The nitty-gritty of
making musical choices will many times be difficult for teenagers. They will explore and they push the limits
set by the home, church, and the Christian school. The lines of communication between parents
and teenagers must be kept open. There
must be no name-calling, no unwarranted accusations, no anger, and no rancor in
parent-teenager musical discussions.
Parents should remember that if a young person’s musical choices do not
involve extreme musical styles that are associated with anti-Christ living and
if the music is clean morally, teenagers have a right to likes and dislikes in
music. Just because a parent doesn’t like
a particular style of music is not sufficient reason to deny a child or
teenager access to that music. I want to
make it very clear that I am not referring to rock music or popular music that
is of an offensive nature.
Parents have the
responsibility to set limits concerning both the secular and sacred music that
their children purchase, perform and listen to in and out of the home. However, an overbearing parental approach
that makes all the decisions all the time for children thwarts a child’s ability
to make wise choices of sacred and secular music. The ultimate musical wish of parents for
children should be that as adults the next generation will make wise choices of
both sacred and secular music. In order
for this to happen, our children must be catechized, educated, mentored and
prepared to accept the role of adulthood.
If they develop a Christocentric music philosophy, it will largely be
the result of parental guidance that was also Christ-centered and Bible based.
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