The Music God Likes--Lifelines--Newsletter of Victory Christian Center

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The Music God Likes

From Life Lines, a monthly publication of Victory Christian Center.

September/October, 1998

In our last article we began a series on gospel music in which I gave a brief account of my "pilgrimage" with all its turns in my taste concerning it. I said that the Gaither "Homecoming" videos had made quite an impact on me and our approach to gospel singing at our church, spawning an old-fashioned "All Day Singing and Dinner On the Ground" the third Sunday of each month. We have especially enjoyed learning some of the old "convention style" songs with their counterpoint (the weaving together of two or more melodic lines) and four part harmony. It’s really a lot of fun besides worshiping the Lord to some really good lyrics that stress a sound, old-fashioned theology that has often been maligned in charismatic churches in the past few decades—a lot of references to troubles and trials as well as joys and victories, old-fashioned conviction and conversion, being cleansed from sin and living a holy life, the narrowness of the way to heaven and the joys that await us there.

Bill Gaither began his series of videos back in 1991, but it was not until 1994 or so that I saw my first one, "Turn Your Radio On." As I said, I cried most of the way through it, the presence of God was so real to me. I had seen a TV advertisement with clips from these first videos some weeks before and was struck even then by how strong the presence of God was in these brief excerpts. It’s not that the "Southern gospel" quartet style of music they were singing was particularly my style of music, because it really never had been. It was simply the obvious blessing of the Spirit of God upon the faces of the singers. Since then I have seen all the videos in the series—twenty-five or so in all plus the ones he has reissued from the old "Gospel Singing Jubilee" program of the 1950’s, ‘60’s, and ‘70’s that I remember seeing when I was young. And not long after getting into the Gaither videos, I got to looking for old vinyl 33 1/3 LP records of the quartets and groups that were featured on them. My collection of these has grown now to over a thousand and many of them I thoroughly enjoy, so much so that I have made tapes of some of them to play in my car. I have become, as I confessed, somewhat of a fan of Southern gospel music.

The Gaither videos have had phenomenal success in the past few years. In fact, one of the recent videos gained the distinction of being number one on the market whether secular or gospel! But this astounding success had quite an humble beginning. In what he thought would be the last album with his Gaither Vocal Band before retiring, Bill Gaither got the idea to gather a few of the old-timers of southern gospel music who had long been special friends of his—the Speer Family, Jake Hess, Hovie Lister, Howard and Vestal Goodman, George Younce and Glen Payne, James Blackwood, Eva Mae LeFevre, Buck Rambo, and some others—to do a single song on the album. Each of the former greats were to sing a line of the old song, "Where Could I Go But to the Lord?" He intended this to be a tribute to these great old-timers and their contribution to gospel music. By 1991 southern gospel music had been almost entirely displaced, first by "contemporary" gospel sounds and then hard rock. As I noted last month, rock music has made its way into many otherwise more or less conservative churches, first for youth outreach and now into worship service choruses. First the "Jesus Movement" of the 1970’s, then the Vineyard Fellowship of Churches started by John Wimber, a former rock band musician, and the Toronto "revival", then the Pensacola, Florida, "revival" were some of the major contributors to this change in gospel music. It certainly has been refreshing to say the least to see a quite counter-revolutionary trend—the resurgence of southern gospel music across the country—as a direct result of the phenomenon of the Gaither Homecoming videos.

Bill Gaither has related a number of times how the popularity of these videos took him by surprise. When he got the original dozen or so old-time greats in the studio, something happened that was far beyond what he had in mind. After the song he had planned was recorded and videoed and everyone involved had eaten lunch, Eva Mae LeFevre began to play the piano. Fortunately, someone left the video camera rolling and a microphone on. Gaither says,

Soon the group began to sing. The next three hours seemed magic....We...traded places at the piano, and sang a bunch of old favorite songs....We had no arrangements for anything except the song we had sung all morning....What a thrill it was to see young and old singing the great songs together, harmonizing, weeping, embracing. The Spirit of God was in that place. I was deeply moved, and I was grateful that there might be a second or two of video from that afternoon of spontaneity that might find its way onto the "Where Could I Go?" video. When the company that produced the single video said they had gotten what they wanted, I asked what they were going to do with the leftover raw footage....They told me they were planning to discard it, so I asked for it. If nothing else, I wanted to relive that special afternoon myself. When I finally got around to taking the footage home and popping it into the VCR, I was stunned by how it communicated. I knew it wasn’t of a quality I would be proud to broadcast or show off as the best we could do in the studio, but the sheer emotion and love that came through when those pioneers of Southern gospel worked together was a priceless treasure. I decided to produce a short video (less than an hour) called "The Gaither Vocal Band Homecoming Video Album" that would start with the "Where Could I Go?" session and include some of the good and usable moments of the impromptu afternoon....The more I worked with the footage and tried to put it into the best format, the more I was moved....We offered it to people we thought might enjoy a quasi-documentary about this kind of music and these people. We sensed more than the usual buzz of excitement and response for what we considered a modest video release. Then a producer for The 700 Club saw it and called me. "I’d like to use this on the air and offer it for sale," he said. "You’ve got to be kidding," I said. "That’s not network quality cut of stuff. It’s got a home-movie feel to it. One camera, one mike, not much thought given to the lighting and staging." "I want to run it as it is," he said. He should have asked if we were prepared to keep up with the demand the airing would create. As soon as the video was shown, the 800-number lines were jammed at the Christian Broadcasting Network and we started producing tens of thousands of those tapes. Three weeks later they ran it again, and the response went through the roof again.

Seeing this response, Gaither thought he might try it again, only this time, planning it. His first concern was that if it were planned, maybe the Spirit would not be the same. Maybe the impromptu nature of the first one was one of those special moments that comes and goes and can never be duplicated. But again to his joy and surprise, the planned session was just as blessed and anointed by the Spirit of God as the first:

I knew I couldn’t argue with something that had happened spontaneously, because God was in it. But I decided to set the stage again and see what would happen. This time we would be better prepared to record the results on a twenty-four-track audio machine, making the use of the latest technology. That fall of 1991, during the National Quartet Convention, I called all the people who were in the original video and added about that many more....A few of those from the original video pulled me aside and warned me, "Bill, you’ll never capture what you captured on the first one, because we didn’t know the cameras were on." I carefully considered that advice, but I wanted to try it anyway. Maybe it wouldn’t be the same. Who knew? Maybe, because of our preparation, it would be better. No, this wasn’t something that could be manufactured. Anyone could produce nice cuts of music with talent like that. My dream was that because of the nostalgia, the names involved, the songs we would include, and the atmosphere we would try to engender, something special would happen again.

And indeed it did, as is evident from the videos from this first really planned session—"Turn Your Radio On" and "Reunion"—and so also with the next, and the next, down to the latest video in this series.

Now, the circumstances of the origin of this phenomenon from Bill Gaither’s own accounts and the obvious element of Divine blessing and anointing in it should lead us to reflect upon its meaning and significance. What is God saying through it? Obviously He likes it and likes it a lot. That’s really the main if not the only reason I liked these first videos when I saw them—I liked it because God liked it. And He doesn’t do things like this without a purpose. What was it? Make old Bill rich? I think he probably was sitting pretty easy before all this, having been one of the most prolific gospel song writers in the history of Christendom. Give the old-timers something to do in their retirement? Shore up their fading careers and incomes? What? It seems funny to me that Bill himself hasn’t, at least publicly, ventured into this question, and, as far as I know, neither has anyone else involved. Here is a strange thing—God obviously ordained this thing and has singularly blessed it with uncommon measures of His Spirit and anointing, yet no one is seeking to understand why or what is behind Him doing this or seeking to interpret what it means. Of course I think I know what it means or I wouldn’t be bringing it up! And I also think I know why the principals involved are not venturing upon the answer.

Let me "cut to the chase." I have already intimated at it in this and our last article. What God is saying is that He likes this kind of music as opposed to the rock and roll trend that has been going on in the past decades in gospel music. He also likes the words to these old songs, which delights me, since these are the very kinds of songs the faith movement, of which I was once a part, hates. He knows how He wants to be worshiped, and He doesn’t like some forms of noise that pass for music. Now I know many of you will say right now, "Is he kidding? Surely he is! ‘God likes certain kinds of music?’ That’s nonsense. I’ve more or less been able to follow this guy’s reasoning up till now on a number of things (not always agreeing of course), but now he’s gone and totally lost it." Once you get past this initial reaction (take a deep breath, relax a few minutes), I hope you will wait to hear the rest of what I have to say before you automatically conclude that I’m out of it. I hope to make my point as thoroughly and reasonably as I have the other things I have written on in the past few years. I have not lost my senses by any means.

Of course I must admit at the outset that there is a considerable degree of subjectivity in the point I shall make concerning God’s taste in music, so my conclusions concerning this will not bear the same weight as those I have expressed on other more serious topics. But my subjectivity comes from one who has followed God and the leading of His Spirit as a shepherd and teacher for over 25 years. Surely this in itself should count for something (but, sadly, so often it does not). And I must concede that even ministers of long experience and great stature may err or go astray. I am only saying that experience does count for something at least.

My judgment that the Gaither videos are uncommonly anointed of God is more than my private opinion. It is corroborated by a host of others, including Bill Gaither himself. Surely his opinion on this should count for something, considering his vast experience in working with music and gospel concerts and recordings over his lifetime. Many of the participants in the videos have expressed the same view. When we attended a Florida Boys concert last year in Mount Vernon, Missouri, their bass singer for 25 years, Buddy Liles, commented upon the power of God manifested in the tapings and how Bill Gaither sought to be led of the Spirit of God in which songs to sing next during them. He related that in one of the latest sessions, an avowed atheist overhearing the session was deeply impressed and began to ask what was going on in that room.

Someone might counter that God also moves in a special way at Christian rock concerts or TBN rallies, etc., but I strongly disagree. There is a very different spirit manifested there, one of fleshly hilarity, foolishness, and rowdiness rather than the Spirit of God moving deeply in the soul. Subjective as this observation may be, I do not hesitate to give it.

As I said in my last article, the debate over the suitability of certain styles of music, especially rock, for use in the church has really come and gone. For a number of years, it was a pretty hot topic, but by now the vast majority of people have concluded that any form of music may be used by the church. Only a very small minority still hold out as I do against the use of rock music. Even Assembly of God Churches, once renowned for their conservatism on many issues, doctrinal as well as practical, have succumbed to the use of rock music. Most of them have it in their worship, while others relegate it to the youth service or outreach, but almost all of them have it somewhere. Now I am sure some of you are interested in what is my Scriptural and reasonable foundation for rejecting rock music, including Christian rock. It has become so acceptable to use rock music and the arguments that have been advanced in its favor so plausible to most people that they can’t imagine anyone still seriously objecting to it. Oh, maybe some ignorant, red neck, country bumpkin Christians somewhere, but no one who is reasonable.

Some I suppose would still try to employ Scripture to back up their opposition to rock music, but I doubt if that is possible, at least in the direct use of Scripture. Scriptures might be cited that may be viewed as indirectly applying to rejecting rock music, and, to be sure, there are passages that speak of the use of music in idolatry and revelry, but no specific mention is made of the style of music used. And no final determination can be made to reject a certain style of music on the grounds that it is "worldly" (Romans 12:1). Any form of sacred music whether ancient or modern including Hebrew music, is "worldly" in that it has its origins and influences in common with that of the cultures in which it is found. All music by its very nature is cultural. There indeed may be a genuinely "heavenly" music; but the only music we can know now is earthly. This does not mean, however, that any music of any culture would be acceptable for the service and worship of God. My rejection of rock music, therefore, is based more on aesthetic concerns and the kinds of passions and emotions that rock music stirs up that are forbidden in God’s Word.

First let us ask, "What is the purpose of music?" Of course the Christian’s goal is to glorify God in all he does, including music. But I would like to take it a step back further than this. I agree with John Wesley who said, "The very end of music...is to affect the passions [or, emotions]." Other forms of communication can inform the intellect, but music is especially designed to affect our souls. Since this is the case, it must be of great concern to us as Christians just how our souls are being affected by the music we listen to and whether some music is capable of doing our souls harm or is not as useful in promoting their good as others. This in turn involves whether or not the music we use glorifies God. Some passions or emotions are forbidden outright in His Word. Any music that tends to raise these, therefore could not be pleasing to Him whether it was used in worship or service to Him or for our own use and enjoyment. My point is this: if music is capable of evoking either good or bad passions, it is moral in nature and therefore judgments must be made on whether or not a given style or piece of music is suitable or acceptable for worship and service to God.

Here I believe is the first false step of those who have argued for the use of rock music in the church. They have assumed, along with most modern philosophers of music, that music is amoral, that is, it has no moral value in and of itself, that it can be neither good nor bad in a moral sense, but is morally neutral in value. Now, in my discussion of whether music has moral value, I refer of course to music apart from any consideration of the lyrics that may accompany it. No one, I think, would deny that words have moral value. The question is only whether the instrumental side apart from lyrics has moral value. That music, through variations in its component parts of rhythm, meter, volume, melody, and pitch evokes various kinds of human emotions should be obvious. Job said,

My harp is tuned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of wailing. (Job 30:31)

What would be the tune of mourning and the sound of grieving? Perhaps a slow rhythm, drawn out notes, etc. At any rate, some tunes are dirges while others are more joyous. The music itself can convey these moods. Is it unreasonable to assume that certain music might then also stir the passions of lust or anger? When I was in high school a popular instrumental across the nation was "The Stripper" by, I believe, the David Rose orchestra. What made it conjure in the mind the scene in a strip tease joint? Surely the choice and use of the instruments, the tune, and the rhythm. If one should say it was through former associations that people have had with this activity and these places that made it "sound" like a stripper’s theme, take it a step back, then. How is it that this sound came to be associated with strip tease in the first place if the choice and use of the instruments, tune, and rhythm did not in themselves evoke the licentious passions associated with it? Would this tune have made a suitable accompaniment to set to Christian lyrics for a worship song? If the answer is "no" because of the associations that people would have had with that piece, having heard it on the radio, then let us ask, "Would that tune be appropriate for worship, set to Christian lyrics today when most people would no longer be familiar with it?" I for one would not think so. This serves to illustrate the fact that music does have moral value.

In their rejection of the idea that music has or can have moral influence, good or bad, modern students of the philosophy of music are quite at odds with men of former times from the near present all the way back to ancient times. And it is really no wonder that they reject the concept of the moral value of music, for most of them deny that pornography has any power to influence human behavior either. Any human passion is legitimate for them including lust or anger or anything else simply because it is human. They place no moral value on human emotions themselves, let alone the music that might stir them. According to them, all human emotions are natural and no value of good or bad can be affixed to them. They view with horror any restrictions upon art as censorship and a denial of free expression.

But it was not so with the ancient philosophers and those whose ideas about music prevailed until relatively recent times. Let me provide an account of this. I will quote from and condense from Julius Portnoy’s The Philosopher and Music, A Historical Outline. Portnoy takes the modern view that music is amoral, having no such value as morally good or morally bad or having such effects on its listeners. Nevertheless his account of the views of great men in history on this is accurate and helpful:

The word music itself is of Greek origin and was in myth-like fashion originally considered an art which was directly inspired by and descended from a Muse [Muses were nine Greek goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences]....Pre-Homeric [9th century B.C.] legend has it that Orpheus the sweet singer and bard servant of Apollo, was himself the son of a Muse. The music quality of his voice could heal the sick and engender religious devotion at the temple rites....Homer characterized the minstrels [wandering musicians] in the Odyssey as the favored mortals of the gods. The Muse endowed them with song not only to gladden the hearts of men but to watch over the morals of mankind. Minstrels were the earthly intermediaries who made the will of the gods known to man. Through music, man, in turn, could implore the gods for deliverance from sickness and pestilence. Homer told, and Plutarch centuries later retold, how the Grecians stopped the fury of a pestilence through the power and charm of music to appease the wrath of the gods "With sacred hymns and songs that sweetly please". (The Philosopher and Music, Julius Portnoy; The Humanities Press: NY; 1954, pp.4,5)

This close association of music with religion in all cultures is no doubt due to the deep effects music has upon us, touching our souls and spirits. This alone should make us cautious about what kind of effect the music we receive and use may have upon us spiritually. It’s not that we are in danger of falling under the influence of ancient Greek gods and goddesses in any of our music, but we may be subjecting ourselves to modern and more subtle forms of idolatry. The people who make the music—musicians, singers, and entertainers—obviously are idolized by their fans, and often the music itself is an idol.

Later the Greek philosophers shifted attention away from the gods in their attempt to provide moral guidance for society, but they strongly retained the idea that music governed morals:

Pericles [5th century B.C.], the builder of the Athenian empire, had gathered around him the outstanding philosophic, literary and artistic figures of his day....Damon, whom Plato quoted in the Republic as a musical authority and practicing artist, shared in the cultural life of the Periclean court. In his capacity as teacher and close friend to Pericles, he assigned an important function to music in the training of character and the making of a good citizen. Damon believed that the penetrating effect of music "could not only arouse or allay different emotions, but also inculcate all the virtues—courage, self-restraint, and even justice." The quality of a musical composition would leave its mark on the soul, for good or evil both on the part of the performer and listener. Through appropriate harmonies, new characteristics could be created, or latent ones drawn out, not only in the young but also in adults. "He went so far as to say that no innovation in musical fashion is possible without a resulting change in the most important political institutions. Plato records this opinion in the Republic; Socrates is depicted as in full agreement with it, and Adeimantus is made to add that through music "lawlessness creeps in unawares" in the guise of amusement, and after corrupting manners proceeds to undermine contracts, laws and constitutions until it overturns everything, public and private. These views doubtless represent the teaching of Damon and his pupils.
"A longer passage in the Republic, in which details are purposely left vague by Plato, hints at Damon’s analysis of the components of music, such as rhythm, foot, short and long syllable; to all these, both singly and in combination, he gave a moral value. A good education will banish those elements which are akin to vice and excess, and will retain those akin to virtue and order. Plato clearly approved of Damon’s teaching...." Damon considered music essential not only for a liberal education but also for the attainment of a sound state....[I]nnovation in musical styles and rhythms carried a warning of social change or even revolution. It was his contention, that if the Greek bard altered or varied artistic styles or musical modes so as to alter or vary the traditional patterns of musical expression, the emotional impact of these innovations upon society would in turn influence cultural and social change. Music, concluded Damon in agreement with Pythagoreans, had ethical value which should be utilized in the attainment of a sound morality. (Ibid., pp.11,12; the quotations within the quote are from Kathleen Freeman, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers; Basil Blackwell: Oxford, 1949 as quoted in Portnoy.)

Actually we do not need to cite Greek philosophers to know that rock music since it arose in the 1950’s has had just such effects as they warned of upon American society. Its effects and, to a far lesser degree, those of the musical innovations of preceding decades, the 1920’s to the 1950's, that led up to rock music—jazz, swing, rhythm and blues—have been truly revolutionary in our society, affecting all our public institutions: education, family, law, etc. Although rock music has not been the only factor, it has been one of the greatest if not the greatest factor in the decline of morals and order in our society. Who can deny this who has any grasp of reality? This alone ought to be enough for any thinking person to conclude that the Christian should abstain from rock music in any form whether secular or religious. How can we offer up to God in accompaniment to words of praise what, to Him, only moments ago, was raised up by hell itself to destroy the very fabric and foundation of society and morals? To me, the fact that we now do this in our churches across the land is another evidence that it isn’t just the secular society that has lost its ability to make moral judgments; the church has, too. We don’t need philosophical theories or observations to know that rock music is destructive of the virtues that are necessary not only for the Christian but a sound society: self-control, modesty and chastity, submission to authority, orderliness, and restraint from violence. The history of rock and roll is a history of infamy, a parade of perversion—illicit sex, drugs, rebellion against authority, and violence—in both the purveyors and consumers of it. Someone may respond that this is due to the character of the musicians and singers and the lyrics they use. But why, then, did they use the music they used? Is there no connection between it and the lyrics and effects the music has had? Do you think rock music would have had the dramatic effects it has had if the same lyrics had been set to "big band" tunes? It should be obvious that the music itself apart from the lyrics has played a large part if not the greatest part in destroying moral values. The rhythm, the meter, the volume, and the use of the instruments have served as a perfectly fit medium for conveying the licentiousness, violence, and rebellion expressed in the lyrics. Besides, might old Damon be right when he said that the character of the music leaves its mark on the soul of the performer as well as the listener? Rock musicians had to love it and learn it before they could play it. Their characters were ruined first by the music before they could in turn corrupt the characters and morals of others through their own music. And you think we can "redeem" this music by baptizing it with Christian cliches and offer it to God as a spiritual sacrifice and use it for a medium He will bless for the conversion of sinners to holiness? Have we lost our minds?! Has our moral judgment sunk below that of the old heathen philosophers?

Of course one might argue that other forms of secular music—jazz, blues, country—have had the same bad effects. The purveyors of these have not lagged far behind the rock musicians and singers in their attainments in alcohol, drugs, illicit sex, etc. I would not want to defend country music as good, but it and the other forms of music just mentioned have been far lesser evils, compared to the influence of rock on society. There have been far more artists in country music, especially of the past, who lived good lives than there are in rock music. Many of the country stars, at least those of the past, recorded whole albums of hymns or gospel songs. I know many of these did not live anywhere near the Christian the lifestyle, but by contrast, how many rock stars besides Elvis recorded gospel music? Of course, this has to do with the lyrics, not the music, but the hymns can be set to a country sound with very little variation in them. About half of blue grass music is gospel. In addition, there was, at least, again, in the past in classic country music, a strain of morality running through a large portion of it—at least sin was considered wrong. The influence of all these forms of music put together has been nothing compared to the bad effects of rock music on our youth and our culture. Are teenage gangs, murderers, dopers, punks, drop-outs, pimps, and whores fans of country music? And country music itself in recent years has fallen under the influence of rock so that the two styles now are not nearly as distinguishable.

I don’t need to quote the greatest of the Greek philosophers to know that rock music is destructive of morals and society. I do it only to show that rejection of rock music for use in the church is not just the opinion of ignorant country bumpkins. I’d say we ignorant country folks are in some pretty impressive company on this issue. Let’s look at some more:

Democritus (born c. 460 B.C.) believed with the Pythagoreans that the artist stood midway between the gods and man and that it was the divined role of the inspired artist to help man attune his soul to the universal soul through the rhythm and grace of music. The Roman philosopher Boethius who transmitted the musical aesthetics of the Greeks to the Middle Ages wrote: "...the power of the art of music became so evident through the studies of ancient philosophy that the Pythagoreans used to free themselves from the cares of the day by certain melodies, which caused a gentle and quiet slumber to steal upon them. Similarly, upon rising, they dispelled the stupor and confusion of sleep by certain other melodies, knowing that the whole structure of soul and body is united by musical harmony. For the impulses of the soul are stirred by emotions corresponding to the state of the body, as Democritus is said to have informed the physician Hippocrates...." (Ibid., p.12; Portnoy credited Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music History, p.83; W.W. Norton: NY, 1950, in this passage.)

I have no doubt there is much truth to this, do you? Did you ever listen to Bill Pierce’s late night radio program "Night Sounds" on Christian stations? The slow rhythm and soft volume meant it was not exactly wake up music. The emotions stirred by rock music are evident from the corresponding bodily actions that may be seen in the successive string of dance crazes since the 1950’s, all of which put earlier popular dance forms to shame in their vulgar and suggestive poses and contortions. By the way, I have noticed that it is becoming more and more acceptable to gyrate this way to Christian rock music, both by the performers and the fans. Witness the Christian teen videos. And we see no harm in this? This music is suitable for the worship of the Holy One of Israel? Country square dance, Texas two-step, and line dancing, the corresponding bodily movements accompanying country music, are tame by comparison.

We continue:

Socrates (469-399 B.C.)...was depicted by Plato in the Republic as fully agreeing with the views of Damon on the ethical, political and educational value of music. Music had the power to mold the souls of the young, to prepare them for [a meaningful and purposeful] life.....

The writings of the Greek philosophers display conceptual similarities with the respective musical beliefs of the Egyptians, the Chinese and the Hebrews. Philosophies of music which may have had the their origin in civilizations some 1500 years prior to the birth of Christ found their way into Greek thought. Plato (427-347 B.C.) is the most notable of the Western philosophers to maintain that music, in both the classic and modern sense, should be used for the attainment of a sound morality. He was not altogether original in his views on the place of music in a well-ordered society. Nor was he the first to consider the ethical implications that music presumably has upon character and human behavior....We do not know whether Plato had any actual knowledge of the philosophy which Confucius taught in the effects it has had if the same lyrics had been set to "big band" tunes? It should be obvious that the music itself apart from the lyrics has played a large part if not the greatest part in destroying moral values. The rhythm, the meter, the volume, and the use of the instruments have served as a perfectly fit medium for conveying the licentiousness, violence, and rebellion expressed in the lyrics. Besides, might old Damon be right when he said that the character of the music leaves its mark on the soul of the performer as well as the listener? Rock musicians had to love it and learn it before they could play it. Their characters were ruined first by the music before they could in turn corrupt the characters and morals of others through their own music. And you think we can "redeem" this music by baptizing it with Christian cliches and offer it to God as a spiritual sacrifice and use it for a medium He will bless for the conversion of sinners to holiness? Have we lost our minds?! Has our moral judgment sunk below that of the old heathen philosophers?

Democritus (born c. 460 B.C.) believed with the Pythagoreans that the artist stood midway between the gods and man and that it was the divined role of the inspired artist to help man attune his soul to the universal soul through the rhythm and grace of music. The Roman philosopher Boethius who transmitted the musical aesthetics of the Greeks to the Middle Ages wrote: "...the power of the art of music became so evident through the studies of ancient philosophy that the Pythagoreans used to free themselves from the cares of the day by certain melodies, which caused a gentle and quiet slumber to steal upon them. Similarly, upon rising, they dispelled the stupor and confusion of sleep by certain other melodies, knowing that the whole structure of soul and body is united by musical harmony. For the impulses of the soul are stirred by emotions corresponding to the state of the body, as Democritus is said to have informed the physician Hippocrates...." (Ibid., p.12; Portnoy credited Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music History, p.83; W.W. Norton: NY, 1950, in this passage.)

We continue:

Socrates (469-399 B.C.)...was depicted by Plato in the Republic as fully agreeing with the views of Damon on the ethical, political and educational value of music. Music had the power to mold the souls of the young, to prepare them for [a meaningful and purposeful] life.....

Symptomatic of [the change in student tastes from classical music in former days to rock music today] is how seriously students now take the famous passages on musical education in Plato’s Republic. In the past...[students] hardly paid attention to the discussion of music itself and, to the extent that they even thought about it, were really puzzled by Plato’s devoting time to rhythm and melody in a serious treatise on political philosophy. Their experience of music was as an entertainment, a matter of indifference to political and moral life. Students today, on the contrary, know exactly why Plato takes music so seriously. They know it affects life very profoundly and are indignant because Plato seems to want to rob them of their most intimate pleasure....The very fact of their fury shows how much Plato threatens what is dear and intimate to them....Indignation is the soul’s defense against the wound of doubt about its own; it reorders the cosmos to support the justice of its cause....Plato’s teaching about music is, put simply, that rhythm and melody, accompanied by dance, are the barbarous expression of the soul....Nietzsche, who in large measure agrees with Plato’s analysis, says...that a mixture of cruelty and coarse sensuality characterized this [barbaric] state, which of course was religious, in the service of the gods....Civilization or, to say the same thing, education is the taming or domestication of the soul’s raw passions....Plato’s Socrates disciplines the ecstasies.... According to the Socratic formula, the lyrics—speech and, hence, reason—must determine the music—harmony and rhythm. Students are not in a position to know the pleasures of reason; they can only see it as a disciplinary and repressive parent. But they do see, in the case of Plato, that that parent has figured out what they are up to. Plato teaches that, in order to take the spiritual temperature of an individual or a society, one must "mark the music." To Plato and Nietzsche, the history of music is a series of attempts to give form and beauty to the dark, chaotic, premonitory forces in the soul—to make them serve a higher purpose, an ideal, to give man’s duties a fullness. Bach’s religious intentions and Beethoven’s revolutionary and humane ones are clear enough examples. Such cultivation of the soul uses the passions and satisfies them while sublimating them and giving them artistic unity....[R]ock music has one appeal only, a barbaric appeal, to sexual desire—not love, not eros, but sexual desire undeveloped and untutored....Young people know that rock has the beat of sexual intercourse. That is why Ravel’s Bolero is the one piece of classical music that is commonly known and liked by them....The inevitable corollary of such sexual interest is rebellion against the parental authority that represses it....These are the three great lyrical themes [in rock music]: sex, hate and a swarmy, hypocritical version of brotherly love. Such polluted sources issue in a muddy stream where only monsters can swim....Nothing noble, sublime, profound, delicate, tasteful or even decent can find a place in such tableaux....This phenomenon is both astounding and indigestible, and is hardly noticed, routine and habitual. But it is of historic proportions that a society’s best young and their best energies should be so occupied. People of future civilizations will wonder at this and find it as incomprehensible as we do the caste system, witch-burning, harems, cannibalism and gladiatorial combats. It may well be that a society’s greatest madness seems normal to itself. (The Closing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom; Simon and Schuster: NY; 1987, pp.70-75)

I have much more to say on this subject, but I must wind it down for now. As I have said on a number of occasions, in recent decades there has been a concerted effort to drive holiness teaching out the church, characterizing those who hold to old fashioned modesty and morality as Pharisees and legalists. Something similar has happened regarding rock music. Those who champion the use of it in worship or to spread the gospel have striven to paint those who oppose it as ignorant and unreasonable traditionalists who stand in the way of revival. Whether you come to completely agree with me or not, I think you will find that what I have to say on the subject certainly does not confirm that mischaracterization.

Until next time, God bless you all.

Leon Stump, Pastor of Victory Christian Center

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