Theocracy fans.....

Seriously, dude? That sort of close-mindedness is so negative for the world, from any viewpoint. Everything you listen to now has to be Jesus-y? (And heck, even if you do hold yourself to that absurd standard, why not play Sadly Sings Destiny and The Edge, BG songs with Hansi's Christian slant?) What you're talking about is the same attitude that has EXTREME MORALISTS (P.S.: all secretly gay, they always are :lol:) condemning anything with a guitar solo as CHILD-CORRUPTING SATAN INCARNATE.
No, the attitude to which you refer more often than not springs up from self-righteousness, neophobia, and high-pressure churches separated from the surrounding culture by fear.

The place from which this attitude springs, on the other hand, appears non-judgmental, focused on this individual's desire to avoid certain negative influences that they experience when listening to said music. There is no reason to assume the closed-mindedness of which you speak; nobody is pressuring anybody else to stop listening to any music or condemning the music itself. All that was stated was a personal decision.

As a Christian who listens to secular music all the time, I do not see any reason to take offense. Why, I wonder, did you respond in such an extreme fashion?
 
No, the attitude to which you refer more often than not springs up from self-righteousness, neophobia, and high-pressure churches separated from the surrounding culture by fear.

The place from which this attitude springs, on the other hand, appears non-judgmental, focused on this individual's desire to avoid certain negative influences that they experience when listening to said music. There is no reason to assume the closed-mindedness of which you speak; nobody is pressuring anybody else to stop listening to any music or condemning the music itself. All that was stated was a personal decision.

As a Christian who listens to secular music all the time, I do not see any reason to take offense. Why, I wonder, did you respond in such an extreme fashion?

I agree 100%. :headbang: You are right on about that. If it affects ones heart to listen to that music than he should cut if off from his "diet". It could be anything that you overuse or ABUSE! ANYTHING! Even something that seems "good" like... idk... anything! Just take that in mind and think about it.
 
I apologize; my comments were a bit over-critical.

However, I still don't understand why you'd only listen to music about a single subject matter, when this world is made of so much. "Secular" doesn't mean anti-religious, it just means not specifically about it. I'm with Arnock, really--it's no different than a secular book or movie. You're saying that the Beatles, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, any non-explicitly-Christian-subject-matter artist would be "a bad influence" on you? I understand not playing Mayhem or Deicide, but Frank Sinatra? Could you listen to showtunes, or classical? How often does Jesus need to be mentioned for it to be an "acceptable" song? Or is it the musicians' own beliefs that matter, and music is only good if made by someone like you? These are the thoughts that made me believe you could be unnecessarily depriving yourself. I'm just wondering why you'd consider such things a poor influence.

Of course I respect a personal choice, and if it makes you a better person, all the best. Each entirely to his own. Disclaimer: I'm an agnostic theist (look it up :lol:) who mostly cares about how much the song rocks. :headbang:
 
Frank Sinatra did a lot of bad stuff. Stuff you probably wouldn't say is Christian, hahaha...

And John Lennon (of the Beatles) supports a terrible image through his song Imagine (which many might find arguable) declining religion, effort for a greater cause, and self-accomplishment. This is not the issue here but I just had to speak my mind.
 
true... yeah ever heard the song "my way" by frank sinatra? lol anyways it's not hindering me... but if it hinders anyone else... they should not listen to it.
 
My way talks about Sinatra succumbing to crime, and treachery to achieve his goals, the idea is far from ideally Christian, and he speaks of it as his "cross" but I don't think he's really sorry for it, as a matter of fact he's proud of him managing to pull it off. Hah! :D

And as I look at Imagine: it's sung from Lennon's perspective, the man who's had a full life (much like Sinatra) behind him speaking about peace and equality is hypocritical seeming he has the money to support a studio, along with his family, enough to continue his career, and recording that song.

He's claiming that the world would be better without religion, politics and capitalism, as I see it.

Bullshit, he's a supposed utopian socialist that speaks of feeding the hungry, it's easy for him to judge when he's the richest dude in Britain.

Going against religion and politics is insulting to any man, and denying their freedom of thought. It may seem as he's expressing his opinion, but it's a blatant strike at it. Politics may seem the wrongest thing to do with humanity, but the idea of living a peaceful life with your family in a place where there is your kind, your language, and your culture, all developed on a certain area of land couldn't be accomplished if we stuck to anarchy. It's a sense of belonging, and that wouldn't be possible or plausible without politics, since it IS politics. Lennon is attacking that based on the happenings of certain madmen and corrupt leaders, which makes just as much sense as exterminating all canine creatures if your dog urinates on your carpet. If some men are more capable to lead, I'd sooner listen to them than a musician. (Note: this isn't to get your fired up, I can accept your view and respect it. This is only my opinion)

And don't even get me started on the remark on religion, if he believes Christianity is mankind's disease then he surely has no idea what the doctrine is about.
 
Ok guys this is crazy! You're acting like... 14 year olds (wait... I'm 14... BUT I'm almost 15 :heh:) Anyways... Let's just calm down sometimes it's not the best idea to go THIS FAR in expressing opinions... (just my opinion... LOL!)
 
You both misunderstood my intentions, I wrote this kindheartedly, I just felt the need to state my opinion, and was actually looking forward to your reply Fox, but seeing as you feel like that, never mind.

I apologize for prolonging the offtopicness, seeing as it's to revolve around a band similar to Theocracy :D
 
It's just not worth it, I'm afraid. My beliefs likely clash with yours, which makes it difficult to discuss "influence" of music on equal ground. In addition, I never was particularly interested in discussing "Imagine"; I was interested in discussing why one would forcibly restrict themselves to music of only a single theme, or played by a single group of people.

Add that to the natural propensity of the Internet for escalating any rational discussion into inanity (which I fell prey to myself earlier in this discussion), and it just seems far better to talk about how much Theocracy rocks. :)
 
It's just not worth it, I'm afraid. My beliefs likely clash with yours, which makes it difficult to discuss "influence" of music on equal ground. In addition, I never was particularly interested in discussing "Imagine"; I was interested in discussing why one would forcibly restrict themselves to music of only a single theme, or played by a single group of people.

Add that to the natural propensity of the Internet for escalating any rational discussion into inanity (which I fell prey to myself earlier in this discussion), and it just seems far better to talk about how much Theocracy rocks. :)

THANK YOU! Now this is over... it wasn't a BAD conversation or anything... just a bit worthless... part of it was good... YES, but when things get outta hand it's better to turn down the volume! :headbang: ok... so wassup yall?
 
People always manage to slide semicolons into their serious argumentative posts in an attempt to appear well-educated. Oh how silly we all look now!

But in other news, since you guys were talking about good Christian bands (of which there are very, very few), I feel I should mention that Shadow Gallery probably falls under this category.