Thursday, July 27, 2006

The Power of Music

I grew up in a Christian home, where my father was a pastor. Relatively, I guess it is fair to say that my parents were strict--there were certain things that just weren't going to go on in their house.

One such thing was listening to wordly music. By popular definition, worldly music is any type of music that is not "Christian" or "Gospel". By my parents' definition--the one that mattered--this included any song that did not EXPLICITLY use the word Jesus or God at least 7 times during the course of the song. (You'll learn that I exagerrate to make my point.)

At the core of this restriction was a concern about the power of music on the minds of people, especially children.

I believe that music clearly has the ability to "move" a person, but I am still not sure about how much of a lasting, significant impact a song can have on a person's emotions, attitudes, and will.

I think we would all agree that there is some music that is just garbage. But I'd like to get your thoughts on, "how much power does music have in impacting the minds of the listener?"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

All of the authors made very compelling arguements about how misleading or not music really is. On a personal note I love music all kinds of music, it first started with classical. As I got older and wiser I began to focus more on music that will add to my life rather than confussion and mixed emotions. Music is what you make of it and what you want out off it

Anonymous said...

The effects of music have been a subject that our youth department has been studying of late. There is a very powerful video out concerning this subject matter by a Minister named G.Craig, entiteled "The Truths about Hip Hop" upon viewing this video you can't help but want to examine this topic in more depth. My personal viewpoint however is that music can reach into your spirit without your permission so one has to be careful what you allow yourself exposure to. I also feel that music can carry the spirit of its author (whether it is straight music or has lyrics attached)which makes it even more crucial to be wise as to what you allow yourself exposure to...The bible discusses how David played the harp & the evil spirit left Saul, Of course there were no lyrics and the author was God himself using a vessel named David.

Anonymous said...

This is very refreshing. Thanks for the smile.