Motive is everything!
It is like this in murder (pre-meditated or not). It is like this in life (why are they nice to me?). It is like this with Spiritual maturity.
I just had a conversation with my mother, a conversation that went pretty long and I think pretty well, and one of the points I addressed was the motive of engagement.
The topic of choice was this, music. Point: not every "Christian band" is beneficial or redemptive and not every "non-Christian" (terrible terms by the way) band not beneficial or redemptive. We both agree on this. As this convo developed (and yes we did talk about other things) a concern came up.
What do you when people take this truth and use it to listen to whatever they want?
There is some crap music out there. There is some "Christian music" that is crap. It is extremely shallow, watered down, cookie cutter, non-redemptive, hiding, terrible musicianship-ed garbage. You will find the same from "non". There are some terrible things said in music, a lot of cussing, a ton of violence, and a lot of truth amidst it all. What are your motives?
I do not believe it is wrong for Christians to listen to "non-Christian" music. I do believe it is wrong to listen to it in order to "fill" the cravings of your flesh. There are some incredible truths found in some "non-Christian" music but there is also alot of shallow, garbage filled, flesh fueling works of crap out there too. What are your motives.
When someone engages music. Catch that! Engages...not just listens. There is redemptive, eye opening processes that take place. What are you going to do when your eyes are open? Are you going to sit there and just fuel the furnace or are you going to burn something up? What are your motives.
I know people who cannot listen to "non-Christian" music. There is nothing wrong with that. I know some "Christian" music they shouldn't be listening to as well. When they compromise and listen to it under the cover of "it has redemptive value...or...it is truthful" they are setting themselves up for failure. Soon they will be listening to everything, crappy music included, for no other reason than to feed their flesh. What are your motives.
So, it comes down to that. Motives. If you can't do it, don't! Don't engage something under the false cover of engaging culture when all you want is a fix of the flesh. By the way, If a song is not redemptive, truthful, or reveal the nature/truth of God's heart, quit making up crap to make it seem alright for you to engage it. If it looks like crap, smells like crap, tastes* like crap...it's crap!
* It is part of the saying! I wasn't going to change the whole saying just because I used "crap".
Motives?
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