LDS Place

It was one of those no-win situations. I’d been asked to speak at a stake fireside on the subject of pop music and morality, a highly sensitive topic at best. Unfortunately, the previous evening a member of the stake presidency had closed down the stake youth dance. In his judgment, the music and the youth had gotten out of hand.

I could feel the emotional intensity in the air as the young people filed in to sit on one side of the chapel and the adults sat on the other. No one wanted to hear a lecture; they wanted to air their thoughts about last night’s dance. I was bombarded by questions and comments from both sides:

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President Lee concluded our last conference in April with the statement that in his 32 years as a General Authority he had learned that the most inspired preaching is always accompanied by beautiful, inspired music. I am grateful this morning to be sustained by the beautiful renditions of the choir.

“Music,” Addison said, “is the only sensual gratification in which mankind may indulge to excess without injury to their moral or religious feelings.”

If that were true in his day, it is not in ours. Music, once that innocent, now is often used for wicked purposes.

It has been obvious for centuries that lyrics of the worst kind can be set to music that is innocent of itself. Words which are bad can be set to music which is otherwise good, and lead men astray.

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Who would win the eating contest? The cheerleaders nibbled deliberately at the big, beautiful, candy-coated apples … The athletes, using a bite-and-swallow strategy, consumed mouthfuls before realizing what was beneath the caramel camouflage.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to teach seminary at Timpview High School in Provo, Utah. I was excited to begin a new year and looked forward with great anticipation to what the future held.

I was somewhat apprehensive, however, about going to Timpview because it would be my first experience of teaching or attending school without spending my afternoons playing football or baseball or coaching. I knew I could do it, but I worried nevertheless. I suppose that is why I enjoyed pep assemblies so much. It was an opportunity to feel many of the same feelings I had had as a player and as a coach. You have probably had the same experience—chills running down your arms and the back of your neck when you enter the gymnasium while the band is playing and the cheerleaders are cheering. It’s exciting!

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President Hunter, we have been thrilled by your inspired message. We express our love to you. We also congratulate the newly called and sustained General Authorities and general officers of the Church.

Our hearts have united with the Mormon Youth Chorus’s spirited singing of Charles Wesley’s inspired words, “Rejoice, the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore!” (Hymns, 1985, no. 66). With the events of this solemn assembly, we have also felt the overwhelming gratitude expressed in our beloved hymn “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet” (Hymns, 1985, no. 19). We have rejoiced in the privilege of sustaining President Howard W. Hunter as President of the Church and Presidents Hinckley and Monson as his Counselors. In this worldwide assembly, we have pledged our prayers and best efforts to support the men whom the Lord has called to lead his church. I testify that what we have done has been recorded in the heavens and that each of us will be accountable to God for the way we respond to the leadership we have sustained in this solemn and sacred way.

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“A wise man once said, ‘Music is one of the most forceful instruments for governing the mind.’ Whether it governs in a positive way or a negative way is determined by what it brings onto the stage of your mind. If you can say that a song is spiritually inspiring or that it urges you to see yourself in a more noble perspective, the music is worthwhile. If it merely entertains or lifts your spirits, then it also has a useful place. But if it makes you want to respond in a carnal, sensual way or to consider unrighteous desires, then that music should be avoided. It is not worthy.”

Boyd K. Packer

“Sacred music has a unique capacity to communicate our feelings of love for the Lord. This kind of communication is a wonderful aid to our worship. Many have difficulty expressing worshipful feelings in words, but all can join in communicating such feelings through the inspired words of our hymns. When a congregation worships through singing, all present should participate. ”

Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, Nov 1994, 9

“Music is an effective way to worship our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. We should use hymns when we need spiritual strength and inspiration.”

Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, Nov 1994, 9