That really depends on the listener. I used to listen to a lot of emo rock (usually Simple Plan stuff). It really flowed well with the loneliness and anger I’ve felt back then and helped me release it. You can say it was some sort of emotional lubricant.
I still listen to such songs now, especially when I want to get into the minds of my characters (who pretty much consist of angsty anti-heroes
).
Yes, a friend of mine does that too, whenever she is lonely or angry or depressed. I suppose it can help to get it all out, like hitting a punching bag, but just listening to that stuff for fun… I don’t know. Makes me uneasy. And just because it is not the happiest song in the world, it doesn’t make the song sinful. I’m talking about songs that are without a doubt glorifying sin.
I just don’t think somebody can be affected by listening to other people TALK about sinning. I listen to Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie, etc. ( I stay away from heavy satanism such as Slayer, just because i wouldn’t want to hear that stuff anyway) but these bands have a lot of “deathy-occult-gross” lyrics and stuff. But in all my years of listening to them, i have yet to eat a baby or sacrifice a virgin. If anything, it just strengthens my intent to NOT do it. kind of a “if ozzy says it over and over again don’t do it” rule. Sometimes it’s nice to just listen to creepy evil lyrics. Same as sometimes it’s cool to watch a horror movie, but that doesn’t mean you’re gonna unconsciously be turned into a psychopathic killer. Things like that don’t influence you as strongly as you all are making them out to. The only thing I can think of is if somebody loved Ozzy Osbourne more than anything and wanted to be just like him. So they said “oh well he sings about this and that, so i should go out and DO this and that”. Which is something completely different and has nothing to do with subtle influences within the music. Also, somebody would probably already have to be pretty messed up at that point.
I’m not saying if you listen to this, you’ll be turned into a demon. I’m just saying that a lot of times people don’t even realize the harm that is or could be done.
Think of it this way. By listening to something that glorifies sin and therefore, glorifies Satan, you are tolerating it. You’re unconsciously saying ‘hey, what’s the big deal? i’m not doing all that stuff.’ You focus on what you’re
not doing instead of what you
are doing. You’re tolerating Satan. Giving him room with the excuse that you are not obeying him. When Jesus was tempted in the desert, He didn’t say, “You know what, Satan? I’m not going to do what you’re telling me to do, but if you just want to hang out with me for a while, I’m cool with that.” No. He ordered Satan to leave. He refused to tolerate His worst enemy. Just like we should be doing.
I don’t know about you, but if something is making light of my King’s worst enemy, I will not just sit around and ignore it, much less dignify it with my attention!
