Saturday, May 15, 2010

Let's Talk About Music - Soul or Spirit?




It's the most influential forces today; it can make you happy or sad. It can bring you closer to God but similarly can lead you into the devil's hand. Of course, we are talking about music.

Considering that both Christian and secular music use instrumentals, convey a message and influence the hearer one way or the other, what is it exactly that makes one different from the other?

For the next five weeks we will be exploring this subject by answering the following questions:


  • Soul or Spirit?
  • Whose Glory?
  • Leading to where?
  • Moral or Immoral?
  • What Effect?

Let's take a closer look at the subject of this week by concentrating on the first on the five questions: Souls or Spirit? Both secular and Christian music touch you in a particular way, communicating something to you while you are listening. But what's the message of that music is doing to you? Is it feeding your soul (emotions) or your spirit (faith)?


                       
                               SECULAR MUSIC                             


Soul: Secular music taps into your emotions and causes you to feel happy, sad, angry, aggressive, etc. A sad love song will make you feel sorrowful, while the upbeat song that follows will make you feel happy and lively.

Effect: The effects are temporary simply because what you feel is an emotion. A song allows you to escape from reality for a few moments, but as soon as the song is over, it's back to reality. There is no doubt that music influences the mood of a person, but imagine making choices based on the feelings of the moment?



                              CHRISTIAN MUSIC 


Spirit: Unlike worldly music, this is directed at your mind, which is connected to the spirit. As you are led by the spirit, it often helps you express what you cannot put into words and leads you closer to God. It causes your mind to focus on the things of God rather than on your feelings.

Effect: It helps you think, ponder about your life, faith, etc. It inspires you to act on your faith and brings you closer to God. It strengthens and encourages your faith. For example, when you sing a song of faith - directed at your problem - the words cause you to think, which in turn inspires you to take action based on faith, not emotions.


Next week we'll talk about the second point: Whose Glory?


Pr Luke Castro


7 comments:

Ana Villatoro said...

I will be waiting for the next points. Thanks for the post.

Bianca Moctezuma said...

Thanks for the post, Pastor.
Really great points about music.

Mayela Menezes said...

This is so true, when i listen to a song, i find myself singing it hours later it sticks to our mind! that's why we need to be careful of what we listen too, because we'll be saying it in our mind!

Looking forward to the next posts! :-)

Divya said...

The secular music industry wants to sell at all costs. If that means selling a song that stirs up our emotions to make mistakes like sleeping with someone without thinking about the consequences, using drugs or cutting ourselves, they'll do it for money and fame.

However, the person that falls on that trap lives with the outcome for the rest of their lives.

andrea dos santos said...

This is a very strong message.
I listen to music some times but I don't stop to think if it is feeding my soul or if it's just an emotional moment.This very strong and it helped me alot!

Thanks andrea , Ireland

Lily Torn said...

Music is EXTREMELY influencial, especially for teens nowadays. I remember I used to put on a sad song, if I was feeling sad, because I felt identified by it. And instead of getting this sadness off of my mind, it only made me feel worse, almost depressed. Music is almost like a subtle way of mind control, we must be able to be selective in what we let go into our brain. I will be anxiously waiting your next post!

Rebeca=) said...

Music is truly influential in today's world. I totally agree. How many people have been led astray because of secular music... tons and how many have been led to light by Christian music... some though I'm sure it's not as many as have been led astray. It's sad really, but true. The catchy beats of the music today make people to accept promiscuity, drugs, and all kind of bad things as normal and cool.