Sacred and Profane Sounds—part 4

Sacred and Profane Sounds—part 4

            Conservative Christian musicians and music philosophers are being shamed into playing dead to music style, form, and meaning.  They are being accused of being divisive, inward reaching, self-serving bigots who are not seeker sensitive.  Those Christian musicians who display any degree of musical restraint or musical conservatism are pinpointed as ignorant and out of touch with reality.  I am reminded of a passage of Scripture in1Peter 4:1-5, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.  For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.” 

            Although these verses say nothing specifically about the battle for Christian music, the analogy can be justly made.  Peter, whose writings were hovered over by the Holy Spirit, warns that if a Christian takes a stand for conscious sake he or she will suffer for taking that stand.  So, it is of little wonder that Christian musicians who have a careful musical conscious are accused of being musical bigots.  The fact that some Christian musicians have conservative views concerning sacred and profane music does not make them bigots or uncaring.  They simply believe that when one sets a particular “music” in motion it will function in a predictable way.