Generation gap? Not so much.

So there I was watching TV with my parents when a commercial comes up about commemorating the influence that rock 'n roll has had on society and the lives of people. My dad interjects with something I don't remember the wording to, but basically encompasses the idea that rock 'n roll was responsible for the moral decay of American society.

Now, you have to understand. I love rock (as music). I'm not sure what the exact difference is between rock 'n roll and other kinds of rock is (other than their relationship musically and stylistically), and so admittedly, I was pretty offended and immediately responded by saying that I didn't quite agree with my dad's statement.

Needless to say, what followed was a very interesting and enlightening--albeit a little loud, but honestly, we weren't arguing; just discussing...loudly--conversation. In short, what I thought was a mostly harmless form of music/art with an admittedly bad origin was something altogether more serious for people from my dad's generation.

For them, the heyday of rock 'n roll was also the heyday of hippies, advocating freedoms of all sorts that really shouldn't be freedoms, propagating concepts that would pave the way for post-modernism, and--wait for it...the moral decay of society. Welcome to the 1960s, ladies and gentlemen. Behind rock 'n roll are the ideas to do away with traditions, do away with rigidity, and in many ways, do away with God. Therefore, for people of my parents' generation, rock 'n roll is associated with all the bad and nothing good.

Now, even though I understood this, I was still torn about it. I think you youngsters out there like me don't think about rock (or even rock 'n roll) as an entity so closely related to moral decay, or even as a form of rebellion (or maybe it is because your parents hate it). In fact, the style of worship music that many churches play is heavy on rock. So have we all been inadvertently advocating a sinful thing?

And guess what? All that angsting about my favorite music style was resolved by going back to the Word. (Whoa...what a surprise. *note the sarcasm)

Ultimately, my dad and I agreed that this was an example of "to eat or not to eat." By that, I'm referencing Romans 14 when Paul is talking about whether it is sinful to eat food that has been offered to idols. Paul's answer? It's both! The food by itself is not sinful, nor is eating it. However, notice verse 23 when it says "But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." For the believer who eats the food even though he thinks it's not right, the action of acting against his conscience to eat it anyway is sin in God's eyes! And yes, it's okay for believers to eat the food, but not everyone has gotten over that barrier, and so one should not insist on eating it anyway. Verse 15 says this: "For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died." My attention was drawn especially to the last part of this verse. Not only are you not being loving, you're actively destroying your fellow believer by that callous act! Man, talk about serious consequences!

Similarly, while I think my dad and I essentially agreed to disagree on whether rock 'n roll is sinful in and of itself, the same principle works here. For those of us who were born post-1960s, we just don't fully comprehend the negative effects that rock 'n roll had on previous generations. Rock for us is just another genre of music. (You see me using rock and rock 'n roll interchangeably, which technically I shouldn't, but I'm kind of lazy...haha). We are like the believers who don't see anything wrong with eating food offered to idols. (NOT to say that we're more spiritually mature than those who do. My dad is a lot more spiritually mature than I am, just to start with. Also, I think us youngsters don't care as much because we're kinda ignorant, if I may be blunt.) If you're anything like me, at some point in your life, you thought that your parents were being super old-fashioned and narrow-minded when it came to rock music, especially being played as worship music in church. Well, sorry to break it to you, but you were (are) being incredibly insensitive and unloving to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Think I'm exaggerating? Read Romans 14:15 again.

Now, this isn't to say that I disapprove of worship music that is stylistically rock. Again, I love rock. However, I think that to be more sensitive to our fellow believers, we should be very careful about the demographics and spiritual maturity of the congregation. Be sensitive and don't shrug off their concerns just because we think they're being "old."

Both generations could use some teaching. That is, the older folks could benefit from younger folks explaining that using rock in our worship music is a way we express our praise for God and that we do not use it in the same way that it was used originally. Of course, this entails that the younger guys and gals be educated in some history. LEARN how rock 'n roll (or insert anything that might potentially cause a rift) originated and try to understand why it's a big deal for a lot of people.

Anyhow, just to recap. If you skimmed through this post, read these two points and you'll get the general gist of this loooooong post:

1. Be sensitive to other believers. I'm talking especially to the young folks. Maybe I'm extra critical on you (us) because I'm one of you and I know how you think. I know that I'm arrogant and I know that I used to think that my dad was really old-fashioned and out of date. But because I know that this is true for myself, I've also got a pretty good idea that this is probably true for others as well. Younger guys, admit it. We're prideful more often than not, and we think that we've got the world figured out. Guess what? We've got twenty-plus years LESS experience. Keep Romans 14 in mind, and remember that the music we play or listen to is being offered up as WORSHIP to GOD. That being the case, we want to encourage our fellow believers to worship the Lord with a genuine heart, not one riddled with doubts.

2. TALK TO YOUR PARENTS. If I hadn't had this conversation with my dad, who knows how long I would have gone without fully understanding the deep negative impact that rock 'n roll had on the older generation? And even though it got a little loud every now and then (which seems to happen a lot in my family...I think we're just naturally loud people...haha), as my dad said: "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" (Prov 27:17). We are able to come to a better understanding of both each other as well as how to practically live our theology through conversation and challenging one another intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

Thanks for the talk, 老豆!

(Ouch. I meant for that to be a short what-an-enlightening-conversation-I-had-with-my-dad post. Instead, it turned into this monster...Oops?)