SHOULD CHRISTIANS LISTEN TO SECULAR MUSIC?
This is sometimes a debate we find ourselves in. Its one of the few topics that has several answers, but here is my take on the subject…
Gospel music and Secular music, lets define them both.
What is Gospel/Christian music? From the definition of the gospel (which is in short the teachings and revelations of Christ) we get the idea that gospel music is simply all those teachings converted into songs.
Secular music on the other hand is any music that not connected to religion or spiritual matters. It means a non-religious music.
So therefore, saying “Christians must not listen to or sing secular music” will be wrong because by definition, your nursery rhymes are secular, the national anthem is secular, your school anthem is secular. People get inspired to write songs for social enlightenment, information, morals, entertainment, education and so on. These are also tagged as “secular”. I’ll talk a little more about “Inspiration” later on.
So the question now is where do we draw the line, especially as christians?
1st Corinthians 10:31 says
“So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”
and then In Philippians 4:8 Paul says
“Finally, my brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such thing and the God of peace will be with you”
Listening to music is like eating. The same way you avoid dirty or rotten things from your mouth is the same way we ought to avoid them from our ears. How do we know what is dirty or rotten or unhealthy? Cross check the characteristics of the song and the artist with Philippians 4:8
A lot of secular music are like Junk Food; burgers and fries, hotdogs etc. they’re enjoyable, and filling, But in the long run leaves you obese and unhealthy IF YOU LIVE SOLELY ON THEM. They do nothing for the spirit man.
Now about inspiration, these days, more and more secular songs (not all) are inspired by the devil, promoting lust, immorality, falsehood, vanity etc. these songs are basically poison and must be avoided.
Galatians 15:16-18 says So I say walk in the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.
Because of the constant struggle between our spirit and our flesh, there is need to feed the spirit on a regular and avoid what negatively affects it (like the demon-inspired songs mentioned earlier). It is only an advantage when songs that empower the spirit are listened to more often.
So in conclusion, listening to certain types of secular music isn’t a sin, but because majority of other secular music of this age now have the power to drive us into sin, it is therefore important to learn to filter what we listen to.
God bless
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