by Elizabeth Rogers

Created on: June 10, 2008

If good Christians cannot really listen to secular music, there are no good Christians. Many of the traditional hymns in the church are made up of words put to melodies that people sang in bars, chanted as folk tunes or listened to when they went to the opera. Even today people put words of faith to music that is sung out on the streets. If the instrumental music is the issue, it is neither Christian or secular; it is simply a melody that is used as background.

If it is the words to the music that should not be listened to, good Christians are in a heap of trouble if they work anywhere besides a faith-based business or a church, if they go to out to eat, shop, attend a town meeting, or if they even speak to their non church-going neighbor. Christianity, by definition, is a faith that is meant to be shared. Good Christians care about others and they take what they believe into "all the world". If good Christians do not listen to secular words, they cannot listen to the thoughts or needs of people outside of the church and they cannot communicate the gospel message to anyone except for people like themselves. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves, and our neighbors are not all believers. Good Christians listen to secular words.

This is not to say that Christians should purposely fill their minds with unwholesome material. people are more influenced by their environments and the thoughts of others than they would care to admit, so it is best to be responsible for what we take in on a regular basis and accept as material for the pondering of our brains. If we put wholesome things in to our minds, we will have wholesome things to share with those around us.

There has not been anywhere near as much of a debate about whether Christians should read "secular" books as there has been on this issue of music. To be sure, there have been uprisings about particular books and certain genres of writing, but there are considered to be all manner of wholesome materials out there that are acceptable reading that are not specifically Christian. It would be wise to view music in the same way.

Perhaps it is more relevant to think about how much time and effort good Christians should spend infusing their minds and hearts with Scripture, faith-based songs, encouraging reading and such, than it is to make statements about what kind of music they can or cannot listen to at any given moment. "Good" Christians seek to know Christ and live the way He taught them to live. Jesus did not keep himself away from the sin of the world; but he did not enter in to it without knowingly bearing the presence of God and pointing people in that direction. He must have done it well because he often found himself the invited guest in secular environments. A good Christian should really listen to Jesus!

Learn more about this author, Elizabeth Rogers.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.