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Music and the Message

Fundamentalism traditionally demands a strict moral code when it comes to engaging media. Holiness and a consistent witness notwithstanding, a hard-line "don't taste, don't touch" ethic would seem to dictate that 95 percent of the Bible is inappropriate for daily devotions. For some reason, when we put the same kind of mature subject matter that appears in the very pages of Scripture into a song and discerningly engage with it, it suddenly becomes a moral issue.

Blood, Gore, and the Infallible Word

For reasons not always entirely clear, God saw fit to include stories full of blood, gore, betrayals, murders, infidelities, and other bodily fluids in his holy, infallible Word. With this in mind, mature Christians in step with the Spirit can cautiously engage thematically raw music, while not allowing a blank check mentality for sin. This, to me, seems to be a much more faithful way to walk out these issues, rather than rely on a Spiritless dos and don'ts checklist.

Legalism + Faithful Gospel Witness = Oxymoron

Paul's "I become all things for all men, so that by all means, some might be saved" (1 Cor. 9:22) is a good lesson to all Christians seeking to live out a consistent witness while remaining missionally-minded. Living from a dos and don'ts checklist puts us in danger of falling into the following two traps:

• Relying on an automatic rule system that doesn't require thought or the leading of the Spirit
• Lacking understanding of a culture's narrative

What if, for instance, Paul thought that under no circumstances would he ever pollute his mind with pagan poetry? Well then, he wouldn't have had sermon material to work with when he spoke on Mars Hill in Acts 17.

So What's the Point?

The point of all this is not freedom for freedom's sake. But if we follow Paul's lead from the aforementioned 1 Corinthians 9 passage, then prayerful, discerning, and thoughtful contextualization is important so that we can more effectively understand the cultures around us. We use their points of reference to build bridges of gospel communication.

Practically speaking, if a coworker one cubicle down is really into avant-garde jazz, new country, or noisy Japanese punk, I've got some ethnomusicology homework ahead of me with Ornette Coleman, Toby Keith and Melt Banana on my iPod to the glory of God.

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