music

_sinner_

nowadays, many ppl listen to secular music and r shocked wen they hear its not encouraged in the orthodox church and that i dun 2 it. i listen 2 christian r&b and pop, and dont kno wats so great about secular. secular music, in my opinion, is bad and music videos worse. like abouna maximos sed: secular music is a very bad influence on how we speak and act. if u DO listen to secular, dont be embarassed, i hav a lot of good christian frendz who listen to secular.

egyprincess

sorry to say, i disagree. many priest have said as long as the language is appropriate and the words don't really go to our head and we listen to it moderately and also listen to religious music it is ok. i also don't think it is possible not to listen to secular music. i myself listen to mostly secular music. pray for me to stop my serious addiction to music. i know i sound like a hyprocrite.

_sinner_

sum types of music r 'ok' but the main no-nos (unfortunately for sum ppl) r rap & rock. its not common 2 find a secular rap song w/out swearing.

egyprincess

i agree. we also have to keep in mind that the type of music we listen to affects us in one way or another.

G.J.I

i think all music has corruption in it... except for church praises and prayers. thats a little sumthing im learning as i grow through this corrupt world...

Suzanne

I’ve said this before in another conversation and ill say it again- everything should be done in moderation! Music in itself is not a sin- King David sung and danced around the tabernacle of the Lord when it was returned to him!

It’s the words and the connotations which they imply that may cause individuals to sin. Some music is just 'easy going fun' other music has far too many worldly, sinful references. There’s music that express love, express hatred and express talent (instrumental)- music in itself cannot be a sin its defiantly how we look at it and how we use it.

If someone cannot live without rap music for example then they are a slave to it and hence, (forgive me if I’m wrong) sinning because they ‘worship’ the music, where as if someone just listens to music once in a while to calm down or relax, then i believe it is ok. God does not say these things are wrong- being Christian does not mean living a morbid life but at the end of the day we have to step back and think is this sort of entertainment going to benefit us and take us one step closer to heaven or is going to bring us one step further from God?

Then again, this is just my opinion.. What do you guys think?
“All things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any” (1 Corinthians 6:12)


god bless

peet

1 thing _Sinner_, can you please add (All of the above) to your polll????? well for me i dont listen to heavy rock or metallica or any of that stuff. but the rest i listen to.



cheers ;D

Coptic_Avenger

i usually listen to usually coptic hymns (not english but coptic, which is awsome. u guys should check out the higher institute of coptic studies, it rock yo) and the arabic music. then if im in the car, i listen to usually metal and barely rap.

mike_henain

Hey, well, I myself listen to Coptic Hymns (Arabic or Coptic) and sometimes Holy Liturgies,

I also like rap but I don't care about swear words in it, all what I care about is the story or if it sounds good and makes sense, I don't like rock coz I just feel it's angry people's music, no offence to any1....

By the way, I never put Church stuff with rap in one cd as it is very disrespectful...


Defender

Unknown

What do you guys think of christian group cd's such as WOW or even our own coptic group, Trinity?
do u think its right to try to upbeat christian songs and fit it into today's style of music?

marys

i think of it this way... with the more modern version of christian songs... we're appealing to a larger mass... whie keeping the same message.... and although this seems like we're trying to evolve to stay popular (like other sects of christianity).. it isn't. it's like getting ur message heard along different mediums... so if you can reach a thousand more ppl doing it.. why not?

Unknown

but its not the same lovely rhythm that christianity is all about
i mean, u dont c many christians goin around rapping to some homeless person, yo yo wuts up man... lets go to church... i mean its not really a realistic thing
ppl often ask y our mass takes so long because of the extended sounds to certain words... i mean if we were to take out those sounds, etc, it would be said like any other mass that is said today
right?

mike_henain

I agree with SMS and I totally disagree with Marys,

The way I think of it is, this is our heritage, for centuries we never changed the style of music, and we are well known for our beautiful-sounding music, we don't have to change because the world is changing in fact, these "christian" songs grab more attention to the beat than to GOD.... and they defientely can't go through to your heart....


Defender

marys

well i'm not saying we change what we have. definetly not. it's what makes us US. all i'm saying iss... when you take a song that has a message and play it to the same audience that listens to the same type of music... u might accidently get them to hear something that no one may have ever told them before...

mike_henain

Ur definietly right,

I just don't want to see in a few years the use of the electronic guitarand the drums in our Churches. Therefore, I think these songs are only good on ur CD player or ur Stereo at home....


Defender

Abanoub88

good point Mary. I know of a kid myself who loved heavy rock all his life and when he heard this one Christian heavy rock song, it grabbed his attention and now he is a devout Christian who performs in a Christian rock band.

Where words fail, music speaks.
- Chris

marys

but i really don't want to be misunderstood. i'm not saying that we should play the guitar and rock out on the drums in the middle of church... but even the psalms where written to be played with music... i'm also quite positive that they weren't meant to be sung in a church setting.. but to be sang as a praise.. with or without the actual place setting... i'm saying if ppl can praise God, in a different way.... let them. i personally am a fan of it. it gives me something i can use to pray... something different other than just words."where words fail, music speaks"- hans christian andersen
high five for chris... great quote..

Abanoub88

Thanks ;D...I'm learnin from the quote-master herself ;)

A perfect trinity: three in one and one in three: That is, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit: The Spirit of Truth.
- Chris

Deacon_john

Yes, It is true that the psalms are written in song form, However, music that has bad lyrics (rap, rock and hiphop mostly).[flash=200,200][/flash][tt][/tt]

battata

i think it also depends on how close your relationship with God is. some pple can go with out music at all, while others need to listen to it every once in a while to relax. i fer one have gone witout music for about 2 yrs except wen im out wit friends er wutever n like a couple of other times...i personally like the trinity cds but not so much the christian rock. so wen it comes down to it, it all depends on ur relationship with God and if you can handle it..

marys

well see... that's what i'm saying... try to get them away from the music with lyrical no-no's and into the music with actual depth and heart... that'll get them somewhere. all i'm saying is that if a person is determined to listen to the music of shmorb (i don't wanna diss any type of music so i'll just invent my own) and shmorb isn't the most spiritual beneficial music.. then u take the idea of shmorb and make it into something that'll hit them and be like "whoa, maybe this isn't the best thing for me.. let's try sum alhan"... extreme, i know... but you know what i'm trying to get at.

Unknown

hahahaha :D
but u c marys, the thing i fear is that if this shmorb music sticks to this person, and of course, they're not gonna find elhan any better becasue tehy're so attached to schmorb... so what are the chances of that?
just a hypothetical idea here...

marys

well then u lure them awayyy from shmorb by beating them with their own medicine sort of... at least it won't be the same stuff they WERE listening to..

Paulh

yes, but the no-no lyrics can be taken out of the shmorb, and the same shmorb tone can be used with more christian lyrics

Abanoub88

here we were having a theological debate over the role of music in our lives and if it can be manipulated to offer a more Christian tone or perhaps refrain from tone completely...when this hypothetical 'shmorb' came along....lol...it went from philosophical to seussical in a few posts....god i love this site! lol ;D

In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
- Chris

Boricua_Orthodox

[glow=red,2,300]Happy Pentecost!!![/glow]

I listen to alot of blues,classical,heavy metal, natasha atlas (Egyptian dance music singer), latin music and Orthodox chant

What the Fathers always tell us is to be vigilant. One's food is another;s poison so we must be watchful in our own tastes with everything including music. If i find myself listening to too much heavy rock and thats affecting my prayer life then its something i would need to speak with my Confession father for guidance or may decide that i may need to listen less to it or not at all for a time until there's progress once again .

The media in general is a great channel of today's secular ambivalent morality or immorality. Teens and even adults listen to too much secular music especially pop that the assimilation of secular values is subtle, almost unnoticeable. We must remember that we have been bought at a price (1 Cor 6:20 ) and we dont belong to ourselves anymore...isnt that what it means to have a Lord?

It's not easy for me since i enjoy very heavy music like Metallica and Evanescence and i have had to cut this music for awhile until i could get back on track spiritually again. But some bands i refuse to listen to anymore because they are too anti- Christian in their songs. So i try to share with my Confession father even this becuase Christ is interested in EVERYTHING about me because He loves me and is looking out for this great sinner. Moooooooooo!
.

sleepymusician

This is a very controversial issue. I think that if you can keep a good balance between the good music you listen to, and the other types of music you listen to then it's ok. By good music I'm talking about coptic and such, and by other music I'm talking about the music we hear on the radio.

Abanoub88

I guess that's a good deal. Not all one thing or the other. Always listen to both. I like that idea sleepy. :)

Hail to you, O Cross: the joy of the Christians: the conqueror of the tyranny: and our steadfastness, we the faithful.
- Chris

sleepymusician

Thanks! ;)


sleepy