Is Music Neutral?
Last week we took a ministry team to a local public school to present the Gospel during some
assemblies.
As we got ready to set up for the assembly there was classical music playing over the school’s loud speakers as children finished lunch and moved to classes. When I was a ‘boy’ it was always loud and piercing ‘bells’ that went off as we were herded around like cattle.
How interesting that the powers that be in the state education system chose classical music to settle and prepare students for the last couple of hours of school. There were many other styles that could have been chosen, such as jazz, rap, hard rock and heavy metal.
For some reason they chose classical instead.
Now obviously there were other music styles that could have fulfilled their objectives. And yes there are some classical pieces that are far from settling.
And no I am not advocating a ‘classical music only position’.
My point from this little anecdote is simply: If the world understands that music is not neutral, then why do some Christians persist promoting this fallacy?
As early as the days of Moses, particular music styles have been known for their violent and disturbing message. Note this passage:
And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said: “It is not the noise of the shout of victory, Nor the noise of the cry of defeat, But the sound of singing I hear.” So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Exodus 32:15-19
So let’s engage in discussions on this subject from the right starting point: music is not neutral, but like other mediums of communication made by God, music can be used for good or evil.
When you comment, please keep these guidelines in mind. You can find an explanation of our commenting guidelines here.
Stay connected by subscribing to our RSS or email feed! Or print this post.
I really enjoyed your post. Very true. Thanks for that! =D
Interesting post… I am still unsure of what to think of so called “Christian” Heavy Metal bands. The only difference is the lyrics….screamed or sung….but does that make them a good choice to listen to? hmm..It’s the style not just the lyrics that communicate feelings and ideas.
Interesting post and sorry for being controversial in my reply but..:)
Music can be used for good or evil purposes. However it doesn’t mean that music intrinsically is good or evil. It is like saying that the internet must be good or evil since it can be used for either purposes. Intrinsically it is morally neutral. What you have shown thus far is music is not emotionally neutral. It effects us emotionally this is quite obvious. Music though not emotionally neutral; I would argue it like many other things in this world (like the internet) in of itself is neutral morally.
If it is not I would think God has left us out of the loop on some important information like beat patters and so forth :)
Just to clarify since I forgot to include it in my reply: When I refer to music in the above I am talking about it without lyrical content. Lyrical content I believe is what changes the value of neutrality towards either good or evil.
Hey Alen, you can be controversial on infocus:) I believe music has a moral and emotional quality to it. any yes some music leaves the listener pretty indifferent. but surely it isn’t lyrical content only that changes the moral quality of the music. What if you put the words Amazing Grace to the ACDC music Dirty deeds? Would that alter the moral value of the music? that is an extreme example. What you your throughts?
trust you doing well in Sydney.
I’m very well, thanks for asking. I hope the same for you :) Now unto the discussion at hand :) :
Arguments from the point of association I would think be invalid due to Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 8 regarding food offered to idols. I don’t think that mere association is enough to credit a style of music or a piece of music itself as good or bad.
From what I know even Christian hymns developed from the style used within Greek paganism so they mustn’t of had an issue with borrowing from the musical styles around them.
Now this is not to say that conscience isn’t at play here as well, for some Christians they couldn’t eat the food offered to idols but some could, and those that could were not sinning. The same could be said with the type of music we listen to.
I would also say that our freedom may in of itself may be a stumbling block to others, just like the issue of pagan food offerings though. Despite this, the food itself was morally neutral. What changed its value was the conscience of those involved with it.
Therefore I would propose to you association in of itself is an invalid argument against musical neutrality. Though it is an excellent point for us to consider how far we take our freedoms in Christ especially with our brethren in mind around us.
Woohoo! First Fundamentalists, then music, what’s next……bible versions? Hang on to yer hats ladies and gentlemen!
Rob, Lumpy just commented on your post! You’ve hit the big time!!!
Music indeed can convey emotion on some cerebral level. That you can prove. However, your anecdote does not end the debate at all. Unfortunately the phrase “If the world understands” is used far too often as some kind of proof when in reality it is nothing of the kind it is just a red herring and that is assuming that what “the world understands” is the same thing you assert they understand. When someone argues that music is neutral what they are saying is morally it is neutral. This means that music, in and of itself, cannot be good or evil. What one does with it can be good or evil, but the notes themselves cannot be good or evil. This is true for every note in the scale and every form of use with each note and every instrument that can be used to convey those notes. Unfortunately this debate has lingered for decades with people talking past each other.
If a song is “evil” then it is because someone is using it for evil not because the music or any aspect of the music was intrinsically evil. So in the passage you quoted there is nothing to indicate that God or Moses thought the music itself was evil…and no inference can be made that this “singing” was anything like a genre we have now. Instead the focus is on what they were doing (ie having an orgy). The orgy is what is evil not the music. This also means that no particular style can be deemed evil. Just because one person uses a song deemed a particular style for “evil” doesn’t make any song that happens to fit under a loose association of style wrong by inference.
So yes lets have the discussion from the right starting point. Based upon your anecdote we can say music conveys vague emotions (such as ramping your up or quieting you down), but really doesn’t go much beyond that. What makes music evil is its usage not its inherent value. The world actually, understands this very well.
@Robert What if you put the words Amazing Grace to the ACDC music Dirty deeds? Since I don’t know that song it wouldn’t be a moral conundrum for me at all. In fact, I’d be none the wiser. What makes “Dirty Deeds” bad? Is it ACDC? the music? the words? If you heard that music with no words would it still be bad? If you heard it without the knowledge of ACDC would it be bad? I find no place in the Bible where we could make an assertion that the music, in and of itself, of ACDC is wrong. So I say sing to it…why not?
Actually I beg to differ with most comments here. I think that music in itself has power to influence far beyond mere emotions, and by that I mean music without lyrics. Any music, whether you believe that it affects you or not, does affect you physically, mentally, and spiritually.
In 1 Samuel 16:14-23, Saul was calmed down by the music by David:
“But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. (15) And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. (16) Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on a harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well..
..And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.”
. Perhaps a more recent example:
The great pianist and composer of the 1800′s, Frederic Chopin, at the age of ten, was often summoned to play for the Grand Duke Constantine, governor of Poland. The Duke had recurring seizures of madness which could seemingly be controlled only by Chopin’s music. When the little boy played, the seizures abated and the governor could resume his normal activities, only to send for Chopin again when the musical medicine wore off.
From here we know that music by itself has power to driven out evil spirit and to calm a madman. It’s noteworthy that David was just playing the harp, attaching no lyrics to it, just as Chopin played his piano. The opposite is also true where voodoo music is used to invite evil spirit in. Here is an example of mouse subjected to voodoo rhythm:
“When different groups of mice are subjected to the sound of traditional voodoo drumming (the same as contemporary rock drumming), to Strauss waltzes, and to silence, the groups that were subjected to either silence or Strauss waltzes have no problem learning a maze, with the Strauss waltz group having a slight edge in performance. However, the voodoo group performs progressively worse over the period of time they are exposed to the syncopated rhythms and eventually becomes so disoriented that they are unable to complete the maze at all. They become hyperactive, aggressive, and often cannibalistic.”
God himself has music that he dislikes, this passage is taken from Amos 5:21-23:
” 21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps..”"
Perhaps you could argue that it’s the intention of the people that makes God reacts that way, but from the commentary that I read it is said that these people are sincerely longing for the Day of The Lord. Even if you give this passage the benefit of the doubt and say it’s the intention behind the music, we never know the full intention of all musicians when they compose their music and that means not all musics are safe for listening.
In response to the above comment by farkus, here’s an excerpt from a book:
“Perhaps some of you are asking yourselves the question, But how can a musical note be inherently good or bad? Aren’t notes just a matter of pitch variation, tonal vibration, compressions and decompressions of air? Those are fair questions, Let’s look at this more closely. Years ago I heard a tape of a man who was defending the neutrality of music in a public service. He walked over to the piano and played a C major chord. Then, he asked the audience if it was a good C major chord or an evil C major chord. After some scattered laughter, he said `See, there’s no such thing as good or evil music,’ He made a rather obvious mistake, however, in his reasoning: a C major chord isn’t music! It is a building block of music-and there’s a big difference.”
“Take the English language, for example. If I write the letter ‘e’ is that a good ‘e’ or a bad ‘e’? Neither. As a building block of the English language it is a neutral entity. However, I as a creative writer can put that letter in conjunction with other letters and communicate something like …
PraisE the Lord…
or
I hatE God.
“In both of the above usages I have taken neutral letters and put them together to communicate something to you. However, what I have communicated is definitely not neutral, and my intent is clearly conveyed. “(Fisher, Tim The Battle for Christian Music, pp 60-61)”
Regarding the argument about Paul allowing the people to eat the food, yes, they were not sinning. But if i were to draw the analogy of the question “Is music neutral” with that, because we are asking the very nature of music, it would be more accurate if the nature of the food is questioned instead of whom it was offered to. If the food was an apple and it was offered to idols, it is still an apple. It is still good for nourishing of human body, we know that because we know apple is good for your physical health, hence Paul allows them to eat it. While for music, we do not know what music is good for us. That is the question that we are pondering, Are all musics good, are all musics bad, are all of them neutral, or are they a mixture of all three? So if for instance a music draws you further from God, you would be bringing trouble upon yourself by listening to it. I am pretty sure if the food offered to idols are poisons, Paul would not allow them to eat it as well. It’s more straightforward in the food example because we can identify poison. Can we identify any type of music to be poisonous?
Music is a language, a powerful one at that because it’s so universal it touches hearts and moves soul. It is instinctual, not taught. We as Christians should be aware of the power of music. There are numerous scientific experiments with musics being subjected to plants, animals, even humans, all with clear conclusion that music affects us on a deeper level than just emotions, all of these too much to list here, you can start your own research. We all heard about Mozart music having positive effects to babies. If music can have positive effects, it certainly can go the other way as well. We would do well to search the will of God before we do anything, even our choice of music. It would be dangerous to think that musics are neutral, just to have your spiritual life destroyed by it in the end. It is inferred from biblical sources (Isa 14:11-17,Ezekiel 28:13-16) that Lucifer was once an angel of music. Logically speaking, music is his best domain, it should be little wonder to us that he have, is, and will continue to use his gift to influence mankind, and we should really treat it as one of the biggest threat since it is his forte.
To conclude, the question “Is music neutral” is a huge question. It covers all genre from classical to heavy metal. I agree with the statement that it’s like internet, there are good ones and there are bad ones. There are musics that are pleasing to God, there are musics that are not and it’s repulsive to God. However, what we should know and be aware of is where does the boundary start? When do music start becoming evil? Where is the line? There is one thing that is clearly wrong though, that is to think that all musics are inherently good, because it has been proven that it can go both ways. I pray that all of us can treat this question seriously, especially people who treat music as big part of their life.
Sorry for the long comment, I just feel I need to put it out there. It is not my intention to start an argument. God bless you all.