The secular world of music is a force to be reckoned with. With millions of dollars put into creating quality music and catchy marketing campaigns and deep foundational talent both backing up the industry, it's hard to say no to buying into their material.
Secular music is catchy, relevant, honest, emotionally-appealing and entertaining. In other words, it's all that our children could very well be looking for. The real issue for parents however is if this kind of music is good for them, harmless or completely destructive.
Music and songs are vital in a culture and stand as a strong means of expression, but what was it that music is intended to be? While it can be used to express joy, anger and ecstasy over political issues, compassion and romantic love, music is also a powerful tool to exalt the name of Christ and speak of His evident goodness.
While some Christians argue that music was meant solely for the purpose of worshipping God, I would like to believe otherwise. In 1 Samuel 16:14-23, David used music from the harp to calm the soul of King Saul, and though that music was from God, the Bible doesn't necessarily say it was worship music. Israelites were known to be excellent writers of hymns and songs expressing their patriotism.
Take a look into some powerful secular theme songs of social campaigns on powerful issues- such as apartheid, environment preservation and charity- that speak so much life and truth. We listen to those songs and it's hard to deny that those songs aren't God ideas, whether the artist who sang it is Christian or not.
So if that's the case should you let your children listen to secular music? That decision is up to you really, but hopefully we won't be the ones to wipe out secular songs from our child's play list right away without first taking the time to really do our research.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to the content of the songs, not the source because God can use the foolish things of this world to shame the wise (and assumingly wise). Philippians 4:8 reminds us, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
The songs that your kids are listening to may not be Gospel music, but we have secular songs today speaking about biblical truth. Some songs about social injustice can teach our kids awareness of the hurt sin is causing in this world. Some songs that tell listeners to believe in themselves teach them how to not give up and lose hope right away. And some of these songs could be secular.
Taken in the right dosage, and free from profanity, negative thoughts and explicitness, secular songs can maybe lead our children to biblical ideas if managed and directed well by parents.
