THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH
Fiery angel of death visits Rhode Island nightclub
Thomas A. Droleskey, Ph D
REMNANT COLUMNIST, New York
Very interesting,
Some of the most popular bands in rock music do incorporate very strong pagan imageries/ideas/obscenities in the text of their songs. Also, some are outright satanists or occultists (such as Led Zeppelin). I think the perversion in this music comes from the lyrics and the bodily movements associated with it. Naturally, I have problems in equating the musical content with these facts. If so, this would imply that certain rythms or beats, and chord progressions are evil in themselves. Maybe members of this board could explore and give comments about the possibility of the existence of evil in a strictly musical context.
I think that satan does indeed show his face in many ways, and this music is probably one of them. you should always be prepared for death to come swiftly or unexpectedly. in a rural community like mine death is something that happens often and I cannot help but wonder where the souls of our community's dead have gone. it is a grim reminder to be prepared and to stay away from things like this.
Just want to add a note, though not really on topic (it's the only thing going through my head regarding this thread right now). As I've thought about the whole issue of music, I've come to realise that there is no such thing as "neutral" when it comes to music. For instance, some people--and I was among this group until fairly recently--will argue that instrumental music is by nature "neutral". I can understand the premise of this point: we each respond to different types, sounds, tones, etc. in music differently. What one might see as "confusion," another might see as beauty (a position I can understand, having been a lover of thrash metal, which can be quite intricate in the hands of a good musician, but which appears to be chaos to the average person). Proceeding from this premise, and going by the criteria normally given for "bad music,"
it's easy to say come to the conclusion that thrash metal instrumentals are not bad, but are neutral at worst. I think if Orthodox Christian principles are used, however, it will be seen that certain forms of music and/or expression can never be thought to be neutral-- or at least, can never be thought to be acceptable (saying that something being "neutral" makes it is acceptable is not necessarily true, and is definately not true in this case, IMO).
Justin
PS. Of course, the link is only my view of Orthodox principles, I don't think them infallible, or even perhaps "good"! They're at least a start though 