Music

[Byzantine]

I was talking with a friend and he had an interesting question, which I have defined as the specific situation. The general question is my own.

Specific Situation:
Can one in good conscience listen to Billy Joel's music in spite of "Only the Good Die Young" as long as one avoids the aforementioned song?

General Question:
Does the answer to the specific situation apply in general?

[LouisvilleFan]

General answer first, which applies to all specific case: It depends on your conscience. If anything discourages you from following Christ, cut it out of your life. A lot of things in life are in the gray area, so you have to know yourself, be aware of your limits, how your mind works, etc. If Billy Joel and Jesus Christ cannot coexist in your life, then clearly you've got a choice to make. And in that case, at least Joel and Christ would agree it's an easy choice.

Moving to the specific instance: The way I see it, if there is a sin in listening to [i]Only the Good Die Young[/i], it's more in the passive consumption of it as "elevator music," which tends to cheapen the music, ourselves, and society. We're walking around at Target or driving to work and hardly giving a thought to the words pleasantly running through our ears and minds. Fact is, a lot of feel good music is contrary to the Gospel, especially because the genre rarely dares to recognize the stark contrast between good and evil. So if I had to pick only one Billy Joel song to listen to for the rest of my life, I think this one would be it (and hopefully I'd die young... ha ha). There's a lot of truth spoken, in spite of the anti-Church message. I appreciate that it draws a line in the sand. We cannot serve both God and mammon; we must sacrifice our sin or Christ. I'm not sure if Virginia's mother actually failed to pray for the writer of this song or just didn't make it known, but it encourages me to pray for others and be a genuine friend regardless of differences in beliefs. Who knows how the story might be different if he felt cared for by one who obviously cared so much for Jesus?

Generally speaking, I think there's more danger in passively listening to Fr. Pontifex than in actively listening to Dr. Dre. The sin isn't what goes in, but how it's digested (or if it's digested at all). When one allows music, television, etc. to be little more than background noise, they'll accept any message that sounds good. But when we engage and think about the message being communicated, we start searching for truth. And hopefully that search will lead us to actively listen to Fr. Pontifex and (most impotantly) the Gospel.

[Spem in alium]

I quite like Billy Joel...and that song Admittedly, when I first heard it and understood it properly I was taken aback a bit.

But as LouisvilleFan wisely says, a lot of good music is contrary to the Gospel. The same can be said for good movies, good TV shows, good books, etc. One just needs to always search for the Truth, and during this search be discerning and responsible in what they do or use to occupy their time.