One of the arguments that I have made for a long time regarding music and its effect on people and its place in worship is that all music has an effect on the human body regardless of the words that are put to it. Now, I’m not discounting the power of the words put to song– they can work together for a great good. What I am saying is that people know what they are doing with different types of sounds, and we would be foolish to think that professionals don’t know what they are talking about.

And what modes of music are most used to drive home a message of sex and immorality– those that carry a strong beat. I could probably go so far as to say that a strong back beat is incredibly linked to sexually explicit lyrics to the point that if you could even make the argument that this sound is neutral it is directly associated with sexual lyrics through the predominance of “songs” out there that carry that particular message.

This music appeals to the flesh because teens like to hear it– they like the beat, they like the rhythm and they like their music loud. Unfortunately, if they are listening to secular music the chances are they are being fed a steady diet of sex, a diet that is effecting how the relate to the opposite sex and promiscuity:

Natasha Ramsey, a 17-year-old from New Brunswick, N.J., said she and other teens sometimes listen to sexually explicit songs because they like the beat.

“I won’t really realize that the person is talking about having sex or raping a girl,” she said. Even so, the message “is being beaten into the teens’ heads,” she said. “We don’t even really realize how much.”

“A lot of teens think that’s the way they’re supposed to be, they think that’s the cool thing to do. Because it’s so common, it’s accepted,” said Ramsey, a teen editor for Sexetc.org, a teen sexual health Web site produced at Rutgers University.

“Teens will try to deny it, they’ll say ‘No, it’s not the music,’ but it IS the music. That has one of the biggest impacts on our lives,” Ramsey said.

The advice at the end of this article is good, but I would go stronger. The point we agree on is that parents have to be involved with what their child is listening to. But since I do not believe that music is value-neutral, I will not be letting my children “sample pop music” and decide what they like since I believe that God calls us to a higher standard.