Fallacies of philosophical thought--part 8

       Yesterday we discussed musical styles and whether or not they are equally appropriate for use in religious, and hopefully, sacred music. Mentioning musical style is one of the easiest ways to start a fight, except maybe to make fun of someone's grandmother and her homemade apple pie or better yet her apple strudel! 

        Today we are going to discuss another faulty view that all sacred music comes under the Lordship of Christ (since it is “unto God”) and that all secular music does not come under His Lordship (since the musicing  of secular music is not “unto God”).  On the surface, it would seem that this third view would be a better view since it does cover the whole of music.  Close scrutiny will reveal a major fallacy in this philosophical viewpoint:  it has an autonomous portion--that of secular music.  Since Christ is Lord of all our life, there is no area of a Christian’s life (including secular music) that is free from Christ’s authority.  As I have very briefly discussed before, no type of music is truly "absolute".  I understand that many music philosophers mean by the term "absolute music" merely that it is "music alone" i.e. music without a "program" or words.  Although I understand their definition, I contend that including the word "absolute" is a poor choice of words.  Do not hold your breath, but we will talk about this terminology later--at length!

       Meanwhile, let us return to our topic today. Whether music is or is not directly addressed to God is not the issue here.  Many people believe “you are what you eat” but ignore the fact that “you are what you hear” and “you are what you perform”. How did Christian musicians come to the conclusion that Christians are immune to the effects of the music they listen to and perform?  If any “musing” takes place in a person’s passive or active musicing, then it stands to reason that it will have a positive or negative effect on the whole life of that individual.  Therefore, both sacred and secular music matter very much. 
       Every style, genre, type, kind (or whatever term one  prefers to label it) comes under the ABSOLUTE lordship of God.  No Christian has the right to keep back a part of music as an autonomous portion to be consumed on one's self.  The personal enjoyment of different styles of music, within the limits discussed in an earlier post, is a perfectly legitimate phenomenon in the life of a Christian. However, he or she must remember that secular or sacred styles of music or the act of "doing" them or listening to them is never an autonomous phenomenon.