Is it a sin to listen to gospel music?

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Is it a sin for a Catholic to listen to gospel music? Not during mass, obviously but in the privacy of one’s home. Will I be exposed to heresy?
 
lucybeebee said:
Is it a sin for a Catholic to listen to gospel music? Not during mass, obviously but in the privacy of one’s home. Will I be exposed to heresy?
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I don’t care for gospel music myself (not my style), but I would expect that any music that glorifies God is acceptable. Of course, I don’t listen to gospel music, so I don’t know what other messages are being conveyed.

Kathy
 
I listen to a range of Christian artists from Hillsong to Michael W Smith.In my opinion, songs that glorify God are acceptable.Personally though, I don’t enjoy the “rock, loud, style”.We had a Parish mission a while ago, and at one of the services the priest played “Healing rain” by Michael W Smith which was really appropriate for his message that night.
 
There is no sin in enjoying music which praises God (in line with our doctrine and dogma, of course) whether in mass or in private. I’m in a group for music ministry in my parish and we sing a lot of gospel music, even here in Australia!
 
Any music that is not blasphemous or promote wrong values is fine. If it praises the Lord, better. Our Lord gave us the capacity to make music and to enjoy it. A gift from Him.:love:
 
Back when I was into secular music, I didn’t particularly care for the motown genre. Now that I’m into Christian music, I don’t particularly care for the Gospel genre. In my opinion, which is STRICTLY my opinion, songs that praise God should have some life and substance to them. I’m not saying that they necessarily need to be uptempo, but that they need to have some feeling and emotion behind them. I find that Gospel music, like its secular counterpart motown, generally lacks that feeling and emotion, and does nothing for me.

As for your question of it being sinful. No, it is not sinful to listen to it. If it contains heresy that you are aware of and would be influenced by, then it could arguably become a problem.
 
I like some gospel music, especially African American gospel choirs. Wow!!! I want to be in that section in heaven. 🙂

Yeah, sometimes the theology can be deficient, but I’m not worried about it. I am grounded in my faith so I just try to appreciate other foks’ understanding of their faith. Hain’t no thang.
 
“Is it a sin for a Catholic to listen to gospel music? Not during mass, obviously but in the privacy of one’s home. Will I be exposed to heresy?”

Look, the Lord gave you a brain and a conscience and a heart and a mind … He encourages you to use them all.
If somebody asked you to eat a frog in the name of God would you do it? Or what if you were told you must not go to the toilet for at least five hours before Mass? Seriously… you gotta use your own reason that God has given you and take responsibility.

God has given you freedom through Christ. We are not under the law anymore but set free to give praise to the God because of His Grace:)
I dedicate this song to you:

youtube.com/watch?v=Z-gt9Ig8dpk

There is nothing wrong with celebrating God’s love 🙂 the words are Scriptural… as is Gospel, at least all that I have heard.
I went to a concert with Etta Cameron last year… that was awesome 🙂
 
… actually I think gospel music in the Mass would be very appropriate 🙂
 
ChangingHeart said:
but that they need to have some feeling and emotion behind them. I find that Gospel music, like its secular counterpart motown, generally lacks that feeling and emotion, and does nothing for me.
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Ok, I can’t find the lyrics to this song by the Florida Boys but the chorus is:
“Yes, I’m headed for a home built by God alone, alleluia Praise the Lord, I am. Where the only thing there that was made by man are the scars in the hands of Jesus.”

That has enough personal meaning and feeling to reduce me to tears every time I hear it.

Still trying to find the rest of the lyrics…
 
As long as that music praises God and is not contrary to church teaching, I see nothing wrong with it.
 
57classic said:
Ok, I can’t find the lyrics to this song by the Florida Boys but the chorus is:
“Yes, I’m headed for a home built by God alone, alleluia Praise the Lord, I am. Where the only thing there that was made by man are the scars in the hands of Jesus.”

That has enough personal meaning and feeling to reduce me to tears every time I hear it.

Still trying to find the rest of the lyrics…
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I’m talking about the music, itself, not the lyrics. Some music makes me picture Heavenly worship, or brings me into a place of feeling closeness to God, or picturing His mercy flowing all over countless people. As for the Gospel genre, I just picture a culture that isn’t mine, offering praise to my God. I can’t relate to it, and regardless of the lyrics, I find it to be MUSICALLY lacking in substance. Gospel is the motown of Christian music, its just simply an inferior form of music, musically speaking, in my opinion.
 
ChangingHeart said:
I’m talking about the music, itself, not the lyrics. Some music makes me picture Heavenly worship, or brings me into a place of feeling closeness to God, or picturing His mercy flowing all over countless people. As for the Gospel genre, I just picture a culture that isn’t mine, offering praise to my God. I can’t relate to it, and regardless of the lyrics, I find it to be MUSICALLY lacking in substance. Gospel is the motown of Christian music, its just simply an inferior form of music, musically speaking, in my opinion.
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I’ve always thought of Gospel as a close cousin to Country, not so much Motown. But then Country is usually one of those like it or hate it things. 🤷 Contemporary Christian music gets on my nerves, just makes me impatient, don’t know why, I’ve tried to like Jazz, just can’t, can’t abide HipHop either.

dlcac1999: Thanks!! I looked for an hour, I wonder if the local junior college gives a course on how to search!
 
57classic said:
I’ve always thought of Gospel as a close cousin to Country, not so much Motown. But then Country is usually one of those like it or hate it things. 🤷 Contemporary Christian music gets on my nerves, just makes me impatient, don’t know why, I’ve tried to like Jazz, just can’t, can’t abide HipHop either.
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Are you thinking of country gospel? That’s a separate genre from straight up gospel. Country gospel is essentially country music with Christian lyrics. Country music is capable of being loaded with feeling and emotion. Gospel, on the other hand tends to be very substanceless, like motown.

I agree with you. I can’t stand jazz or hip hop, either.
 
Gospel music is a HUGE genre. It spans blues, country, bluegrass, jazz, and pop. Some of it, IMO, is the greatest American music ever made. Especially the old stuff. (Blind Willie Johnson, e.g)

The great thing about being Catholic is that you don’t have to follow a bunch of puritanical rules. Relax, folks!
 
Music? Ahh yes, I remember that. May I humbly suggest 3 people? Rich Mullins, Chris Rice, and Andrew Peterson. They are 3 seperate singers and Mr. Mullins is in heaven now. But be forewarned… They will challenge you and change your life!!! (For the better!)

All three have some stuff for free on youtube and myspace. Infact, Rich Mullins is the reason that i began studying Catholicism, to prove him wrong. And, well, he proved me wrong!

Pax Christi.
 
I love Southern Gospel music. I’m going to a Gaither Homecoming on Friday, and plan to sing and cry the night away. The music brought me back to church after many many years. Some of it is kind of corny, but I really like that. The songs they call Convention Songs, the ones the quartets sing, those are my favorites.

A few years ago, our community college offered a course called something like Gospel Music Seminar. I was expecting Southern Gospel, but it turned out to be a bunch of African-American Baptist churches having a big old weekend songfest. You could take little sessions on various things…praise dance (looked like fun, but I’m old and feeble), stepping (again, not for an old lady like me), origins of the old spirituals (I did take that one, fascinating) and some music theory that turned out a little too basic to be of any benefit for me. I was one of 6 white people and the only Catholic. The others were together from a non-denom church.

We did a concert on Sunday afternoon, singing our hearts out. There were several instruments, a few soloists, some dancers and a mime. I could see my dad standing in the pews, singing and clapping and shouting Hallelujah. Mom was holding a stranger’s baby, so she could sing and clap and shout. I was really moved by the experience.

I was amazed by the way the choir learned the songs. The director sang a line, then that section sang it. She did this over and over, using hand signals to tell us what was coming next. One song was a more traditional hymn, they called it the anthem, and that was the only sheet music we had. How 250 people learned 2 hours worth of music in less than 2 days I’ll never know, but I can’t remember when I’ve had that much fun singing.
 
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