Music and Religion

Music and Religion is a huge part in my life, whether I am at a church service or simply riding down the road listening to Christian music. I am a Christian/Southern Baptist. Music is a powerful thing concerning my religion. At church we are always singing various songs and listenin to the choir sing as well. I think the purpose of using music in religion is to create a connection between our higher being and believers, no matter who you believe in. Music is used in all religions, all over the world. Between the two aspects, there is no seperation of sacred, secular music, vocals, or instruments. All of the things add up to being something powerful concerning music and religion. It makes the whole experience even more powerful with perhaps instruments or singers, or maybe even just believer's voices. My church has adapted very modern views of music which has honestly made church more interesting. Our church choir elected to not wear choir robes anymore mainly because we are an informal church where we can where casual to dressy clothes. Yes, as the saying goes, "You should wear your Sunday best for God", but my church feels like God loves us no matter what we wear or how we praise him, as long as we are praising him. We are a contemporary praise and worship church and I absolutely love it. Every aspect of worship that we do makes the whole experience worth it. Since we are very laid back in our worship style, if someone raises their hands in the air praising God they are not look down upon, or if someone goes down to the alter to pray we look at that as a powerful form of worship with God. Contemporary styles influence the experience that makes the music pleasing. Contemporary styles also have comforting aspects that brings us into a spiritual being. The music does a lot for me, not only pleasing my soul, but being soothing, spiritual, and giving me a sense of pleasure. It makes the music so much more powerful with all this emotions one can feel through music. The way the music is built creates a certain power that helps me really take in everything going on around me. Music is everywhere, whether it is in church or not, everyone has been truly moved by it one time or another. It is just that powerful in its way that it creates a sense of belonging for everyone, no matter what the style may be. Like I have mentioned before, growing up I was always in church. I have never had a desire to branch out into other religions because of the comfort I feel within my religion. Don't get me wrong, I like learning about different religions, but I do not see myself adopting a new one. I am beyond content with my Southern Baptist Church and do not see a need to ever change to anything else. I love where I am and the feeling I get everytime I walk through the doors of my church knowing God and I are going to have our time today and it is going to be special. Without my religion I have no idea where I would be in life. That is just how important it is to me and my family.