employed by amoral people. People employ music for many different purposes, and as in everything people do, morality becomes a part of it.
How music becomes moral or immoral depends on the meaning of music. Just like there is nothing morally wrong with a rainbow colored bumper sticker, there is nothing morally wrong with any different style of music. Now a bumper sticker of the colors described above has taken on a meaning, and the meaning is quite specific. And for that reason I can judge the meaning as unquestionably immoral, and I would not put one on my car. Now with music, then, morality becomes a question of meaning.
So how much meaning is in music? I don’t argue that music has no meaning, it does. Apart from any lyrical context, without any words, and without any context, simple sounds or a simple music style does not have a specific enough meaning to become inherently moral or immoral, in my opinion. Add some words, add a context, the music increases in specificity and can clearly be inherently moral or immoral.
Yet even then, music is by nature subjective. Music inherently is more than just communication. It is more than just content or meaning. It is not mere prose, it is poetry given life. It is a spirit thing. Music is emotional, it is art yes, but more than mere art. It is something to be enjoyed. At the root, music is used because it is pleasing to listen to. We could all just recite the words to “How Great Thou Art” in unison. But that would not move us to the depths of our being as much as if we included a rich melody and harmony, and a supporting rhythm.
Now come questions of association, culture, and quality. Musicologists and philosophers wax eloquent, and traditionally charged presumptions and prejudices pull many into the fray. But it is precisely here that we must be most especially careful to look to Scripture. We find essential silence. Scripture never discusses the lasting qualities which make certain kinds of music inherently superior to others. Scripture doesn’t teach that certain associations make certain music styles inherently evil or unredeemable. Scripture never points out a specific cultural variety of music for our emulation. It merely encourages believers, gifted with the creativity God gave them, to employ all kinds of music in a way which captures the totality of our spirit and soul and mind in honest praise to God.
So to be frank, I don’t buy the arguments of musicologists on the superiority of classical music. There are plenty of other cultural varieties of music, and in other cultures believers looking to Scripture would not be pointed to an 18th century European musical theory book. I also don’t buy the argument that anything contemporary has been polluted by the beat which inspired rock “˜n roll. Sure there is much contemporary music crafted to encourage illicit sensual pleasures. But sensual pleasures are only wrong when enjoyed outside of the bounds God lays.
We are sensual, fleshly people. As such, we like to eat, and we need to sleep. We enjoy a pat on the back, and we like to kiss our wives/husbands. We laugh and cry. For many, any kind of music which appeals to their body is denounced as fleshly. If it makes my foot want to tap, it must be evil. Why is that? Because I like vanilla ice cream, should I be worried about catering to my flesh?
Now I grant that association can render some kinds of music style inappropriate for certain contexts, like worship services. But God wants us to redeem all of culture, and I believe that almost any musical style can be redeemed given a proper context.
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Now then, let’s come back to the example of Fred, our converted bushman from Indonesia. Did you notice how it is the testimony of Scripture which compelled Fred to start writing songs and singing to God? If we stop for a moment and get honest with ourselves, we must agree that Scripture does not directly address the question of what kind of musical instrumentation or style believers such as Fred are to employ. What Scripture teaches by precept and example, is that all kinds of musical instruments and all kinds of emotions (often at the highest intensity) are to be used and felt during acceptable, God-honoring music. All of this is gleamed from the Psalms alone. And the Psalms also teach us to be physically expressive, we are to shout, clap our hands, raise our hands, even dance as we sing.
So I conclude by affirming that it would be wrong for a Westerner to enter Fred’s sphere and condemn Fred’s musical style. Fred’s music doesn’t need to be westernized to be spiritual. The music Fred is employing has taken on a new context, that of praise to God. Fred has the freedom and responsibility to redeem his musical culture and to offer sincere heartfelt praise to God.
Recently, we have been singing a wonderful modern praise song at church that I’d like to share with you. Before I do, let me add a disclaimer. I love hymns. And our church often sings hymns. I would agree with many who would say the evangelical church today is in jeopardy of losing its rich musical tradition, as evidenced by the widespread neglect of hymns. But my blog is directed more towards people within fundamentalism and those familiar with it.
On My Cross by FFH