There are always those who will call something out as being against the Bible or outright sinful, based on nothing more than their own opinion. Much of the time, these are new things which the individual didn’t grow up with and the only thing “evil” about them is that they make the person who is declaring it sinful, uncomfortable.
If it needs to be said; this shouldn’t be considered acceptable by anyone. God has established what is sinful and what is not and written it into the Bible. None of us have any right to add or take away from what God has said. The Bible itself tells us that, in both the Old and New Testament.
You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. – Deuteronomy 4:2
And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. – Revelations 22:19
While it would be possible to take the verse in Revelations to refer only to that book, that interpretation is nullified by the fact that the same basic commandment exists elsewhere, specifically in the Old Testament Law. God is apparently serious about maintaining the integrity of His commandments and not seeing anyone modify them.
Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped people from adding to and taking away from the written Word of God. This isn’t a new phenomenon either, as it has happened since Old Testament times. The Jews talk about the “oral law” and the “written law”. The written law is what we see spelled out in the first five books of the Bible. What the church calls the Pentateuch and the Jews call the Torah. According to their oral tradition, Moses received the oral law the same time he received the written law, with God instructing him to never write it down. Moses then repeated the oral law to his brother Aaron. Moses and Aaron together told it to the elders of Israel and the elders told it to the people.
There are two basic things that make this bit of oral history difficult to accept. First, God knows that people’s memories are fallible, so trusting the people of Israel to remember what He had said as part of the oral law would be unwise. Secondly, there’s the problem of passing on verbal information to other people, who may not hear it correctly. Between the two, anything that is given in the oral law is likely to become corrupted over time, if there is no written record to back it up.
But there’s an even bigger problem than this. That is the combination of ignorance and supposition. Most people don’t know the Bible all that well, so there’s a very good chance of them leaving things out of their understanding of scripture, just due to ignorance. On top of that, there are a lot of things that people think should be in the Bible, even though they aren’t. That might be because they heard it was in the Bible or just because it sounds roughly biblical. Without a very solid understanding of scripture, one has no way of interpreting things they hear, to determine if they are biblical or not.
At the same time, that combination of ignorance and supposition makes it easy for people to take things which may not sound biblical or right to them and judge them as being wrong or sin. That judgment would be based on nothing more than them not understanding the thing they are hearing.
That’s what has happened with heavy metal music, as well as some other newer genres of music. People who don’t understand that music base their judgment of it on how it “feels” to them, never a good basis for judgment. It’s easy, when doing that, to take a style of music like heavy metal or rap, which might not be soft and sweet sounding and declare it bad. The very same person could then call French music, of the type played over grocery store sound systems, and call it “good” by the way it sounds. But if they understood the words to that French music, they would probably call them pornographic.
Let’s Talk Heavy Metal
Heavy metal is a subgenre of metal music, which in turn is a subgenre of rock music. So, to figure out what heavy metal music is, let’s start out with rock and roll. Rock and roll music came into being in the mid-1950s, in the United States. On the international stage, the “and roll” or “n roll” has been eliminated, leaving the music to be called a simpler “rock music”. From the beginning, rock and roll combined elements of rhythm and blues, jazz and country music, adding electric instruments to this mix.
Most music groups playing rock and roll are small, consisting of four or five band members. The most common instruments are electric guitar, electric bass, and a drum kit; with the possibility of an electronic keyboard added to that. Musicians may also be singers or the group may have a lead singer who doesn’t play any instrument. The music is largely characterized by loud volume, a lot of energy, heavy rhythm, usually written in 4/4 time, and the distortion that comes with electric guitars. Rock music also tends to be loud, at least when compared to other music from the 1950s.
Early rock music didn’t rely as heavily on guitar effects and distortion, staying closer to its roots. The one thing that people who didn’t like rock music complained about was the heavy drumbeat, that is part and parcel of rock music. As time went on, rock groups pushed the envelope more and more, using heavily distorted guitar solos, called “riffs”, increasing the pressure of the beat, through both the bass guitar and the kick drum and with the vocalist becoming more aggressive, with a throatier sound to their voice. Hence, metal music was born.
Heavy metal is merely metal music that pushes the distortion and bass even further than metal. This has actually become the most successful subgenre of rock music, with the biggest following of fans. Some of the most famous rock groups that have ever existed are heavy metal bands.
There is nothing in any of this which God objects to, although some might jokingly say that God covers His ears, so that the loud music won’t hurt them. While the Bible doesn’t tell us if God has any music preferences, it is doubtful that any music would be loud enough to hurt His ears. Nor is it reasonable to say that a heavy beat would be offensive to Him. He created the heartbeat and without that, there would be no life.
Music is music and it is all God’s creation. He is the creator of music, just as He is the creator of everything else. He cannot hate His own creation. However, He is much more likely to be pleased with music that glorifies His name, than any other type, regardless of genre.
What Can Be Wrong with Heavy Metal?
Music is music, instruments playing notes, hopefully in some sort of harmony. But the words are another matter entirely. While God has no problem with music, it is in the words that God may have objections. There are many songs which have lyrics that are of questionable moral standing, as well as those which promote things that are contrary to the Bible or even sinful.
Love is a popular theme in songs of any genre; but what people call love is often lust or infatuation, rather than true love. Many confuse sexual desire for love, making the two equals in their own minds. They say they love someone, when all they want is sex. While there should be love in the sexual relationship, God does not condone sexual relationships based on any sort of love or feeling of love, without the commitment of marriage.
Without pointing a finger at any particular group, there are songs with words that can be seen as abusive, rather than loving. Perhaps to those who wrote those lyrics, their intent was to express love; but unless their expressions and their actions show that they value the other person, there is no love. God defined love for us in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13. No other definition can replace it.
One of the problems when looking at any music is that the lyrics are written in a poetic manner, which can make interpretation difficult. What might be considered almost a deadly insult in one context, could be considered a compliment in another. It is also possible to totally miss the intended meaning of a verse, due to it being obscured by the poetic form or choice of words.
This problem is magnified in the case of rock music and even more so in heavy metal, in that there are times when it is totally impossible to determine what words are being sung, let alone what they mean by those words. The combination of high volume and heavy beat often obscure many of the words, leaving the audience to guess their meaning. In some cases, it is even necessary to look up the lyrics to the song, because it can’t be understood.
Please note that these problems aren’t limited to heavy metal music at all. Anyone who has tried listening to opera, without the ability to speak Italian very well, has encountered the same problem. I’d venture to guess that even some Italians can’t quite make out what they are singing, as their singing is more about the music that they are making, than the words that they are singing. The audience is given a rough idea of the story in their program and that is supposed to be enough to satisfy them.
On the flip side of this coin, there are Christian bands who play Christian heavy metal music. Their music may sound much like that of the world; but their lyrics are intended either to give glory to God or to attract people to Him. In doing this, they are using what the world has created for God’s purposes. God doesn’t see anything wrong with that. It may be the only means of getting the gospel message across to some people.
The Heart of the Musician
A final consideration when looking at the words that are being sung is the heart of the singer. The same words or phrases can have totally different meanings, depending on the person saying them and who they are saying or singing them to. Giving a good message in a menacing voice is going to get people to wonder what is really being said, rather than accepting it at face value.
If anything, this is amplified even more in the case of any type of music, where hidden meaning and innuendo are commonplace. But even without that, something that can be acceptable and holy for a man to say to his wife, would not be holy when sung to another woman. Modern music of all sorts speaks of love and intimacy outside of marriage, something that God has made clear He doesn’t accept.
We must remember that music was created by God, for God’s purpose. The enemy has tried to hijack music, along with much else, turning it to his own purposes. That mostly involves getting people to turn their back on God and sin. If Satan can use music to encourage people in those sinful pursuits, he’s won a victory. What is being sung, how it is being sung and how it is being heard all play a part in whether or not that’s what happens.