Expert: Phillip Senn - 10/5/2005

Question
Hello. The past two days I have heard two different Bible teachers basically claim that 'secular music is sin.' Now, I am a Christian, so I do not listen to offensive music. But I honestly do not understand why listening to piano music, for example, is sinful.

I understand that the Bible teaches we're supposed to glorify God in whatever we do. And I do enjoy Christian music. But does this mean I'm being sinful if I listen to non-offensive secular music?

What about hobbies? Everybody alive has a hobby. If I play sports, is that sin? If I go for a walk, is that sin? You see my frustration. None of these things in themselves are glorifying to God. So where do we draw the line?

Answer
John,

It appears that you have already answered your own question. The term secular could have two meanings here, so I will be careful. It appears that your understanding of the term would fall into the definition of "non-religious". The ministers may be using it in the sense of "worldly". Since I cannot know the context of their statements, I cannot make a proper determination. If they are meaning that listening to all non-religious music is a sin, then I would agree with you that anything they do should be judged by that same measure. If it (any activity that they engage in) isn't religious activity, then they have condemned it as sin. However, if they were meaning "worldly" then they are probably correct in their statement. We are told to "love not the world, nor the things of the world". If this is the context they are using, I would judge that they are correct. Based upon how you presented it, I would say that the first definition is probably how you took it, rather than the last.

If our actions present us as "worldly", that could not be good for our testimony of Christ. What if our music has a religious theme or words, but is worldly type music? Would that be okay with them? I think we should try to have music that both the instrumentation, as well as the words, glorify the Lord Jesus. But we should exercise care in making sure we are not too critical in our judgment.

The Reformation and Counter-Reformation greatly changed music of Lutheran and Catholic churches. Martin Luther took an active part in the preparation of a new repertoire of church music, with congregational singing encouraged. The Lutherans set German texts to new melodies and Catholic hymns. The use of contrafacta, that is the setting of Christian text or poetry to secular music, was widespread among Lutherans at this time. How would they deal with that? Some of the hymns we sing today were taken from the Lutherans from this era.

I hope this has answered your question. Please rate this answer at allexperts.com so that I may know areas in which I need to improve.

With Love In Christ,
Phillip Senn