Popular Music That Teach Morals

[Comprehender]

Thanks for the great music ideas & lyrics, God'sGift & QuestDriven.

 

[Comprehender]

As Christians, we must use discernment and filter everything through the Word of God. Rationalizing is not preferable.

Your smiley is called, "shame" which we tend to give ourselves & others too much of.
I understand & agree that it's important to guide our kids in the right way - but I've taught my kids to not idolize anybody - that everyone is imperfect, from the socially lowest to the highest.
If I had to throw away all music from someone who is not a perfect example, I wouldn't have any music. Beethoven was an alcoholic, so we shouldn't listen to his music?

Greatest Love of All - Whitney Houston? Hardly!

... and all this time I thought the greatest love of all was the love of our Lord.

Paul clearly tells us we should NOT esteem ourselves over others.

:help

I understand that too often we identify ourselves superficially, not spiritually.
Yet, at one time or another, we've all felt the love of God.
Vic, how do you feel the love of our Lord?
Within you!
Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you." -Luke 17:21

 

[evenifigoalone]

Oh, and One Day Too Late, by Skillet. Looking for Angels, too. Whispers in the Dark. Hero.
Skillet is good. I wouldn't say they particularly concentrate on morals, at least not as much as the others I mentioned in my other posts in this thread. But yeah.
They are a Christian band--this is obvious if you listen to a lot of their earlier songs, like I Can. But later on they made the Christian themes in their music less obvious. I guess so Atheists and people of other religions would listen.

 

[Vic C.]

Your smiley is called, "shame" which we tend to give ourselves & others too much of.
I understand & agree that it's important to guide our kids in the right way - but I've taught my kids to not idolize anybody - that everyone is imperfect, from the socially lowest to the highest.
If I had to throw away all music from someone who is not a perfect example, I wouldn't have any music.

I was commenting on specific songs mentioned in this thread. I attempted to point out some things that others may have overlooked or ignored. That's all.

Nowhere did I even hint at refraining from listening to music. That was a stretch. Nor did I mentioning anything about throwing away any music, but I 'bet' if some of us looked through our collection (especially we older folks who have accumulated a lot of it), we would find lots of music we should be throwing out. ;)

Beethoven was an alcoholic, so we shouldn't listen to his music?

Ouch! Comparing Beethoven to any of the artists mentioned so far is a poor comparison. Beethoven has done tremendous things for music and music theory. Perry has done nothing which is considered quality, nor has she done anything that would be deemed virtuous.

I understand that too often we identify ourselves superficially, not spiritually.
Yet, at one time or another, we've all felt the love of God.
Vic, how do you feel the love of our Lord?
Within you!

Now you have rationalized the Whitney lyrics by taking some of the lyrics out of context. What you said here actually refutes the lyrics as well. You mentioned the love of God within us, which is correct. Unfortunately, the lyrics don't mention or even hint at God. The lyrics promote self love.

Go back up and read the lyrics slowly. You'll catch it.

That aside, there are also times when we feel the love of God through what He does not for ourselves, but what we see Him doing in the lives of others.

I feel the love of God when I hear someone's testimony.
I feel the love of God when I witness a baptism.
I feel the love of God when someone witnesses about how they were cured of an illness, or how God had provided for them in tough times, etc.

While the Kingdom may be within us, the love of the Lord is all around us.

Since I am hard-pressed to find any contemporary pop music that portrays morals related to our Christian lives, I won't derail your topic any more.

Thanks for listening.

 

[jasoncran]

vic, i have no secular music in my possesion.my wife does and we dont share cds all that much.

 

[Comprehender]

Oh, and One Day Too Late, by Skillet. Looking for Angels, too. Whispers in the Dark. Hero.
Skillet is good. I wouldn't say they particularly concentrate on morals, at least not as much as the others I mentioned in my other posts in this thread. But yeah.
They are a Christian band--this is obvious if you listen to a lot of their earlier songs, like I Can. But later on they made the Christian themes in their music less obvious. I guess so Atheists and people of other religions would listen.

Thanks for these suggestions, Questdriven.

 

[elizabethbraddock]

It seems to be difficult to find contemporary music with good morals; they're out there, but they seem to be few and far between.

 

[Comprehender]

I was commenting on specific songs mentioned in this thread. I attempted to point out some things that others may have overlooked or ignored. That's all.

Nowhere did I even hint at refraining from listening to music. That was a stretch. Nor did I mentioning anything about throwing away any music, but I 'bet' if some of us looked through our collection (especially we older folks who have accumulated a lot of it), we would find lots of music we should be throwing out. ;)

...And yet you don't throw them out...
Maybe because you realize that there may be one song that is uplifting to you, even if one or 2 words doesn't include the words, God/Christ specifically.

Ouch! Comparing Beethoven to any of the artists mentioned so far is a poor comparison. Beethoven has done tremendous things for music and music theory. Perry has done nothing which is considered quality, nor has she done anything that would be deemed virtuous.

Ok, so maybe comparing Beethoven with Perry is like comparing fresh juicy watermellon with candy flavored watermellon candy.
But you got my point, right?
Nobody's perfect.
Infact, they say Mozart was messed up in most aspects of his life, but a musical genius.
There is no perfect person.
I imagine if you really dug into any famous religious artist, you'd find all kinds of flaws. Most religious people only hide it better than others.

Now you have rationalized the Whitney lyrics by taking some of the lyrics out of context. What you said here actually refutes the lyrics as well. You mentioned the love of God within us, which is correct. Unfortunately, the lyrics don't mention or even hint at God. The lyrics promote self love.

Go back up and read the lyrics slowly. You'll catch it.

I know exactly what you mean. I listen to this song pretty often & have mostly memorized the lyrics - most of which are very uplifting, especially to me, as a parent & an advocate for children.

Vic, I've got 2 points for you...
1. One of the greatest commandments (above all prophets & laws) is to love ourselves. -Matt 22:40
2. "What's in a name? A rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." -Shakespeare

That aside, there are also times when we feel the love of God through what He does not for ourselves, but what we see Him doing in the lives of others.

I feel the love of God when I hear someone's testimony.
I feel the love of God when I witness a baptism.
I feel the love of God when someone witnesses about how they were cured of an illness, or how God had provided for them in tough times, etc.

While the Kingdom may be within us, the love of the Lord is all around us.

Since I am hard-pressed to find any contemporary pop music that portrays morals related to our Christian lives, I won't derail your topic any more.

Thanks for listening.

Inspiring, Vic!
I agree & relate with feeling God's love even by seeing it in others.
And thank you for sharing from your heart, about feeling God's love.

To me, some Christian music is less uplifting than some main-stream music.
I don't like the focus on Jesus suffering on the cross.
I lost a baby - late miscarriage. I can still see his little body lying dead - but I don't like to think about it - it makes me too sad. And it also makes me sad to focus on human sacrifice of the cross. I don't agree with it. I know Jesus died, standing up for truth, but I don't believe that his death was necessary as a human sacrifice. I don't believe in human sacrifice. I believe God is love & would never require or accept human sacrifice.

I believe Jesus was filled with the light of Christ & God... & that he learned to love himself, warts & all, so he could love everyone else, no matter how "sinful" they seemed to others. Jesus showed us the way, through beautiful symbolic parables. It's up to us to interpret them & apply them personally.

Vic,
Here's a song for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69ni2wnE3Pc

 

[Comprehender]

It seems to be difficult to find contemporary music with good morals; they're out there, but they seem to be few and far between.

True, but they are out there...
Like these:

Anyway, Martina McBride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNe3z385T7k

You are Loved, Josh Groban
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-G8IfjPAII

 

[farouk]

Oh, and One Day Too Late, by Skillet. Looking for Angels, too. Whispers in the Dark. Hero.
Skillet is good. I wouldn't say they particularly concentrate on morals, at least not as much as the others I mentioned in my other posts in this thread. But yeah.
They are a Christian band--this is obvious if you listen to a lot of their earlier songs, like I Can. But later on they made the Christian themes in their music less obvious. I guess so Atheists and people of other religions would listen.

questdriven:

Hi; did you see Korey Cooper and Jen Ledger's (of Skillet) newish faith based tattoos? kind of a permanent testimony, right?

 

[evenifigoalone]

questdriven:

Hi; did you see Korey Cooper and Jen Ledger's (of Skillet) newish faith based tattoos? kind of a permanent testimony, right?

I didn't notice. Cool =)

 

[farouk]

I didn't notice. Cool =)

questdriven:

You didn't realize, then?

 

[Comprehender]

Here's another song (I think it was originally a poem)...

Touch of the Master's Hand, Wayne Watson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMrz6UjQ8Cg