Music that we listen to, must all songs praise and give glory to God?

[Reddogs]

"Stairway to Heaven" (or, for Christians who listen to music) Must all songs praise and give glory to God?

One day a man came to our school to tell us of the 'evils' of 'Rock and Roll' and how we cant be a 'slave to the rhythm'. He was a musician who had repented of the rock star life, given his heart to the Lord, and written a book about it.

Many were impressed and listened to him as he gave his testimony and showed us how the music could 'move' and 'arose' the senses. The whole student body was strongly affected, and many spiritual and religious outreach was begun or strengthen by the spirit. We gave up our 'rock and roll' records, tore up our Led Zep, threw away our Santana, and yes, let go of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

My question is, does the music/content/words that Christians listen to have to be to 'spirtual' or give praise and give glory to God?

I checked who the music world, such as VH1 thought was the best to see if they had any 'redeeming' music/content/words in their songs, and put a comment beside each. As you can see, there wasnt much uplifting in their music I could find:

1) Beatles - Cant think of any (My Sweet Lord was to Lord Vishnu so doesnt count)

2) The Rolling Stones -Definitely Not as 'Requiem for the Devil' shows their god.

3) Jimi Hendrix - No

4) Led Zeppelin - (Stairway just doesnt cut it)

5) Bob Dylan - Maybe, didnt understand much of the words

6) James Brown - No

7) David Bowie -- No

8) Elvis Presley -- Yes, His gospel songs set the standard in my book.....

9) The Who -- No

10) The Police -- Beautiful Music but the words are focused on man.

11) Stevie Wonder -- Stevie has a lot of love and it comes through

12) Ray Charles -- Hmmm, I know he did some Gospel

13) The Beach Boys -- No

14) Marvin Gaye -- No

15) Eric Clapton -- No

16) John Lennon -- See Beetles

17) Elton John -- No

18) The Artist (Formerly Known as Prince) -- I heard he was SDA, but never picked up nothing in his songs.

19) Pink Floyd -- NO

20) The Doors -- No

21) Aretha Franklin -- Not quiet sure

22) Fleetwood Mac -- No

23) The Eagles -- See Fleetwood Mac.

24) Bob Marley -- The greatest Reggae singer ever... but still no.

25) Van Morrison -- ?

26) Chuck Berry -- No

27) Bruce Springsteen -- No

28) Sly & The Family Stone -- Didnt he start in a choir?

29) U2 -- No

30) Neil Young -- I dont know all of his music..

31) The Clash -- ?

32) Joni Mitchell -- ?

33) Queen -- No, (I've searched all their songs, nothing.)

34) Buddy Holly -- Who

35) Otis Redding -- Maybe

36) Little Richard -- See Prince

37) Al Green -- No

38) Elvis Costello -- ?

39) Miles Davis -- The greatest jazz man ever, but does just music count?

40) Michael Jackson -- Think sleeping with kids, NO!

41) Janis Joplin -- NO

42) Nirvana -- Kurt lived his songs..

43) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers --?

44) The Jackson Five -- Jehovah Witnesses, but I dont know if they ever sang in the choir.

45) Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young)-- Have to check but cant think of any

46) The Sex Pistols -- The name says it all

47) Creedence Clearwater Revival -- John Fogerty who?

48) Van Halen -- David Lee Roth is a poster child for people your mother told you to keep away.

49) Roy Orbison -- Maybe

50) R.E.M -- No

51) B.B. King -- See Miles Davis

52) Cream -- See Miles Davis

53) Peter Gabriel -- No

54) The Grateful Dead -- The name gives a hint.

55) The Byrds -- Cant remember any of their songs.

56) The Kinks -- No

57) Steely Dan -- See Miles Davis

58) Sam Cooke -- Maybe

59) Bo Diddley -- See Miles Davis

60) Earth, Wind & Fire -- No

61) Smokey Robinson -- Did he sing in the choir?

62) Paul McCartney -- See Beetles

63) Sting -- See the Police

64) Frank Zappa -- I never got him...

65) James Taylor -- Didnt like his songs.

66) Talking Heads -- ?

67) Kiss -- Definitely not

68) The Allman Brothers -- Cant remember their songs

69) Pretenders -- No

70) Stevie Ray Vaughan -- See Miles Davis

71) Rod Stewart -- No

72) Simon & Garfunkel -- "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" is Gospel if I remember right.

73) Muddy Waters -- See Miles Davis

74) The Velvet Underground -- ?

75) Curtis Mayfield -- ?

76) The Bee Gees -- Not a chance

77) John Coltrane -- ?

78) Billy Joel -- Dont think so

79) Aerosmith -- No

80) Tina Turner -- Good singer in the choir..

81) The Band -- ?

82) Devo -- No

83) Iggy Pop -- See Devo.

84) T-Rex -- Who

85) Carole King -- Didnt hear much of hers.

86) Madonna -- Ask the Catholics on this one..

87) Santana -- Carlos the man, the legend, but still No.

88) Ramones -- ?

89) Johnny Cash -- The only real country artist on here... and I got to believe he did some gospel.

90) Tom Waits -- ?

91) Gladys Knight & the Pips -- She must have sung in a church choir somewhere.

92) The Tempations -- Need help on these...

93) The Four Tops -- Need help on these...

94) Diana Ross & The Supremes -- ...and need help on another one.

95) Robert Johnson -- See Miles Davis

96) Lynyrd Skynyrd -- No

97) Fats Domino -- Didnt hear him

98) Traffic -- Music is good, but the words...

99) Parliament-Funkadelic -- Who

100) Paul Simon -- Any Simon and Garfunkel fans know of any song...?

[Liz]

I am not really sure that I know what you are asking. I listen to all kinds of music, and while some of it isn't Christian, that doesn't mean it doesn't have some merit. There are some days when everything seems to go wrong, and there is one song I like to crank up on those days, I don't know who sings it but it goes "I get knocked down, but I get up again, you ain't never gonna keep me down". It helps, you know?

Disclaimer--I know that this is a drinking song, but that line is still great.

[Woody]

Okay. This will date me ... but I grew up being blessed by the Carpenters and Peter Paul and Mary. Please note ... those are all Biblical names if that helps.

[Liz]

Didn't Peter Paul and Mary do "Puff the Magic Dragon"? If so, I loved that song, then I heard that it was about drugs???? Not sure, but I still love "Puff the Magic Dragon", they made a cartoon about it in the '70's maybe, I don't remember much about it, just that I cried at the end---I was a very little girl.

[Woody]

Yes. Some will pervert good at every opportunity. Puff had nothing to do with drugs as far as I knew. But those who did do drugs ... made it into an issue with drugs. Sad. It was such a great song.

[Reddogs]

I am not really sure that I know what you are asking. I listen to all kinds of music, and while some of it isn't Christian, that doesn't mean it doesn't have some merit. There are some days when everything seems to go wrong, and there is one song I like to crank up on those days, I don't know who sings it but it goes "I get knocked down, but I get up again, you ain't never gonna keep me down". It helps, you know?

Disclaimer--I know that this is a drinking song, but that line is still great.

This is exactly what I am asking, do songs or just the music give glory to God, even if they dont mention him or have merit in another way...?

[Neil D]

Quote:

This is exactly what I am asking, do songs or just the music give glory to God, even if they dont mention him or have merit in another way...?

What??? You want hymms?

If so, some of our hymms are tunes to drinking songs....Of course, you dont know this, because you weren't around at that time....Martin Luther took drinking songs and made them into church music...He said, "Why should the devil have all the good songs?", ...he changed the words, added them to the drinking tunes and they became popular...Since then, we have increase the songs stature into 'hymms'.

Remember this...songs are tools. You can use a tool for the wrong purpose, but does that mean that the tool is bad? No, it means that it was used for the wrong purpose. Don't make something bad, just because it was used for the wrong purpose. A hammer used to kill doesn't mean that all hammers are bad and not to be used.

[phkrause]

I think I understand what your getting at. All those groups and songs you have listed, I know each one of them. Sometimes I feel bad that I know and can probably repeat most of the words, but yet can not remember many of the christian songs that I learned while growing up. I did think that certain songs told what some of these groups thought about religion or God. One of my favorite songs has always been "Imagine" by John Lennon. I would would always think to myself I hope that heaven is going to be like that. Of course as I grew older and wiser (only in my own mind_hahaha) I knew that heaven or anything to do with God was the furthers thing from his mind. (especially if you read books about the way he grew up). But I still thought that the song had alot of merit. But as the years have gone bye I listen less and less to r&r, and listening more to christian music.

pk

[Liz]

If so, some of our hymms are tunes to drinking songs....Of course, you dont know this, because you weren't around at that time....Martin Luther took drinking songs and made them into church music...He said, "Why should the devil have all the good songs?", ...he changed the words, added them to the drinking tunes and they became popular...Since then, we have increase the songs stature into 'hymms'.

That is pretty funny, I didn't know that about Martin Luther. It would be kinda fun to know what the original words were.

[aldona]

Most of the music I listen to has no lyrics or verbal content at all (classical instrumental), but I certainly feel it brings me closer to God. Even more so than any "religious" music can.

I was doing some research a few days ago for our church choir, looking into the background of some well-known religious songs and hymns, when I came across an interesting article about the song "The Holy City.".

Read the story here

It seems that Stephen Adams (a.k.a. Michael Maybrick), who wrote the music, and Frederick Weatherly, who wrote the lyrics, were both active and practicing Freemasons. And the content of the lyrics would have been considered, in its day (1894) to be more Masonic than Christian.

(apparently topics like Solomon's temple, the New Jerusalem, crusading choirs of children heading to the Holy Land, etc, were not common in mainstream church sermons at that time...being of more interest to Freemasons and...dare I say it...non-conformists like Adventists.)

I had always thought that was an old Adventist song - the lyrics are just like something lifted out of the book of Revelation or The Great Controversy.

(I can't believe I was talked out of having some of my favorite Mozart at my wedding - an instrumental piece from "The Magic Flute" - on the grounds it was too closely associated with Freemasonry...and then opted to have "The Holy City" instead... )

aldona

[Bravus]

Thanks for resurrecting this one, aldona - a very interesting topic.

By the way, the 'I get knocked down...' song (Tubthumping, by Chumbawumba - and is it a little sad that I didn't need to Google that?) is actually an *anti-drinking* song about the futility of a drunken life.

Of course, I am the black sheep of the forum when it comes to music listened to, with lots of 'evil' heavy metal on the menu, as part of a hugely eclectic mix. I have to admit that I find much Christian music anodyne and dull, but there are a few great exceptions like Rich Mullins.

[Gail]

*chuckle* (replying to Aldona)

I discovered the very same thing just recently when a customer wanted to purchase print music of The Holy City. I printed out the story of the song for her just to see what she would say :)

[Gail]

Quote:

I have to admit that I find much Christian music anodyne and dull, but there are a few great exceptions like Rich Mullins.

Ditto

[fccool]

I think people tend to think that "keeping our minds out of evil" almost equates to ignoring it. Bible is full of imagery of evil. You'd have to ignore most of the Bible in fact in order to "dwell of positive things" that we think we are aught to dwell on.

One of my favorite songs of all time is "Imagine" by John Lennon. The tune is catchy, but it really gets me thinking about how the world would be like if God would not revealed himself. Would it be like what Lennon have imagined, or much worse?

I do despise the bloated and marketed to oblivion rap/pop culture music. The music hammers itself into the minds of the young people by means of catchy repetition, and they walk around parroting the lyrics... not even understanding what they are signing. Almost all of the modern songs you hear today follow the pattern of .

verse

chorus

verse

chorus

bridge

chorus

chorus

chorus

chorus

YEAHHHHHH

Not only I think it shows the inherent laziness of today's culture, it demonstrate any lack of appreciation for depth. The only musical depth that is appreciate... is the one that is an underscore to a popular movie, but not many will listen the scores on their own, as these become "boring".

[Kountzer]

Jimi Hendrix's machince gun, and version of star spangled banner had a spiritual feel to them, at least I thought so at the time. Maybe it was the purple haze.

Listen to Miles Davis' green dolphin street, or all blues. That's as close to spiritual as you can get without actually converting.

John Coltrane: A love Supreme?

James Brown: hard to do anything with that.

Traffic: the low spark of high heel boys? nah.

Stevie Wonder: higher ground. They were tapping toes to that more at the bar than at church.

DB

[Reddogs]

I think people tend to think that "keeping our minds out of evil" almost equates to ignoring it. Bible is full of imagery of evil. You'd have to ignore most of the Bible in fact in order to "dwell of positive things" that we think we are aught to dwell on.

One of my favorite songs of all time is "Imagine" by John Lennon. The tune is catchy, but it really gets me thinking about how the world would be like if God would not revealed himself. Would it be like what Lennon have imagined, or much worse?

I do despise the bloated and marketed to oblivion rap/pop culture music. The music hammers itself into the minds of the young people by means of catchy repetition, and they walk around parroting the lyrics... not even understanding what they are signing. Almost all of the modern songs you hear today follow the pattern of .

verse

chorus

verse

chorus

bridge

chorus

chorus

chorus

chorus

YEAHHHHHH

Not only I think it shows the inherent laziness of today's culture, it demonstrate any lack of appreciation for depth. The only musical depth that is appreciate... is the one that is an underscore to a popular movie, but not many will listen the scores on their own, as these become "boring".

Of course this is the same John Lennon who said the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus Christ"......so 'Imagine' was more of him looking as self issues than spiritual issues..

[Reddogs]

Jimi Hendrix's machince gun, and version of star spangled banner had a spiritual feel to them, at least I thought so at the time. Maybe it was the purple haze.

Listen to Miles Davis' green dolphin street, or all blues. That's as close to spiritual as you can get without actually converting.

John Coltrane: A love Supreme?

James Brown: hard to do anything with that.

Traffic: the low spark of high heel boys? nah.

Stevie Wonder: higher ground. They were tapping toes to that more at the bar than at church.

DB

I feel some music is spiritual or inspires even without words as it brings the mind to a higher spiritual plane, but how do you classify or identify such sounds...

[Reddogs]

Quote:

This is exactly what I am asking, do songs or just the music give glory to God, even if they dont mention him or have merit in another way...?

What??? You want hymms?

If so, some of our hymms are tunes to drinking songs....Of course, you dont know this, because you weren't around at that time....Martin Luther took drinking songs and made them into church music...He said, "Why should the devil have all the good songs?", ...he changed the words, added them to the drinking tunes and they became popular...Since then, we have increase the songs stature into 'hymms'.

Remember this...songs are tools. You can use a tool for the wrong purpose, but does that mean that the tool is bad? No, it means that it was used for the wrong purpose. Don't make something bad, just because it was used for the wrong purpose. A hammer used to kill doesn't mean that all hammers are bad and not to be used.

That is what I am looking at, what makes one song 'good' and another 'bad', is it the words. No it cannot be just the words, as Beethoven and others wrote some music that can only be called 'heavenly sounds' even without the words, so sounds can also glorify the divine.

Revelation 15:2

And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

[Neil D]

That is what I am looking at, what makes one song 'good' and another 'bad', is it the words. No it cannot be just the words, as Beethoven and others wrote some music that can only be called 'heavenly sounds' even without the words, so sounds can also glorify the divine.

Revelation 15:2

And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

This is where you have to ...um ...do something ....to find out what inspires you...you have to [are you ready?] think....I know..it hurts to think, it's painful...it's hard...but you have to know what you like, if it sounds good, if the words are glorifying, if the two go together [some words don't really match the tune...that's advanced thinking btw] and most of all, do you like it?

Well, that's all you have to do...[smile] have fun!....

[Reddogs]

Originally Posted By: Reddogs

That is what I am looking at, what makes one song 'good' and another 'bad', is it the words. No it cannot be just the words, as Beethoven and others wrote some music that can only be called 'heavenly sounds' even without the words, so sounds can also glorify the divine.

Revelation 15:2

And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

This is where you have to ...um ...do something ....to find out what inspires you...you have to [are you ready?] think....I know..it hurts to think, it's painful...it's hard...but you have to know what you like, if it sounds good, if the words are glorifying, if the two go together [some words don't really match the tune...that's advanced thinking btw] and most of all, do you like it?

Well, that's all you have to do...[smile] have fun!....

So I can go to a Black Sabbath concert and if Ozzie does a song and uses words that praises God, its OK. No, thats not 'advanced thinking' as the person giving the praise or were it comes from also matters, as even the demons recognized the Son of God. The Beatles did songs such 'My Sweet Lord', do you think that was for praise and glory to God.......

Both the source and sound have to be in sync, or it dont mean a thing....:0)

[Liz]

Originally Posted By: Neil D

This is where you have to ...um ...do something ....to find out what inspires you...you have to [are you ready?] think....I know..it hurts to think, it's painful...it's hard...but you have to know what you like, if it sounds good, if the words are glorifying, if the two go together [some words don't really match the tune...that's advanced thinking btw] and most of all, do you like it?

Well, that's all you have to do...[smile] have fun!....

So I can go to a Black Sabbath concert and if Ozzie does a song and uses words that praises God, its OK. No, thats not 'advanced thinking' as the person giving the praise or were it comes from also matters, as even the demons recognized the Son of God. The Beatles did songs such 'My Sweet Lord', do you think that was for praise and glory to God.......

Both the source and sound have to be in sync, or it dont mean a thing....:0)

But that is what he is saying; this type of concert didn't inspire you so therefore, it wasn't your thing. You need to find out what does inspire you. You are right the source and sound need to be in sync. For you the Black Sabbath concert wasn't in sync; for someone else it just might be.

[Reddogs]

Originally Posted By: Reddogs

So I can go to a Black Sabbath concert and if Ozzie does a song and uses words that praises God, its OK. No, thats not 'advanced thinking' as the person giving the praise or were it comes from also matters, as even the demons recognized the Son of God. The Beatles did songs such 'My Sweet Lord', do you think that was for praise and glory to God.......

Both the source and sound have to be in sync, or it dont mean a thing....:0)

But that is what he is saying; this type of concert didn't inspire you so therefore, it wasn't your thing. You need to find out what does inspire you. You are right the source and sound need to be in sync. For you the Black Sabbath concert wasn't in sync; for someone else it just might be.

Oh be real, its like saying you can go Public Enemy concert and its the same as going to church and song service begins. You will not get the same blessing from one as the other I can guarantee you that, source and content are VERY CRITICAL when it comes to your spiritual life....

[Liz]

I was saying it was different for everyone.

[Reddogs]

I was saying it was different for everyone.

But I really dont think a Black Sabbath concert could bring anyone a spiritual blessing from the songs or music, are you saying it might?

[Neil D]

Oh be real, its like saying you can go Public Enemy concert and its the same as going to church and song service begins. You will not get the same blessing from one as the other I can guarantee you that, source and content are VERY CRITICAL when it comes to your spiritual life....

If that is the case, then you will never have a song that you can listen to unless you create it.

I love the instrument "greensleeves"...but once you know the history of it, you wonder why you even listen to it....During the gassing of Jews, the camp commander listened to the music...Kinda puts a damper on that song.....

A gun is used to kill...but it can also be used as defense...and warning...It does not have to kill. A hammer is used in conjunction with a nail, but it can also smash the shells of nuts as well as skulls. Are you sure that the creator of those insturments intended those uses? I don't think so, but they are legitament uses...

The same with a song...remember, it is a tool...it gets you from one place to another....for some, it's an inspiration...for others, it from depression to a better mood..,,