Question Mark? Episode one.

We look like ZOMBIES!!!

So I've recently found a band called "Dark Fortress", they are a black metal band from Germany. As you might guessed, if you know anything about metal, black metal is pretty infamous for being satanic. I've honestly never been a fan of satanic lyrics, or lyrics in general for that matter. Having grown up in a Christian home its instilled certain moral standards and codes on me that I have a hard time ignoring. So this is where my question arises.

IS IT OK FOR ME TO LISTEN TO A BLACK METAL BAND THAT BELIEVES THAT SATAN IS A HIGHER POWER THAN GOD?

Well, at first I wasn't sure. I don't go to church anymore so, I don't really have any guilt in listening to them. People generally shrug off my musical tastes because is too heavy or they can't understand lyrics or "It gives me a headache". So I can't really ask other people to listen to it. I know that I could ask older people but they automatically cringe at the idea of metal in the first place. So who am I left to go to? Myself really... I'm the best one to myself if its OK. I have to say, the music won out on this one. While hearing lyrics like "Satan bled for all of you" doesn't really strike me as fun. I love the music. These guys are super talented and while they are supremely misguided from which their talent is derived. They still turn out some good tunes.

This question holds a deeper meaning for me though. Growing up my parents (good parents BTW) always kept a strict ruling over what entertainment they allowed me to enjoy. They did a pretty decent job of it until later in my life when I discovered that there was much more than the Newsboys, DC talk shell I was living in. I started experimenting with music and that scared my parents. They were very apposed to my listening to anything with questionable content. Which in turn made me want worse stuff. I remember a family friend finding an album by a band that I listen to in their sons car and they were very angry that I "Would subject their child to such evil" Too bad their child was doing worse stuff than listening to some dirty words. What my parents ultimately did was open up my eyes. They weren't very open minded to what I was listening to, one. Because they loved me, but more importantly because the idea of me finding the words spoken in those songs more inviting than church stuff. Well its true, pretty much everything on this planet is more inviting than church to me, but it wasn't the music that did that. It was people that I was around that did that. So while they spent so much time worrying about my albums and throwing them away and such, they weren't looking at the people who were around us. Which is no fault of theirs obviously. They aren't physic's.

This photo is here to make sure you are...

I'm totally off track here... what I really just want to get to is this. Its fun to try and control what people listen to, or watch, or read, but do we really need to do that? Do we trust our kids/friends/family to know whats real and whats not? Do we trust them to know whats good and whats evil? I guess those are questions for another time. I just know that my parents build a sturdy foundations of morals and values based upon the Christian belief structure, and its given me that ability to see things for what they are. Its a good trait to have.