Does Satan make music?

@Quiver start reading your Bible, praying more, spend little to no time on social media, only watch educational or sports programs on TV. All of this will help with trying to be pure and the influence of westernised culture should hopefully wear off.

 

I must say, what a blessing it is to see a young man so on fire for the Lord! I'm only a couple of years older, but it seems rarer and rarer to find one so committed to getting right with God. I only wish I had more people like you around me in real life.

Thank you for your input today Brother. May the Lord bless and guide you.

 

I try to be. I must admit I do slack off with prayer and reading the Bible. I don't give Him the 100% percent of me that He deserves but I try. I just need to get my priorities straight.

 

You too.

 

With God's help we will both grow into the men of God that we want to be. Stick with it, Be strong and of good courage. I will be sure to pray for you brother.

 

Interesting point made here. I do agree that some contemporary christian music can be just awful, but I only feel that way when the style of music doesn't match the message.

A good, clean sounding, melody that could be sang in a church choir without raising eyebrows has a very different impact on me when compared to the latest 'Jesus-is-my-girlfriend' song; you know the kind where if you were to replace "Jesus" with "baby" it would still make sense. Or the latest Jesus-per-minute rap, which presumably is written with the sole intention of being played to young people in an attempt to sound cool. The artists that make this sort of music are usually the same type to eventually start spouting false doctrine - again presumably to 'appeal' to the widest audience.

As Christians I don't think we should really try to appeal to people by (note) badly trying to sound cool. The bible says in Galatians 6:14 "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (my bold); I don't think it means for us to poorly imitate the world's customs, so they are attracted to us in some way. We should be crucified to one another, not flirting with their culture.

 

agreed trying to follow trends or fashion in the secular world ends up sounding second rate - it always sounds like an imitation because it is.

on the other hand, the lucid beauty of a hymn - the words and music, cannot be imitated by the secular world - when those hymns hit me, it like the veil between heaven and earth is lifted.

That's not to say there can't be beautiful folk christian music or christian themed music or that bad choral music - 'over sang' hymns are just as ear wrenching.

LOL! Yes I feel this way too. One reason I like the older hymns is the strength and conviction of the lyrics. Its like our depiction of angels as cute cherubs - in the bible they are awe-inspiring and sometimes 'scary' (not in a horror movie way but rather they appear powerful warriors of God, often the first thing they have to say is 'Fear not!"

God can certainly be abba, father, but he is also King of kings. In the last few decades we've tried to take the awe out of worship with familiar terms like 'the big guy upstairs"

 

One other note. Now that I am older, I realize how incredibly negative the 'message' of most pop /rock was. I can't help but think that constantly pounding that message (sex, petulance, perpetual adolescence, partying) via music with a strong beat did not have a negative subconscious effect.

 

Amen to that. There's few things better than a beautiful hymn, though I agree that you are right - there certainly is such a thing as beautiful folk Christian music and the like. I wonder if anyone here has ever heard a beautiful Christian rap though?

I also agree that we seem to have stripped God of his awesomeness in some of our music. I guess God is so complex it would be hard to focus on more than just a small aspect of his character in a song. We naturally seem to prefer singing the praises of God who loves us, rather than dwelling on the fact that he could completely destroy us without having to raise a finger; Jesus during the sermon on the mount, not driving out the temple with a scourge of small cords.

I'm not sure there's many over-sung hymns that I know of, I could listen to amazing grace or how great thou art all day! Perhaps my day will come in that respect.

Perhaps one of my favourite bits of any song ever is the "Fall on your knees" part of the Christmas carol O Holy Night. Especially when the singer really belts it out; I always think - wow, that really is what I should be doing in God's presence every day. He really is awesome!

If anyone has any good songs they know feel free to drop them here - especially if they give you that 'Wow, God is so awesome' feeling.

 

Clarification: By over-sung I meant 'over the top' /overdone - too much embellishment. Though not a hymn the best example I can think of is the Star Spangled Banner is sung by pop stars at the opening of big sporting events - they always have to put 'their' twist on it...

 

Ahh, totally with you now. I know exactly what you mean. On a separate note... Thinking about it, as national anthems go, the Star Spangled Banner is actually kind of secular isn't it.. we don't have that here in the UK - there isn't much you can do with "God Save the Queen", or "Jerusalem". The American "Battle hymn of the Republic" is a great song though...

 

oh yes it's secular - just using that as an example of an 'oversung' /over embellished song.
Battle Hymn is a great anthem, but I don't know how it would go over down south

 

Aye, I'm with you brother. I was always lead to believe that it was sung on both sides, presumably under a different title.

That's real nice stuff - if only I knew what it was saying! Thanks for sharing Brother.