followHIM - "Does the music I listen to matter?" followHIM Favorites

Episode Date: August 14, 2022

Hank Smith and John Bytheway answer a question from this week's Come, Follow Me study.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/old-testament/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the follow HIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producers, SponsorsDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another Follow Him Favorites. If you've been following us this year, you know that for Follow Him Favorites, we've been taking one question from each week's lesson. John, this week's lesson is on Psalms 50 through 100, basically those center 50 of Psalms. The question this week comes from a teenager in my own home who says, it doesn't matter the music I listen to. John, does the music I listen to matter? Let me say it like this. Do the books I read matter? Yes. Of course. Well, music is a message. It's a message and sometimes it conveys a feeling.

So can a book. Do the books I read matter? Are some books better than other books? Are some books more inspiring than other books? Do some books bring the spirit more than other books? Yes. Well, there you go. Music will have a message and there's even some evidence that some music can bring out the best in people. I think it's true that some music can bring out not the best in people. My daughter did a science fair experiment where she had four mice in one place and four mice in another. One was listening to Mozart 24-7. The other were listening to just heavy metal 24-7.

And then she ran them through a maze at the end of every day and timed them. Hank, it was crazy. Have I ever showed you the pictures of this? But that's not why Ashley won the science fair. You know why she won? At the end of the experiment, she put a long, hollow tube and gave the mice a choice. And I was so curious. I thought maybe for variety, they will just swap.

I've been hearing Mozart all week. I want to go to heavy metal or vice versa. And I came down the stairs that morning. I lifted up the cage of the Mozart mice and counted one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. All of them were in there. I said to the mice, I asked them why? and they said, well, we objected to the lyrics. No, they couldn't hear the lyrics. Do what you want with that. That fascinated me. Why would they choose one over the other? Because it's more than just the message. There is something else. There is a spirit in music. And that's why I think For the Strength of Youth talks about that. You've got to pay attention to how you feel with certain music. Isn't that right? I'm glad you bring that up. The Strength to Youth pamphlet says,

music can enrich your life. It can edify and inspire you and help you draw closer to Heavenly Father. It has a profound effect on your mind, spirit, and behavior. So choose carefully the music you listen to. John, I once wrote a book on happiness. It sold dozens of copies, mostly to my mother, but I learned something. It was about music. So they had two groups of people. One group of people, randomly chosen, got an hour-long massage every day for 90 days. The other randomly chosen group of people had to listen to one hour of what they said was uplifting music every day for 90 days. And then they came back and they took a happiness survey.

Now, who do you think would be happier? You would think an hour long massage every day, but it was the music that showed decreased anxiety, decreased depression, and increased happiness all because they deliberately chose their music to be uplifting. I'm with the mice on this one, John, that there is a powerful influence that comes from the music we choose to listen to. Yeah, I think if you're going to say the music I listen to doesn't matter, you'd probably also have to say the books I read don't matter or the movies I watch don't matter. No, it all matters.

It all matters. And so we kind of have a wonderful little phrase at the end of the 13th article of faith is, if there's anything virtuous, lovely of good report, we seek after these things. Why do we do that? Because it blesses our life. It's uplifting. And ultimately, I like the advice of For the Strength of Youth, pay attention because you'll be able to see what is lifting your spirit and what isn't, just like movies and books. Choose carefully. Our challenge to you this week is to choose more carefully and deliberately the music you listen to and see if it doesn't have an effect on the way you feel spiritually

and how close you feel to God. Well, we hope you'll join us next week for another Follow Him Favorites. Come join us on our full podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. This week, we were with Dr. Eric Huntsman, who is walking us through some of these psalms. You're going to love it. So come join us there and join us next week for another Follow Him Favorites. Thank you.