Is it Okay for Christians to Listen to Secular Music?

The following is a [transcribed] Video Q&A, so the text may not read like an edited article would. Scroll to the bottom to view this video in its entirety.   

I think when people start thinking about Christian music versus secular music, and even those categories sometimes aren’t helpful, because only a person can be a Christian. A thing cannot be a Christian. A thing doesn’t have a soul that can be saved by Christ. Only a person can. And so, that is something we need to think of as we consider this question.

I would like Christians to be able to engage in “secular” art and be able to be discerning in that. That is not an overall rule that everyone should engage in secular art or to what extent. And certainly, young people who are still under their parent’s care need to obey their parents—that is pretty clear in the Bible. And if parents feel like their children are not ready for a particular type of art, then that is definitely the priority because God has placed parents in authority over their them. That said, as we grow and as we are adults who should be discerning, and we should be prayerful in how we engage the arts.

For me, and this may seem very basic, in my understanding I began to see that I should not expect someone who is not a Christian to be creating art from a Christian worldview. So, how can I take in secular art and enjoy it while still guarding against taking it wholesale—taking it as “this is the truth” but to be discerning. And I think Christians are called to be discerning and to trust in God for the wisdom for that discernment. I think it is much easier for a Christian to just create rules that are extrabiblical (not in the Bible) as to what we should or shouldn’t do. When really, the harder thing, and what I think we are called to, is to actually trust God for wisdom in all areas of life and that includes what art we engage in. 

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