Are Non-Christians Able To Enjoy Neal Morse Music?

I suppose it's a bit like Jon Anderson banging his gong about god. I don't have to like or agree with the lyrical intent of any song. One Belew one from Beat I find I'm at odds with (Man With An Open Heart.).

Presumably this is about the effect of how someone preaches a religious view and the mindless automatons lap it up and mindlessly practice what someone preaches. Well if you have your own critical thinking in more or less working order you should be fine. Others won't be as their critical thought processes were still born so others can have influence on them. Most religious and political mania works based on this fulcrum.

I like a good laugh and Satanism (ooh, scary!) works fine.

Look, when I were a lad I had this same problem with Sabbath's After Forever. ery Christ / god/ whatever oriented. Just accept what is in the lyrics and do about them what thou wilt. Which in my case was putting forth the proposition to my gf at the time that this Sabbath song was more her thing than my thing. She put her hands over her ears and said she did not want to know. She was from a very fundamentalist Christian type background. All her friends and family really loved me. They got all in a huff over the Deep Purple Burn cover. I knew one chick once who wouldn't let her BF play Sabbath's Stonehenge and that's an instrumental. People really are strange.

Worry? Society has all these problems (weak people with their need to worship and demonize) anyway. Someone espousing these "ideas" will alienate (you) or enforce (someone else).

There is a lot of music to hear in this world and if you have to cut the cord on someone go ahead and then listen to Univers Zero and Present instead.

Well if you don't like the lyrical content of the music and don't know how to(or don't want to) give up on the lyrics and just listen to the instruments, give up that band and go after to something else , i did it with the pseudo-intellectual non-sense of CTTE and i'm still alive and well! :D

As a Christian I am not offended by Slayer or Venom. So why should a non-Christian be offended by Neal? Lyrics work best when sung by someone with conviction. 

For me, non-Christians are still able to Enjoy Neal's music. Most people today, Christians or not admire songs without considering the lyrics.

Years ago, I was a Christian person. Now - hell no. Forget it.
But I still dig Spock's Beard. Understand where Morse is coming from But, I've chosen my path (to Hell, I really don't care.....) and I enjoy Morse and his musical / lyrical arrangements. Bless him !! What he does in the Prog world means a lot to me.

Who would I be to speak for non-Christians? Never mind, there is not such a thing like "Christian music" or "non-Christian music". I think that a non-Christian is at least as able to enjoy Neal Morse's music as a Christian, though the lyrics may be another story for some. Speaking for myself, I only listen to music because of the music and not because of the lyrics. Therefore I reserve only two to three hours a week for those songs with good Christian lyrics that I try to sing along with, though the music to which these are put is for the most part whining and bleating: the Sunday mornings between let's say 9:30 and 12 AM. For the rest of the week my ears would rather prefer, for instance, a Gardnerian anthem like Wassail because of the music to which it is set.

geekfreak wrote: M27Barney wrote: Funny I should see this topic, I listened to "The Whirlwind" just a few days ago. Morse produces some of the best symphonic prog that has been done outside the classic years 1970-1975. But, I have found his Christian message more and more difficult to listen to as I have got older. Prog rock has suffered the slings and arrows of many a critic admonishing the "whimsical lyrics" since they obviously just want songs to be about boy meets girl. And, with Yes particularly the very esoteric nature of Andersons lyrics makes the music in my opinion. But Morse's lyrics are just irritating Christian preaching. I tried to ignore it - but when I got to "Dancing with Eternal Glory" - It just irritated me to the point of non-enjoyment. Perhaps he should sing about other stuff, he is a great musician, but his born-again faith delusion is wasting that talent!!! strictly speaking Neal`s lyrics are his own points of view from re-finding his faith, has I haven't truly an faith due to the darker sides of life`s downward sh*t! but if anyone else has fine with me, but his he preaching no more than Cliff Richard did. if it is irritating you easy answer "Don't Listen" if as you say non-enjoyment hmmm don't buy them...please don't take this to heart its just my own point of view. he as produces some huge symphonic PROG!!!! Solo/Spock`s Beard

I was raised Catholic, and while I am still believe in "something," I am not a practicing christian. I don't find most of Neal's lyrics to be preachy. He can get a bit overboard at times with the God and Jesus references (a lot of the Lifeline album, parts of Sola, the Testimony albums), but for the most part, he is not preachy.  Preachy implies someones is trying to convert you in holier-than-thou way, and I NEVER get the vibe. His lyrics and delivery always come across in a very "this is just how I feel" heartfelt way. If you don't believe what he does, then what is the issue? 

Of course they are. Perhaps something could be gained from listening to the music and also being a Christian; identifying with the themes and lyrics, extrapolating based on that, etc. It could very well add to your listening experience and final evaluation of his work. It certainly does not mean that people who aren't religiously inclined would be incapable of enjoying the melodies, the stories, the instrumentation, songwriting, and yes, lyrics, too. And so on.