Confusing Christian with good
You’ve probably heard about the man who designed a Christian aeroplane. It couldn’t actually fly, but did have John 3.16 painted on the wings. Now in a serious volte-face Nick Norelli decides to (at least for a time) give up listening to secular music because he wants to take Paul’s advice seriously. While I can commend him wanting to do what’s right for him, I think Christians make a mistake of Brobdinagian proportions when they equate excellence, truth and so on with being Christian, or assume that what is secular can’t share in those qualities. (Nick may not have intended to say this, but it’s certainly how his post comes over.)
It seems to me that starting from the perception that God is a God of truth and beauty, we can go in one of two ways.
- We can say that therefore unless God is explicitly (and no doubt biblically) referred to, what is being spoken about cant really be true or beautiful.
- Or we can say that therefore God is to be encountered in and praised through and for anything that is true and beautiful.
Again, it seems to me that the former position has a frighteningly low doctrine of creation and heads off towards Manichean territory. While I wouldn’t want to reduce truth to aesthetic perception or personal taste, and recognise that the second position needs both nuancing and disciplining within a theological framework, nonetheless, it’s where I pitch my tent.
(PS. Nick, nothing in this post should be read as a criticism of any spiritual discipline you want to undertake, nor as an endorsement of your hitherto execrable taste in rap music.)
June 15th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Doug,
I should have been clearer in my post, but I think if one follows the link they’ll see exactly what music I have in mind. More so than ’secular’ music in general, I’m referring to a subgenre of rap that would seem to exemplify the exact opposite of those things mentioned in Philippians 4:8.
I would opt for your #2 above. I believe that God can be encountered in the so-called secular (be it music, art, film, etc.) as I have stated in the following posts: With or Without You and Jesus in Chicago.
June 16th, 2008 at 2:54 am
How I hate the use of ‘Christian’ as an adjective! Especially one denoting exclusivity. While I sometimes have to suspend distaste for the sake of hope, I cannot in the name of hope, live with dismal standards that lack the fundamental discipline required of the created order. Adam, regenerate or not, is to ‘tend and keep it well’ - not poorly. Those whose discipline creates art or music will not find discipleship unfamiliar territory.
June 16th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Where does Paul advise or command Christians not to listen to secular music? Did those who provided the musical accompaniment for psalms that were set to secular tunes learn the tunes without ever hearing the secular songs themselves?
I got rid of most of my music collection after my conversion experience as a teenager, and I can certainly understand if someone who is so wedded to music they feel they need to make some sort of break does so. But I don’t see any basis for recommending that as the rule.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
James,
Neither do I.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Nick, thanks for the clarification. I confess there’s very little rap music I like - my tastes are more to indie rock, with the odd bit of punk, grunge and trip-hop thrown in.