Expert: Griff Ruby - 2/10/2008

Question
Hey!

As a Catholic my self do you believe that is wrong for me to listen to a band called "Heaven Shall Burn"? I know for one that you are going to think "Yes! It is very wrong" But i'm not sure. They don't blasphyme in songs (well ones I have herd they don't)

how do you think i should feel or do?

Answer
Such titles as "Heaven Shall Burn," "Deaf to our Prayers," "Asunder" do all seem to be at least flirting with blasphemy, though the group does seem to be bending over backwards to distance themselves from the implications of such phrases and expressions.  Their concern with "Social justice" could be (such a thing is often, thought not always) a sign of liberalism and a desire to overthrow the order of God, Law, Country, and morality, and in my opinion could easily bode as bad as their group, album, and song names.  And given that racism is such a dead issue, why continue to beat that horse?
Could you picture a monk listening to it, even if the music itself were truly sublime?  But of course that is a counsel of perfection, as there is much that monks do not do though the rest of us might.
We Catholics are not like certain Protestants that like to set up rules, damning those who do not live up to them, or else merely deciding that because a thing is not damnable therefore it is OK.  It really has to be a case of all things in moderation.  The occasional glass of wine with a dinner (if one is of age) is perfectly fine and no sin, but drunkenness clearly is a sin.  An enjoyable song in the context of a life well lived is like that single glass of wine in the context of a full and proper meal and social occasion.  But keep a close watch on what it does to the way you live, or how you believe, or even what role their music comes to take in your life.  If it is all that important to you, then you would do well to distance yourself from it.  This is a particular concern if you are young (less than, say, 25 or 30), since young people often don't have much sense of direction as to where their life is heading or what God has put them here to achieve, and then along comes some crazy song and suddenly one is dancing to the idea of becoming an eco-terrorist or what not, while an older person, more centered and directed in life, might sit and enjoy the same song, and then shrug it off and get on with life.  The big difference here is that he HAS a life (quite other and unrelated to any song) to get on with.
You will have to take a good hard look at your own situation in life to see what role this (or any other music you may come to discover in life) plays in your life.  If the people who know you well define you in terms of the music you listen to instead of some other accomplishments one might have, then that itself is the one sure sign that you had best just put it on the shelf for at least ten years, or even longer.