So this might seem like a stupid question but I always find it hard to know what is acceptable music to listen to. I sometimes think that if we only listened to music with no “non-Christian” stuff in it we would be left with only Christian music which, quite frankly, is often very lame.
This question comes now because I have been listening to Lily Allen’s album and I really like it. I haven’t checked out all the lyrics yet but one of two of them I wonder which side of the line they fall on.
So my question is – where do we draw the line?
Thoughts???
a girl who speaks 
Katie, that’s a really good (and hard!) question… All I know is that over time, my appreciation for music with content that differs from that of my worldview grows strangely dim. I don’t know if it’s I find a particular line to draw, but I just know that sometimes my soul doesn’t get joy from certain things which it used to. Perhaps it’s a matter of discerning and being aware of desensitisation. That’s my 2 cents of late night thought!
thanks Mark – not bad for late night thoughts :)
if we only listened to music with no “non-Christian” stuff in it we would be left with only Christian music which, quite frankly, is often very lame
excellent! We should sit down some time and share our disdain for Christian music. That would be fun.
haha – i kinda feel like college is a dangerous place to do that… too many songwriters around ;)
well i should clarify that i enjoy christian music designed for the worship setting. But I’m not cranking Switchfoot or anything like that when I have the choice.
Nice question! One worth thinking through more.
I try and run things through a filter: “If I was listening to/watching this/reading this in front of my Youth Group students, would I want to turn it off?”
Alison and I have also been really enjoying the latest Lily Allen album, but, just like her last album, it is filled with some stuff that I would be super-embarrassed to listen to in front of my Youth Group students. Songs like ‘Not Fair’ and ‘F**k You’.
Like you point out, the answer isn’t to just listen to music you can buy at Koorong or listen to on 103.2. Many (if not most) of those songs would also fail my test – I would be embarrassed to listen to them in front of my Youth Group students, because they sound lame.
funny you should mention those 2 songs – obviously the latter is not a matter of confusion for me but Not fair was the song that brought this question to my mind… not sure what i think of it yet.
“If I was listening to/watching this/reading this in front of my Youth Group students, would I want to turn it off?”
this is helpful in a sense. I wouldn’t want to listen to it with younger youth kids, but with year 11 – 12 kids i’m not sure i have any answer to that question
Hey Kate,
With Lily’s music (I’ve watched a documentary about her, so I reckon we’re on a first name basis), is it her liberal use of f-bombs or the attitudes/morality/worldview that she presents that raises the question?
Although I cringe at the use of ‘naughty’ words (a pretty poor excuse for clever lyrics), it’s the latter content that is of more concern to me – not just for my sake, but particularly for the sake of others.
From my limited exposure to her new album (The Fear & F-You) it seems that she wants to be edgy by using lots of ‘naughty’ words but, at least in ‘The Fear’, she raises some interesting questions which I would have no problem in listening to and discussing with a group of kids. (I don’t know about F-You because I find the song annoying and derivative to have bothered to listen closely to.)
I think that its more than the swearing that bothers me (although that is cringe worthy)
I should also clarify that I’m not asking this question only of Lily’s music – it’s just an example of music that raise the question this time around