Music Series Part 7: CCM Uses Satanic Beats
OK, back in the saddle with our music series! I’ve taken a small break, but this morning I wanted to jump back in and address the misinformed, ridiculous notion that contemporary Christian music is sinful because it uses music and beats that are satanic.
The problem with most of the common objections to CCM is that they are formed post hoc (after the fact). That is, most of the time people decide that CCM is wrong first, then set out on a quest to find evidence to support that opinion. It’s completely backwards in terms of drawing accurate conclusions, and since we’re talking about God here, it’s not a good idea to start letting our opinions dictate what we call right and what we call sin.
In this case, the argument used here is that CCM is derived from satanic beats. Some of the less informed anti-CCM crowd will throw quotes at you from prominent rock stars calling rock-n-roll music “the devil’s music” or some other such nonsense (since when did a rock star’s opinion on a subject become unquestionably true?). Other’s have actually tried to make it a science … er … well sort of.
Enter fundamentalism. The modern fundamentalist movement has made CCM a prime target in their quest to “get us right”. Even the more modern neo-fundamentalists have taken aim at it, although they admittedly only condemn it in corporate worship.
One of the most prominent anti-CCM organization is Bob Jones University, here in Greenville.
But it was Frank Garlock who really carried the torch against CCM in a manner that actually made people think. It was he who claimed that a certain style of beat that was “satanic” or “fleshly”. From what I’m told, he had some pretty wild ideas about which beats were godly and which were sinful. I don’t know much about music, but this post on a thread might be helpful:
…If I remember correctly….the fifth was godly, but parralel [sic] fifths weren’t. Was it a fourth that was considered satanic? Been about 28 years since music theory/history classes. If Garlock wanted to go back that far, why not go to Gregorian chants? (sorry, I won’t take the time to read such crazy story lines) The Gregorian chant folks thought any harmony was evil…
You see, Garlock invented a system by which he could determine which beats were godly, and which were of the devil. However, when it came to biblical citations of his assertions, he was curiously silent. At best he offered a “be ye separate” or “the flesh is sinful” argument, but he never demonstrated how he connected certain beats with sin. NEVER.
I’ve been told that BJU has since distanced themselves from Garlock’s vacuous argument, and has now taken a disassociation policy, claiming that if you listened to CCM you are associating with the world. As I’ve made clear, that is a misapplication of the separation principle.
Is CCM satanic? Please. Of course not. You have to do better than that.
Oh, and this post was quite amusing as well. If you want a laugh, take a look. And have a look at the response over at CRN.info.
Other posts in our music series:
Part 1
Part 1.5
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
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frank garlock is not right on music and Bob jones was a racal jerk
I wrote a post on this subject myself, including scriptures to back it. http://www.thedailyway.com/?p=38
And I think it is rather high and mighty for anyone to assume that “one joyful noise unto the Lord” is more worthy than another.
And watch how you use the word “Fundamentalist” thar pally-o!
hahaha
True Fundamentalists, don’t step one inch away from scripture… (Now you can see my science problem) the “Fundamentalist/Reformers Movement” is hogwash! It has more politics in it than the RNC & DNC combined! I go further on this subject in a post I have coming out tomorrow on my top 10 must have cd’s, and I think these fundamentalists would find members of the list quite heretical!
BTW… Sorry for posting a link to my site. I wasn’t meaning to advertise, I just thought it would be easier to read my opinion on it, than retype the whole thing here and take up your space. You can delete the link if you don’t allow advertising.
These people really baffle me. Aren’t there more important things for these people to rant about? I’m more offended by the flood of homogeneous tripe I hear over CCM Radio these days. If one more Nickelback knockoff does a “worship” album I’m gonna rip my radio out of my car and mail it to “KLOVE – Positive! Encouraging!” with a decidedly “Negative! Discouraging!” letter.
As for Bob Jones, they’ve been SO wrong for SO long it’s amazing to me that people still take them seriously. I guess there’s always room for another uber-fundamentalist mecca.
“If it’s too loud, you’re too old!”
This amuses me, because Gregorian chant (and especially the organum sub-genre) was quite fond of harmony. It was just harmony modern listeners wouldn’t much care for, all those perfect fourths, fifths and octaves.
And get this- back in the sixteenth century, the church was already talking about music inappropriate to worship- not because it was satanic, but because it was too complex. I’d like to see any modern fundamentalist say Josquin’s Ave Maria is inappropriate!
And still more ironic, the heavier sectors of metal music, those that decidedly do favor satanic, anti-Christian themes, have actually musically turned back to… guess what? Modes, as opposed to the modern major/minor scales- just like in Gregorian chant. Listen to death metal and you’ll hear the phrygian and lydian modes all over.