A Christian Videoke

It was Jonie’s birthday. I was invited to come to his place and have some celebration (Just some sort of eating, sharing, laugh trip and videoke trip). The birthday celebrant is a worship team member (actually, everyone who is invited is) and our worship pastor is invited also.

                                                         (source: Google.com)

The party had just started. But because of the heavy traffic in our area, Ptr.Shem, our worship pastor will be late. Otherwise the party started with an opening prayer followed by our individual messages to the celebrant. The program is so lively, as always. Then, it’s eating time! (Another favorite!). Everyone shared a festive meal after we sang a “Happy Birthday Song”. After some time, he turned on the television and played the videoke DVD. “Oh sino kakanta?”, was his invitation. At first, we are busy eating then a friend got up and picked the mic. She pressed few digits and the melody began. Some friends joked around, “Pastor, yung back-up (singer) oh! Nagvivideoke!”. Everyone laughed because we know our worship pastor, who hasn’t arrived yet, kept on reminding us not to be indulged in worldly songs. “Uy maayos lyrics nito!”, Reselle, one of our back-up singers exclaimed. After her, few more songs had been sung. Most were love songs. Some sung in duets, most solos. Some just keep in chitchatting, some eating, some teasing the “singers”. This is how the party goes on. In every song that was played there is always teasing and joking “Oh yung bahista oh, kumakanta”, “Oh yung back-up”, “Oh lagot padating na si pastor!”. Some “serious-mode” friends are discussing, “Okay lang ba ‘to? Hindi ba tayo papagalitan?”. Some would say “Hindi yan, may mga mainstream (songs) naman na hindi double meaning”. Some would say,”Pa’no yung mga kapitbahay? Baka sabihin mga Christian tayo ‘tas kumakanta tayo ng ganto.” Someone would simply get the songbook and say,”May mga Christian song naman dito, Eto oh ‘Hillsong’. Uy papindot dyan number 2322”. Everyone was thrilled at the thought that Ptr.Shem would come soon and hear us singing those songs. Jolina, a back-up singer, suggested,”Eto Eto ‘Shout to the Lord’”. The tune of “Shout to the Lord” song played. Jonie sang it. Suddenly, the song reached the chorus,”Shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing….” Ptr.Shem finally came, without knowing the slight confusion that happened. The “singers” sang loudly, the audience laughed harder because Ptr.Shem didn’t “caught” us.

Have you experienced certain confusion like this? Though the scenario is ‘kinda funny (for me, because I was there), there is a serious matter to think about it. How can we know if something is wrong if it doesn’t look so wrong at all? Or how will you know if you’re over-spiritualizing something? This type of confusion between right or wrong is like a gray area. If we represent white as good and black as bad, what is gray then? It’s like you’re being ask to decide if it is “Gatas na Choco” or “Choco na Gatas”, hehe. What I mean is if there’s no exact parameter if something is good or bad, it’s hard to know if you’re still on the right track or drawn to sin.

Speaking of our videoke, we do not sing songs with obvious negative lyrics (rather we despise them). But what confuses us is that the songs we chose are the ones with good lyrics but not Christian or gospel. To some it’s okay, to some it’s not. Some of us are worried about our testimonies; some are worried about obedience to the Lord and to our pastor. Maybe, it is easier if there is a certain verse in the Bible that tells us “not to sing songs heard on FM Radio”. But it’s not like that. What we need is wisdom to discern good and evil. We know the enemy; he will trap us in the most unobvious way possible! So beware! On the other hand, we can’t be too over spiritualized because we may also fall into temptation of being judgmental and a self-righteous. Or we may make ourselves harder by setting our “own” rules aside from God’s grace. This applies also not only to singing songs from videoke. These gray areas are present in some of the decisions we face every day: Is it okay to wear shorts? Is it okay to court her? Is it okay to borrow money to start my business? Is it righteous if I do this or that? Is it okay to brush my teeth? (Just kidding. You should, please.)

The Bible tells us:”Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial.” Yes, we can do what we want. Yes, nobody may stop you doing things especially when you’re alone. But the question is: Will that help? Will that serve your brethren? Will that glorify God? I think we should always consider how our certain acts affect others; most especially we must not be causes of sin. Or, we should not be sinning because of the subtle meaning of the unobvious things.

The best way is to always ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Our hearts and motives may be deceitful. But His grace is always sufficient for us! He has given us all we need to live a righteous life! And to eliminate confusion regarding videoke songs, maybe a little guitar jamming will do, isn’t it?