The question is, are we allowed to listen to it?
I've been going to church all my life, so I definitely grew up singing, dancing, and listening to gospel music. However, when I started music school, there was always different types of music that we studied, and not even half of it was gospel. It didn't bother me at first, but then when we would have discussions at church, I would get deeply concerned if being a musician was really what I was called to do.
During my junior year of high school, I took a music elective because I was so passionate about learning different genres of music. Surprisingly, I loved the music and soon continued to listen to the music outside of class. I never thought it was wrong, but I just knew that I had to be careful with the explicit content in the messages of the song.
Is this why young Christians don't appeal to gospel music?
When I first heard music on the radio that wasn't gospel, I was more aware of the beat than the lyrics. As I continued into my teenage years, I realized that maybe lyrics aren't exactly a concern in today's society, for a "dance-able beat" is what's more important.
But is it really important although it isn't glorifying God?
Looking at genres like Hip-Hop and R&B, most of the messages in those songs are about chasing money and the opposite sex, sexual activity, and violence. These types of things are not what Christians should be listening to, for they aren't helping our spiritual beings as we live to please the Father.
When I think of gospel and the messages that they bring, most teens would listen to certain songs like, "Total Praise," by Richard Smallwood, or hymns like "Blessed Assurance," and they would most likely not find the songs interesting, for they may not relate to the message or the words in general.
So how do we get young Christians to relate to the message and find out that gospel really isn't so bad?
When I first started singing hymns for worship, at first, I was very uncomfortable. I didn't know how my pastor knew all those "old songs" that he would make us join in on during the altar call. But when he gave a message one Sunday about how those songs were sung by our ancestors going through tough times like slavery, I began to shed tears, for I could finally feel their pain, and soon came to the realization that they sung hymns to get through oppression, pain, and sickness.
I could relate to that, for I've experience so much pain through my teenage years, and now I proudly sing these songs, because I appeal to the messages they give. I strongly agree that teenagers should listen to not only just hymns, but older, traditional songs that have meaning and expressed that in spite of the pain, there is hope in Christ to bring anyone out from the negativity they experience.
All in all, I believe that young Christians, especially teenagers, should be careful when listening to secular music, for their messages can cause us to fall astray from the calling that God has for each our lives. It may seem cliche', but staying close to gospel music is the probably the way to go, for it can keep us near temptation to do the things that secular music talks about and focus more on things of God.
But does that mean all secular music is bad? Well, it depends on how your ears are open to what the song's message is conveying. So keep your ears open!
"My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit." -- Job 27:4
During my junior year of high school, I took a music elective because I was so passionate about learning different genres of music. Surprisingly, I loved the music and soon continued to listen to the music outside of class. I never thought it was wrong, but I just knew that I had to be careful with the explicit content in the messages of the song.
Is this why young Christians don't appeal to gospel music?
But is it really important although it isn't glorifying God?
Looking at genres like Hip-Hop and R&B, most of the messages in those songs are about chasing money and the opposite sex, sexual activity, and violence. These types of things are not what Christians should be listening to, for they aren't helping our spiritual beings as we live to please the Father.
When I think of gospel and the messages that they bring, most teens would listen to certain songs like, "Total Praise," by Richard Smallwood, or hymns like "Blessed Assurance," and they would most likely not find the songs interesting, for they may not relate to the message or the words in general.
So how do we get young Christians to relate to the message and find out that gospel really isn't so bad?
When I first started singing hymns for worship, at first, I was very uncomfortable. I didn't know how my pastor knew all those "old songs" that he would make us join in on during the altar call. But when he gave a message one Sunday about how those songs were sung by our ancestors going through tough times like slavery, I began to shed tears, for I could finally feel their pain, and soon came to the realization that they sung hymns to get through oppression, pain, and sickness.
I could relate to that, for I've experience so much pain through my teenage years, and now I proudly sing these songs, because I appeal to the messages they give. I strongly agree that teenagers should listen to not only just hymns, but older, traditional songs that have meaning and expressed that in spite of the pain, there is hope in Christ to bring anyone out from the negativity they experience.
All in all, I believe that young Christians, especially teenagers, should be careful when listening to secular music, for their messages can cause us to fall astray from the calling that God has for each our lives. It may seem cliche', but staying close to gospel music is the probably the way to go, for it can keep us near temptation to do the things that secular music talks about and focus more on things of God.
But does that mean all secular music is bad? Well, it depends on how your ears are open to what the song's message is conveying. So keep your ears open!
"My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit." -- Job 27:4
