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To: RaceBannon
What I am saying is that these styles and idioms speak of the world and its culture good and bad and are thus disqualified to be the musical vehicle for the saints in worship, fellowship, evangelism, and the Christian life in general.

I am, as the modern phrase goes, conflicted on this one. I am strongly for traditional hymns in worship and for the exclusion of drums and CCM therefrom. Yet, I listen to CCM on my car radio and while working in the garage on a regular basis.

My real problem is with the argument. The argument was used, historically, to disqualify the organ (by my otherwise iconoclastic hero Oliver Cromwell), to argue for the Gregorian chart and against congregational singing. In favor of the quartet and against the choir. In short, for that which wasd known against that which was not.

A more difficult argument, but I think the better, is that the vast majority of CCM is fluff, i.e. a few mindless phrases repeated over and over. Martin Luther called his hymns, 'my little sermons' because in fact they were. Running many verses, each different and content-laden, with the content of the verse summarized and driven home by the memorable chorus.

I remember, as a boy, siding with the group in my church which wanted to sing all 6 verses (or whatever) rather than merely verses 1, 3 and 4. It seems to me that the issue must be content.

OK, what about my drum prohibition? My argument is that, again, the drums detract from the content. I call this my 'Italian opera' argument. I suspect there are some operas out there with great lyrical content, but unless you speak fluent Italian or German, you (and I) will never know it. The language masks the content. Similarly, drums are used to mask the content of lyrical music.

So that's why I can enjoy CCM while wishing to keep it out of formal church worship. Are there others who feel similarly?

61 posted on 08/18/2003 2:48:12 PM PDT by winstonchurchill
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To: winstonchurchill
Your musical preferences are fine (not that you asked my opinion or approval, but there it is :-) ). There's nothing wrong with preferring more contemporary music when you're outside the Sunday morning meeting. And there's nothing wrong with preferring more traditional music when you're in the Sunday morning meeting.

The point of the singing on Sunday morning (or Saturday, or Wednesday -- whenever your church gathers for its corporate meeting) is to reflect on sound doctrine, to sing it alongside other Christians. Perhaps the reason why so many prefer hymns (typically songs written many decades/centuries ago) is that they tend to be more doctrinally rich. I love hymns.

A loving and sensitive worship leader (could be a pastor or some other individual) will take into consideration the musical preferences of the congregation and provide musical accompaniment that facilitates the congregation's resonating/engagement with the theology of the song/hymn/psalm so that "worship in spirit and truth" might be facilitated.

Again, there's nothing innately evil about cymbals or drums or brass instruments or stringed instruments. It's about the "meaning" of the song/hymn/psalm and engaging with the Lord, in this case through musical expression.

75 posted on 08/19/2003 7:43:39 AM PDT by Theo
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