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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