"Just Listen To The Beat"

A few years ago, I came across this thought-provoking article by Katherine Huske, a web marketing director from Chattanooga, Tennessee. In her article, she talks about the degrading and perverted lyrics in the rap music she heard playing as she and other women were exercising. She asked her instructor if he had ever listened to the degrading words towards women in these songs he was playing. He responded with a smile and told her to “Just listen to the beat,” and walked away.

Then, she made this astute observation: “My heart broke. The world is broken. Have we lost our sense of self? Have we gone deaf? Maybe we need to unplug our ipods for a minute and listen to the Truth so we’ll be outraged when we hear words that undermine who we really are. We need to listen to way more than just the “beat.”

As Ms. Huske correctly observed, we need to “listen” to way more than just the “beat.” We need to, in her words: “listen to the beat of the Christ who came to save us and to fill our mind, hearts and ears with Truth. We can listen to the beat of His heart that He poured out for us on the cross….and we can know the Words that He has given us.”

While it is true that women have been degraded by the vulgar thoughts and actions of men, it is also true that women have degraded themselves by listening to such vile, vulgar, and degrading language in the lyrics of these types of songs. May God grant women to once again be the godly example of moral values in this country as they once were over three generations ago, and may the men of our country be forgiven for holding women in such a degrading light.

Yes, we need to listen to way more than just the “beat” of this old immoral and sinful world. Rather, we need to, in Ms. Huske's words, “fill our minds, hearts and ears with God’s Truth,“ allowing it to transform us into the image of our Lord and Savior (Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6; Philippians 4:8; Gal. 2:20; cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:29).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets