Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
- Psalm 100:2-3

There have been many in our time who have criticized the music which we worship the Lord with, claiming that it is "devil music" or what have you. But the truth in this is that God wants us to worship with gladness and to come before Him with joyful songs. Who on earth has the power to dictate what is joyful and what is not? Who on earth can know if any one of us has true gladness in screaming along at a hardcore show? The answer is unwaveringly, no one. Only God is our judge, only He sees beneath the surface and into the motivation. We have nothing to prove to the world, only everything to give to Christ, and if we do so in this manner or that, the truth is that it matters not,… only the motives and sincerity of the worship remain.
It is odd that the voices condemning the music of our scene prefer to sing songs which were just as controversial as the songs we sing today, only in the distant past. Many of the classic hymns that we sing in churches today have melodies that are directly taken from old bar songs. The authors wrote the words to those tunes in the hopes of helping the people from the bars worship the Lord in the church. Were they condemned by people then? Probably so, but the point is, it wasn't about the music, it is about the worship, the adoration, and the truthfulness of praises given to the Lord.
Let us focus in worship on bringing glory to God however we are able. We relate to the music of our scene, so let us worship through it. Above all else, let us never put the music first, but the praises of the Lord. Father, we pray for your quickening of our conscience, and help to let us put your praises first, music style aside. - Matt Joynt