Welcome to Apostolic Life in the 21st Century. We are glad you've joined us today. Today we're going to be

talking about the question of Christians and secular music. Dr. David K. Bernard is with us,

and we're going to jump right into today's episode.

Dr. Bernard, we chose this day because the Grammys were scheduled to be held last night.

Now, I doubt you're the kind of person who really worried about who's going to win a

Grammy, and to be honest, neither am I. But it seemed like a good time to ask this question.

Because it gets to ask a lot Christians in secular music is it okay

for Christians to listen to music that is not explicitly Christian the short answer is yes but as

with everything we're to follow basic Christian guidelines.

So let me give you some principles.

First of all, Jesus said that he came, John chapter 10, to give us life and to give us that more abundantly.

And while that primarily has a spiritual connotation, I think there's a principle that God

has created human life. He's created

our senses. He's created our universe. He's obviously interested in the appeal to the senses,

because he created the various colors, the very sounds, the very smells. So evidently, he wants

us to participate in all of these experiences

and to enjoy his creation. And so I start with a premise that God wants us to enjoy life. Yes,

we live sacrificially in many ways, and yes, we live countercultural in many ways. So there's a, there's a

maybe a balance to this that we are not to be extravagant or wasteful. We're not to be worldly

and follow the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. But neither do we

need to go to the opposite

extreme of being ascetic, like denying ourselves, punishing ourselves in a physical sense.

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