The Bible is so very clear that there is a war going on
between the flesh and the spirit, and this war is caused by our enemy
Satan. The Bible is also very clear that
a Christian must control his or passions by being sure that the flesh is kept
in subjection. This has to include the
kinds of passions that are capable of being aroused through musical
sounds. (Because there are so many
excellent published writings on the dangers of rock and contemporary music, I
will not discuss arousal theory and its relationship to religious music in the
context of this discussion.) I will say
that Christian musicians, who trifle with the “arousal theory” in the form of sexual arousal in religious music,
are playing with fire. I want to say
further that those who present sacred things with sexual meaning transmitted
through music (sexual innuendos), are sadly misguided and they are doing the
work of God deceitfully—a practice that the Bible directly condemns (see
Jeremiah 48:10).
I have contended for years that the belief that music is
a closed system is a spurious
philosophy because that would make it an autonomous system. There is no aspect of a Christian’s
philosophy that is autonomous simply because we are accountable to God in every
area of our life. Therefore, I cannot
believe that God, who in the beginning created music, created it
philosophically as a closed system. I believe God created the mathematical
ratios that produce sound so that we could worship Him with these sounds. I also believe that He created these ratios
that produce pitches so that these sounds could become a part of the abundant
life that the Christian should enjoy.
This “abundant life” or perissos (4012) which is spoken of in St. John
10:10 means that God has created music in superabundance or exceedingly and
abundantly above the necessity of mere existence.
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