Question: Hi Ganns! Is there anything wrong with being a Christian and listening to K-Pop?
Answer: Hi there! Thanks for the question. Since you’re asking if it’s wrong for a Christian to listen to K-Pop, let’s assume that you are holding yourself to your God’s standards, not the world’s standards. Others may think you’re being silly, even wrong. But it’s your beliefs, and your life, so it is on those grounds that I am answering your question.
Let’s start off with a foundational Biblical truth that makes sense even in a non-Biblical context:
1 Corinthians 10:23 tells us, “Everything is permissible”–but not everything is beneficial.”
This is pretty easy to understand: some things are clearly better for us than other things; some things are clearly not good for us. We have the freedom to do or expose ourselves to things that can be both good and bad. What happens next, therefore, is up to us.
For instance, smoking or excessive drinking is clearly bad for us. No matter who you talk to, end of day, it is foolish to smoke, or drink excessively, because of the substances’ bad effects on our health.
On the other hand, doing things you value that are clearly beneficial to you, is a good thing. For example, if God is valuable to you, you would do things that would help you grow in your relationship with God. You would prioritize activities that bring you closer to Him. Sometimes it means waking up earlier so you can find a regular time to start your day by reading your Bible or praying to Him. Sometimes, it means choosing not to go to a party that you know will have people serving alcohol that you know you can’t handle. (Is it wrong for Christians to drink? Refer again to 1 Cor 10:23.)
Super Junior member Choi Siwon often tweets pictures of the Bible studies from his home.
Now, K-Pop is neither smoking nor reading the Bible. To the K-Pop fan, it’s enjoyable, and it’s fun. But like secular music, it also has its pitfalls: scantily clad performers, occasionally bad lyrics and/or subject matter, and the like. Where does the Christian who likes K-Pop draw the line?
My opinion: Know who you are, then apply 1 Cor 10:23.
For the Christian K-Pop fan, listening to K-Pop is clearly permissible, and on paper, clearly beneficial, because it brings her pleasure/joy/fun. BUT if it’s detrimental to your relationship with God, I’d be very careful. You may listen to K-Pop as much as you like, but if it will stumble you in your walk with Christ, then I’d walk away.
If you find yourself valuing K-Pop more than God, I’d avoid those songs/artists.
For example, if you’re a Christian who knows spending time in prayer with God is important, you know K-Pop might be more valuable to you than God if you’d rather spend time listening to K-Pop or watching K-Pop MVs than spending any time at all in the day with God.
If you’re a Christian who values your sexual purity, you know you’re in trouble when you imagine yourself in sexual situations with your favorite K-Pop artists.
If you’re a Christian who wants to keep his mind and tongue pure, then singing lyrics that are clearly against the Word of God, may be problematic for you.
Me, I listen to K-Pop because 1) I like the melodies and production; 2) I don’t lust after the artists; and 3) it brings me and my wife closer. But that’s me. You’ll need to see how it will work for you. (Be careful, though, because you never know what you actually might be singing. I was aghast, for instance, to find out recently that one of my favorite K-Pop songs was an overtly sexual song. Gah, embarrassment!)
I also listen to K-Pop because I use it as a jump-off point to talk about God. High-profile Christian artists like Siwon, Donghae, or Eunhyuk of Super Junior, for example, give me a familiar discussion subject from which I can talk about God. Being in the world but not of it, I think it’s important to know what people are listening to, so I can fight fire with fire, so to speak.
End of day, it’s about your relationship with God, which should be your number one relationship. And just like any relationship, if there’s someone else who’s threatening to be more important than that relationship, you can expect trouble to come, so best to be safe and mature about it.
So is it wrong for a Christian to listen to K-Pop? No. It is wrong for a Christian to choose K-Pop over God. And how you interpret that last statement is ultimately up to you.
Wait, there’s more!
Looking for Christian K-Pop music? Give Third Wave a try. Third Wave is a great collaboration of artists, including Brian Joo, Alexander (formerly of U-KISS), Siwon of Super Junior, and other Christian artists.SM Entertainment is also encouraging of its artists singing Christian music in their concerts, so you can try to secure some Christian songs sung by those artists. Siwon sung “Who Am I” at Super Show 2; he also sung “Looking for the Day” at SuShow 3. TVXQ’s Changmin sang “Upon This Rock” at their TVXQ live concert (I hated it, though). I think Taemin of SHINee also sang a couple of Christian songs, and Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany may have also a couple of songs on YouTube. You can look around.
I hope this helps. God bless you, and keep in touch. Please do tell other people about my site; I’d appreciate it very much if other Christians got to know about the Christian music out there that I’m trying to help feature.
