One
of the unfortunate philosophical positions of some Christian musicians is that
all religious music is appropriate in the life of a Christian and conversely
that all non-religious (secular) music is inappropriate in the life of a
Christian. On the surface it would seem
that including only religious music would greatly simplify music
philosophy. This faulty praxis only
complicates matters since it removes all need and responsibility of the
Christian to prove what is “acceptable unto the Lord”. This paradigm has spawned generations of
Christian musicians who believe that there are no absolutes, rules, or standards
of sacred or secular music. To them, there is only one guideline – it has to be
religious in nature. Under this mindset,
sacred and secular music is a standardless art that does not have to be
evaluated or pass any tests of suitability and appropriateness or correctness
or incorrectness.
A
Christian musician without a well-defined congruent Bible based music
philosophy is like a ship in the middle of the sea without a compass. Since a Christian music philosophy must
transcend regional cultural boundaries, it cannot be based totally on
environment, community, or traditions but rather on that which is compatible
with what the Word of God teaches. If we
are to survive in the 21st century, Christians who are church and
Christian school musicians must develop carefully defined music philosophies
that are congruent with the Bible principles.
These principles must serve as the foundation of music philosophy. These standards must be systematic and must
cover the nature and value of the whole of both sacred and secular music.
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