Many people ask, “Is listening to secular music a sin? Is there anything wrong with CCM (Christian Contemporary Music)? Is it okay for Christians to listen to rap, rock, country, pop, or rhythm and blues?” For the sake of this article, I am going to refer to all the music listed above as “secular” music.
Should Christians only listen to “A cappella” music? Music is compelling, and it can have a significant effect on how we live our lives. Music influences us negatively or positively. We should ask the question, “Does the music that I listen to draw me closer to God, or does it push me away from Him and closer to Satan?”
The primary purpose of music is to worship (the expression of reverence and adoration to something or someone). Yet at times we as believers still fail in listening to good wholesome music. This is a problem since most secular music is evil and promotes things that God hates.
Secular music is very catchy and addicting. The flesh would rather listen to secular music than to godly music. This type of music negatively influences the mind and is not profitable. If the song encourages evil, promotes worldliness, gives you bad thoughts, changes your actions for the wrong, and influences your speech for the wrong, we should not be listening to it. When it comes to music, we can comfortably lie to ourselves in this area. Have you lied to yourself? Have you said, “God is OK with this type of music,” yet deep down in your heart, you know He is convicting you, and that He is NOT OK with it?
Secular music is often sensual. The meaning of sensual is “of arousing gratification of the senses and physical.” Is the music that we listen to sensual? Does it put our mind in a state of just going with the beat? How do our bodies want to respond when we listen to such music? If our bodies swing with the rhythm of the music, it is not honoring to the Lord; it is not bringing glory to His name; it is not putting our mind and body in a position to worship the Lord.
We always worship something when we listen to music. If we are concentrating on music that is not of God, we are worshiping our flesh, the world, or even the devil. Usually, music like CCM tends to draw attention to ourselves and not to God. Music like this is very sensual. Can we truly worship God when we listen to this type of music?
CCM is a genre of modern popular music in which the lyrics are focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith. It formed as those affected by the 1960s’ “Jesus movement” revival began to express themselves with a more contemporary style of music. Before that, it was hymns and other gospel songs that were prevalent in the church at the time. Whether we know it or not, much of the CCM adds a pulsating beat (syncopation) at a place that it is not naturally supposed to be. The pulsating beat that is relevant in CCM does not appeal to the spirit of man in worship, rather, it appeals to the flesh. The type of music that appeals to the flesh is not of God but is of the devil. Today, CCM is a term that is used to refer to pop, rock, or praise & worship styles of rhythm and beat, so long as the lyrics fall under the definition of CCM.
Philippians tells us that we are supposed to think on … whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things –Philippians 4:8.
Secular music does not pass the Philippians 4:8 test. Most secular music has lyrics that are impure, while all of it has a rhythm or beat that is against God’s order. The devil uses it all to influence people to sin or to think about sin. It will affect you in some way. Is the influence of the music that we listen to good or bad? For example, if we are concentrating on music that affects our thoughts or lifestyle in the wrong way, then it is a negative influence that we must put out of our lives.
The Hebrews started the tradition of using music without accompaniment after the fall of the second temple in 70 A.D., at which time instruments were not allowed during a period of mourning after the fall. Throughout history up until The Renaissance, instrumental music was mostly associated with dancing and merry making. As one could not have too much fun in places of worship, this kind of amusing music was not popular with religious leaders.
A cappella is an Italian phrase which means “in the style of the chapel”. It was initially used to refer to music that was sung in a chapel or small worship space without accompanying instruments, as opposed to a large church where an organ usually attended vocal music. The term has since come to mean any music sung without accompaniment, whether sacred (religious) or secular (non-religious). A cappella music can be sung by a large choir, a small group, or as a solo.
In Orthodox and Conservative Jewish congregations, the tradition of singing mostly A cappella still exists. In these synagogues, it is customary for a cantor to chant or sing an authoritative text from the scriptures which the congregation responds to in kind. The only instruments used might be a pitch pipe to give everyone a starting note or a ram’s horn on a special occasion or a holiday.
The early church developed the tradition of A cappella singing from the Hebrews’ Jewish tradition, chanting psalms, or other scriptures and using a cantor as a leader. Gregorian chant was the dominant form of church music starting around 590 A.D. It is a single, simple, melodic line half-spoken, half-sung in a free rhythmic style. In the early church, instrumental music was associated with the sinful outside world and was considered a negative influence.
The tradition of unaccompanied sacred vocal music continued during The Renaissance. Although instruments sometimes doubled or substituted for a vocal line, vocal music mostly stood on its own. The sound of a choir of voices in a chapel with excellent acoustics had a particularly ethereal effect.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was one of the most significant composers of The Renaissance in Italy, writing hundreds of masses and motets for the church. ‘The Palestrina Style,’ as it is called, was a sophisticated A cappella form using many voices singing with different music and text coming in at different times. This was called polyphonic, as opposed to homophonic, which means one melodic line sung together or in the same rhythm.
The Apostle Paul writes, Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; –Ephesians 5:19. Does that sound like making music with instruments? Or does it rather seem like singing praises to God from the heart?
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them –Acts 16:25. When Paul and Silas were in prison, and they were in stocks singing at midnight, I don’t believe that they were singing to bring glory to themselves. They were singing to bring glory to God the Father. The result of them giving God the glory is quite astounding. There was an earthquake, the foundations of the prison shook, the doors flew open, and everyone’s prison bands broke. At the end of this happening, the jailor came trembling before Paul and Silas and asked: “What must I do to be saved?”
Colossians also tells us that we should Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord –Colossians 3:16. Do we let psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs teach us, admonish us, and encourage us?
I wonder what hymn Jesus sang with His disciples at the last supper before He went out to the Mount of Olives. I doubt that they were singing to themselves. I believe they were singing to their heavenly Father.
Pure and holy music is a blessing from the Lord. It is such a beautifully powerful thing that we should not take for granted. Sometimes God uses it to speak to us. I firmly believe that all Christians need to be listening to godly music throughout the week, not just on Sunday. It helps me stay calm, be encouraged, and keep my mind on the Lord. When my mind is on the Lord, I can go through the day blest.
We need to discipline ourselves with the things of God. We also need to get rid of things in our life that we know God is not pleased with. Godly music (music that draws our spirit and mind to the things that are from God) is the type of music that believers should listen to. Worship is what it boils down to, do we worship God or something else?
Jesus says, But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him –John 4:23.
So, let us sing in sincere worship to our Creator, let us give God the glory for the voices that He has given us, and let us sing and listen to godly, wholesome songs to our God.
