A question was recently posed to me: "How does allowing unrighteous influences to remain around you affect you over a long period of time?" The very first thing I thought of when I heard this was, "You are who you hang out with." That, of course applies to the friends you keep. But, my second thought was, "What about the music I 'hang out with?' Does that change me?" As I thought about it more deeply, I realized that it does and that I have experienced it myself.
A little while back, I had really taken to listening to the radio almost constantly. Of course, being the person that I am, I only listened to the "good" stations, changing it when a "bad song" came on. But today, even on the "good" stations, a large majority of the songs talk about immorality and inappropriate behaviors and actions. The songs that I consciously knew had those things in them were the ones that I "switched" away from. But there were so many that I didn't really listen to that were bad as well. Anyway, as I continued to listen to the world's choice of music, I started becoming a different person. I became more selfish and self-centered. I was on edge all the time and I was temperamental and "snappy" with my family. I was easily offended, especially by members of my family. I had a hard time focussing on my schoolwork and anything, really. I became lazy and unproductive. I grew to be rude, unkind, and impatient. I felt that I had to have lots of social time and was somewhat addicted to it. These were just some of the things that happened. But the worst thing that happened was that my thoughts became polluted. I began thinking about inappropriate things. I started getting tempted more, or I was recognizing that the multitude of temptations were actually there. I have always had temptations, but these were different. My will to resist was weakened and, in the end, I gave in to those temptations. And because I did, I didn't feel the same. I felt sinful, heavy and bogged-down. My whole life was actually deteriorating. I felt no drive to do anything. My parents were nagging and getting after me to pick up the slack on my responsibilities. I felt like I was a failure, in my eyes and in God's. I had no idea how I'd gotten to this state.
Shortly before all of this happened, my older brother, Quin, had left for his LDS mission to Japan. After 4 or 5 months of my so-called "depression," Quin asked me to make him some CDs of music he wanted that he was allowed to listen to while in the mission field. As I began finding his music and compiling it, I started listening to it. The change of feeling was so drastic! I, almost immediately, became happier, more focused, kind, and my thoughts and actions were cleaner and much more pure. My whole life did a complete 180. I felt spiritually stronger and "ready to take whatever Satan can throw at me."
I've made it a rule for myself now to listen only to things that are uplifting and glorify God. As a result, I often listen to the exact songs I've sent to my missionary brother. There is so much more to music that is influential than the words. The tune is one thing, but I think that something most people don't think about is the beat of the song. There are certain beats that my mother considers "The Devil's Beat" and these are the beats that are very addictive and, a lot of times, hardly even noticeable. These three things are what I look for in a song to see if it's uplifting and inspirational. In a nutshell: lyrics, tune, beat. Are they good? Are my thoughts clean when I hear them? Do I feel happy when I hear them?
I hope that I have been able to enlighten and inspire.
