Music & Sports

[xMikex]

Hey, I had an arguement with a friend of mine recently.
He told me he got rid of a bunch of CDs and music because it was secular.
Because of conviction he can only own Christian music.
As long as the band claims to be Christian or is on a Christian label it's cool...

Thats fine with me, it's his choice or God's choice for him or whatever, but what about other stuff??
His sweater came from Stitches, is that a Christian store??
What about all the tv shows he watches?? (and this guy is nuts too. At my house when a commercial comes on it's an opportunity to take a break from the tv. At his house it's like a huge bummer when a commercial comes on and it's such agony flickin through the channels trying to find something amusing for two minutes until that commercial is over )

My real beef though, was sports.
This dude loves hockey and basketball and football.
These are religions.
I know folks who are more finatic over a baseball game than I am about The Famine coming to Detroit this summer!!
There is nothing Christian about the politics behind these professional leagues.
What about when a player deliberately injures another and gets suspended for a whole season, or that rookie football player who thought it'd be fun to rear-end police car and push it off the road with his hummer and only get a stupid fine and a gay charge and is playing football the Sunday afternoon????
People gamble on sports.
People obsess on sports.
People friggin riot over sports!!!!
These things only happen cuz there's people supporting it.
Sports are secular and my friend refuses to agree though he was stumped with these questions. He justified himself with "not feeling convicted about watching sports".

Back to music.
The latest Zao record that came with a dvd, has film of the Zao dudes watching a football game and theyre swearing and cursing and smoking and stuff.
Read any lyrics to the latest Agony Scene record or Dead To Fall??
These bands claimed to be part of the Christian scene at one time and now they are clearly against it!!
Seen the album artwork for the upcoming Spitfire record??
It's friggin pornography for crying out loud!!!
Hey, what about He Is Legend???
Theyre on a Christian label but there's nothing Christian in there music....
I could probably find like 10 songs from the most satanic band ever, Deicide, where they are defending children's innocence, and you could probably find 2 dozen more songs where they bring up topics that Christians cant deny.
Jimmy Swaggart had some powerful songs, where is he now??
Look, I could go on and on.
I understand that Christians arent perfect (or even Christian I suppose) but what's wrong with secular music??
So many good bands dont even have a message at all within their art, and they have to be shunned by my friend??

I think my friend should talk to God about allowing him to have some secular music, or he should just throw his stereo straight to the trash along with his tv and his baseball cap and his sweater from Stitches.
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"Dont mess with me PUNK, Im from browntown"

[SABBATICAL!]

totally agree with your points man. except the jimmy swaggart comment. he had powerful songs? i've got an old record of him preaching ("what the bible says about drugs", amazing.); never knew he was a songwriter though.

but yeah, those sorts of divisions between christian and nonchristian music and artists are bound to become arbitrary and are often hypocritical. the whole concept of 'christian music' is a bit of a mind shunt.
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mike harloff's "sunday's best" EP is out now!

[silverlane(dave)]

Woah man, your friend sounds pretty wild. Ha

I think his case is a prity rare one compared to the number of people who wont finish a song / ever pick up a record by a band again if they use the words God, or Jesus Christ in there proper context.

I find that to be as just as stupid.

Allen Cross did an ongoing history of new music about Christian Music, which was really good, and not to bias which is worth a listen if you ask me. I touches on some of this if I remember.


However I do agree with ya

[danielMUTTER]

In my life I have had times where I would ONLY listen to 'Christian' music...and I've had times where I only listened to 'Non-Christian' music too. Both have their pros and cons in my opinion.
I have decided that listening to GOOD music is most important. There are very non-christian bands out there who have AMAZING messages that deserve a listen. There are also 'christian' bands who suck and their message is so empty. Both stuff that is supposedly 'christian' and stuff that is supposedly 'non-christian' have great tunes and piece of crap tunes.
I once read a book where the author talked about finding the beauty in places where we don't normally look for it. Even if a band is not christian, and the music has zero to say about christ...there can be beauty and truth in their songs that you can draw from.
And so I try to not worry too much about weather my music is christian or non-christian. I aim for music without garbage in it (profanity, vulgar talk, stupid messages), I aim for good musicianship or at least something catchy/enjoyable musically to listen to, and I really do love it when a song has a good meaning behind it and you can tell the band REALLY means it when they play the song-not just music for the heck of it.

[xMikex]

[glenntamis]

The first time I came here the owner, Scott, warmly greeted us into the neighborhood and gave us two free drinks tickets for our next time there. So, not only is he really cool and laid back, the bartender, Leslie, makes some killer concoctions and is really awesome. And we folks who like to indulge in a few beers every now and again know how important it is to like your bartender.
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digital camera memory cards

[Mrs. xMikex]

What the hell? You must be a troll.
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