My church doesn't use instrumental music?

Question

The church I go to which is the "Church of Christ" doesn't use any instrumental music. and I was wondering what most people think of this, because there is a bible verse that says "Do not add nor take from the scripture" and he said for us to sing with our hearts, but didn't mention any instrumental music.

My church I go to say we only do what is mention and not do what isn't mention, there's also an example in the old testament that two priest used incense and strange fires during there worship and were condemned to death because, God didn't authorize the incense and fire.

Isn't the use of instrumental music the same concept?

Answer 1

Maybe you don't have any talented musicians in your congregation.



Psalm 150 says " 1 Praise the LORD. [a]

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.



2 Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.



3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,



4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,

praise him with the strings and flute,



5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.



6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD"



In this passage it says that instrumental music should be used to worship God.

Answer 2

well scripture doesnt say blink, but you still do...you shouldnt be driving cars, electricity, you should be omish to be honest if you want to really live out the concept....I think the church of CHrist is a cult....I have known two people from it



Update



neither did he authorize it as part of our daily lives....if I lived by the concept of dont add anything to the bible in worship, why not ever aspect of my life, especially if my life should be a memorial of worship.....you cant do one thing here and not over here, thats hypocritical and picky



UPDATE AGAIN



Scripture says everything you do, do to the glory of God.....so with everything we should be worshipping God



your words "No, God didn't authorize us to drive cars or have electricity as part of worship."



you cannot drive cars then, because its not a tool permitted in worship.....you cannot use electricity.......it is so unbelievably vast the things you can not do with this concept if you take it at face value

Answer 3

I was married to a Church of Christ man for 22 years. It is probably one of the most joyless religious groups I have ever come across, and certainly one of the worst in its treatment of women. It makes most other southern fundie groups look LIBERAL by comparison, and has more in common with Mormons than anybody else I can think of off hand.



I have yet to hear a heart sing; I'd be willing to wager you haven't heard a heart sing either. If you can use a metaphor about your heart, why can't you use one about music? You can't have it both ways.



As for the use of instrumental music and the old testament about the "strange fires," how about the 150th Psalm that tells you that you SHOULD use instruments? Why accept one part of the OT and not another?



I think C of C is utterly disgusting, quite frankly; this is just one more example of their hypocrisy, and I couldn't be happier to be OUT of that bunch of screwballs.

Answer 4

As far as your denomination goes, you are absolutely correct that instrumental music is the same concept as incense.



Your church applies a system known as the "regulatory principle." There are two views on the subject, and these are represented by the two branches of the Church of Christ. Your group, which is the more conservative, maintains that Christian worship should not contain anything that is not explicitly prototyped in Scripture. The other guys (the less conservative, often called the "Disciples of Christ" or the "Christian Church") takes the view that anything not explicitly prohibited by Scripture is permissible.



Personally, I maintain that Christian worship should adhere as closely as possible to the pattern handed down throughout Christian history. So we don't use instrumental music either, but our reasons are rooted in tradition as well as Scripture.

Answer 5

There are many examples in the Scriptures (especially in the Old Testament) of music being used in worship of God, and there is nothing forbidding it.



I Chronicles 15:15-16



15 And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD.



16 And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.



I Chronicles 16:39-42



39 And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the LORD in the high place that was at Gibeon,



40 To offer burnt offerings unto the LORD upon the altar of the burnt offering continually morning and evening, and to do according to all that is written in the law of the LORD, which he commanded Israel;



41 And with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest that were chosen, who were expressed by name, to give thanks to the LORD, because his mercy endureth for ever;



42 And with them Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those that should make a sound, and with musical instruments of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were porters.



II Chronicles 5:12-14



12 Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)



13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;



14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.



As you can see in the verse just above, the glory of the Lord filled the Temple and the priests couldn't minister because of the glory of the Lord. And this happened while the Levites were singing and playing musical instruments before the Lord. His appearance indicated His acceptance of their praise and music.



Unfortunately some Churches of Christ take a very narrow view of Scripture, some times ignoring the very Scriptures they claim to follow.



While they technically aren't doing anything wrong, music is an expression of praise and joy before the Lord and should not be forbidden.



If you feel uncomfortable with this church, seek another which has music and attend there.

Answer 6

This is the new Phariseeism, and I'm quite sure your Church, as all "Bible based" (a lie in itself), fundamentalist churches are all split-offs from the Baptist church.

Baptists are against dancing and instrumental music. That means they can play instruments as long as they sing - otherwise it might become "jazz" music or something else they were terrified of at the turn of the century.

All Bible-based churches are retreads of Baptists churches where people got mad at each other, had arguments and went and started their own churches.

No there is nothing whatsoever against instrumental music, dancing or anything else that Baptists (or anybody else) forbid in the Bible.

Answer 7

4"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.



Anything you do for the Lord is worshiping Him. Playing an instrument for God...is worshiping Him. You should use your talents to glorify God, and others should use their talents to glorify God.



It does say in the Bible that in everything you do, do it for the Lord.



In Psalm 66:8, it says "let the sound of his praise be heard", does an instrument not make sound?

Psalm 66:8

Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard;





David praised God in the Bible with instruments, so why can't we?

Psalm 71:22

I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.

Answer 8

I agree, we also think it is not approved by God to use or add human method to the church. It only edifies the flesh.



However i understand that you are just asking what might others think. I hope they take note of it.



I commend you for not being judgemental, good work on this question, you are in good spirit.

Answer 9

You go to a Church that has taken many things out of context. The worst I think is that many Church Of Christ people Think they are the only Christians because of the name they have chosen. Also certain things they do or do not do to set them apart.



Bassdoc is right it is Pharisee ism

Answer 10

You might want to find the part in the Old Testament about one of the synagogues that had a HUGE orchestra to give praise to the Lord, and maybe point that out to them. If I can find it, I'll come back and post where it is.



Many thanks to Foxfire for finding the NUMEROUS scriptures referencing musical instruments in praise!

Answer 11

God never said the Bible was the sole, or even the primary rule for the Christian faith, either.



Better start figuring out exactly what you believe and why, before somebody convinces you of something else.

Answer 12

I believe it is a question of authority. Who has authority? Whose authority do we follow?



Christ says he has "all authority" and the disciples were to teach the things He had commanded. (Matthew 28:18-20) Nowhere in the New Testament did the apostles teach or show an example of the use of instrumental music in worship of the church. ALL of the verses in the New Testament that talk about music in the church have SINGING as the type of music.



To use another type of music cannot be done from authority found in the New Testament because the New Testament nowhere authorizes its use. The authority to use instruments in the Christian church therefore does not come from God. If used, instruments must be authorized by men. If we follow a man's authority (teaching), does Christ still have "all authority" in our religious lives? Most is not the same as “all”!



One of the verses that teaches about music is Col. 3:16. This verse specifically tells us to sing. The very next verse (verse 17) says, "Whatever you do in word or deed, DO ALL IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS."



"In the name of" means by the authority of, or according to the instructions. Jesus and the apostles did not authorize the use of mechanical instruments in the New Testament church. You cannot play an instrument by the authority, according to the instructions of, or in the name of Christ because he did not instruct it.



The New Testament did specify "singing" as the type of music we are to use in worship. To do anything else is to follow the commandments (doctrine) of men rather than God. Teaching as doctrine the commandments of men makes worship “vain”, or useless in God’s eyes! (Matt. 15:9) Why not be satisfied to worship in the way God's word has authorized? “We ought to obey God rather than men”! (Acts 5:29)



When God told Noah to use "gopher wood", other types of wood were excluded. When Naaman was told to dip in the Jordan River, he knew other rivers were excluded (2 Kings 5). God has been specific about the music in the church, singing. Why add to his word?



Interesting, many of the founding fathers of denominations that now use instruments were opposed to their introduction. Among those against instrumental music were John Wesley, Adam Clark, John Calvin, and Martin Luther. So one should not question why we don't use them, the question should be "By what authority do you add them to your worship"? Why not be satisfied to simply worship as God's word instructs?



Some point out that David used instruments. As for David’s harp, He lived under the Law of Moses (Old Testament). We are now under the Law of Christ (New Testament). If you bind one part of the Old Law today, you are subject to keep the whole law.



In Galatians 5:3, some were trying to bind circumcision, an Old Testament commandment. Paul said if they bound this one item, they were “debtor to keep the whole law”. In James 2:10, if you keep the whole law, but miss one point, you are guilty of all.



If you try to bring over authority for David’s harp from the Old Testament, you must with the same authority bring over all of the animal sacrifices, feasts, Passover, the Sabbath day observance, yearly trips to Jerusalem, and the all of the other Old Testament commands. We must keep the whole law if we keep any part.



If we try to justify ourselves by the Law of Moses, we have “fallen from grace!” (Galatians 5:4)



God is not worshiped with men's hands (Acts 17:25) but with the heart. This verse talks about God not living in a temple made with hands, but it also applies this to hand-made worship, yet many say they worship on an instrument that was made with hands and played with the hands.



The instrument God wants is our heart. Ephesians 5:19 instructs us to make melody in the heart. These verses also say the purpose of music in worship is to speak and teach. An instrument cannot do this. In fact, it is more difficult to speak where there is background noise, therefore an instrument may interfere with these scriptural purposes of music in worship.



We should not add to or take away from God’s word. We should worship as he instructs! The New Testament does not instruct the use of a mechanical instrument in worship, so the church of Christ has no authority from the Bible to add it.



Yes it would seem that at times, the God at least tolerated instruments in the Old Testament, but we now have a new covenant, the New Testament.



Also by the end of the Old Testament, God’s word says, “Woe to you… Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David” (Amos 6:3-5)



Does this sound like God now wants instruments?



Here is a list of EVERY VERSE in the New Testament that speaks of music on earth directed toward God in worship. If our music is done according to the instructions (authority) of the New Testament, we must follow these verses:



Matthew 26:30

Mark 14:26

Acts 16:25

Romans 15:9

1 Corinthians 14:15

Ephesians 5:19

Colossians 3:16-17

Hebrews 2:12

Hebrews 13:15

James 5:13

Answer 13

details, man, details...



DOES IT HELP ***YOU*** TO INCREASE YOUR ****LOVE FOR GOD****????????