Let's consider a seemingly harmless and wholesome song like John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads." What could be wrong with it?
Overall, it's a song that plays to a person's emotional longing for the "good ol' days." What does Proverbs say about this? "The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth."—Proverbs 17:24 In other words, the fool never stops to consider his blessings in the present but is always chasing daydreams. And Ecclesiates 7:10 says: "Say not, 'Why were the former days better than these?' For it is not from wisdom that you ask this."—Ecclesiates 7:10 The NLT renders it: "Don’t long for 'the good old days.' This is not wise."
The opening lyric of the song says: "Almost heaven, West Virginia." Denver wants people to think of West Virginia as "heaven," rather than the true heaven.
Another lyric says: "All my memories gather 'round her." He's writing about his daydreams, something God warns us about in Proverbs and Ecclesiates.
And finally: "Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye." His longing for moonshine makes him so sad as to bring a tear to his eye. Seriously?
The whole thing is about a man indulging himself in self-pity. Is this how God wants his children to think and behave?
So we see that even the most harmless sounding songs from the world's point of view are antagonistic to how God wants us to live.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord."—Isaiah 55:8
Overall, it's a song that plays to a person's emotional longing for the "good ol' days." What does Proverbs say about this? "The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth."—Proverbs 17:24 In other words, the fool never stops to consider his blessings in the present but is always chasing daydreams. And Ecclesiates 7:10 says: "Say not, 'Why were the former days better than these?' For it is not from wisdom that you ask this."—Ecclesiates 7:10 The NLT renders it: "Don’t long for 'the good old days.' This is not wise."
The opening lyric of the song says: "Almost heaven, West Virginia." Denver wants people to think of West Virginia as "heaven," rather than the true heaven.
Another lyric says: "All my memories gather 'round her." He's writing about his daydreams, something God warns us about in Proverbs and Ecclesiates.
And finally: "Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye." His longing for moonshine makes him so sad as to bring a tear to his eye. Seriously?
The whole thing is about a man indulging himself in self-pity. Is this how God wants his children to think and behave?
So we see that even the most harmless sounding songs from the world's point of view are antagonistic to how God wants us to live.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord."—Isaiah 55:8
- 2
- 1
- Show all