Posted on 10/24/2006 8:23:05 AM PDT by Dumb_Ox
On the other hand, the instrument might work in a Catholic context in processions on saints' feast days and similar efforts.
Yes. For funerals and weddings--both Presbyterian and Catholic. The Highlanders were majority Catholic until the clans were broken in 1745.
They use 'em like crazy in churches in Ireland....
The difference between playing a wedding and a funeral is that there is one less critic of your playing at a funeral....
In the new testament, a song or Psalms is re-termed. Matt. 26: 30 calls it a HYMN. (NIV, KJV)
...no instruments in the Upper Room with Christ. Matt 26 ;} Just hymn singing.
May one play a theremin in worship, as it is an electronic instrument and not mechanical?
Nothing in the word "hymn" suggests that musical accompaniment is forbidden. Additionally if a hymn is supposed to replace a psalm, then why are we admonished to sing hymns AND psalms?
If you think that the singing of "hymns" prohibits accompaniment, then it is obviously because of your denominational bias, and not because of what is stated in the Bible.
Ephesians 5:19 states that we are to sing psalms. And Psalm 150 states that we are to make a joyful noise unto the Lord and to use every musical instrument at our disposal.
Are people in your denomination prohibited from singing Psalm 150?
I understand that you mean to defend your idea that instrumental music in worship somehow changes the worship. I don't really understand how singing along with instruments changes the singing, when teaching through a computer doesn't change the teaching. They seem to be perfectly analogous concepts to me.
Yes, I know they look different to you, because it's your tradition. I can't make a dent in that, so I won't bother trying. Perhaps one day you'll see what I mean. In the meantime, have a nice life.
Hmmm. I've sung a lot of hymns in the first floors of buildings. Is that forbidden too?
Mechanical instruments of music are not a medium through which singing is done. They are a separate type of music. Using a computer to spread the Gospel is only a medium through which the teaching is done. If "speaking to yourselves" and "teaching and admonishing one another" could be done by mechanical instruments of music, then they would be an expedient. However, that is not the case. They are an addition.
You left out the most important meaning of psallo in regards to this verse: in the NT to sing a hymn, to celebrate the praises of God in song. At the time in which the NT was written, the word had taken on a meaning of purely singing a hymn.
Also, in the definition of psalmos, let's look at the part that you had in bold:
accompanied with the voice, harp or other instrument.
Notice it is possible to just be sung with the voice. A harp or other instrument are other options, but are not absolutely implied in this term.
Mechanical instruments of music are not expedient in order to fulfill the command to sing. They are not a medium through which the command is fulfilled. They are an addition.
You make me feel as though I'm pushing my head through a barrel full of oatmeal.
That computer you're typing on is an addition too. I say so.
The Bible teaches that we are not to add or take away from the commands of God. Do you agree?
I agree. The difficulty lies in the application.
It astounds me that, of all the things we've discussed, only instrumental music as an accompaniment to singing amounts to a modification of God's command in your view. This is prima facie denominational bias, not based on reason at all.
You're welcome to live according to it if you like, but you must not attempt to hold all of Christendom to this standard.
I tell you the truth, your reasoning puts me in the mind of nothing so much as Matthew 23:16-22. Be careful, brother. Be very careful.
I am glad we agree that adding or taking away from the commands of God is wrong. Now let's look at an example that we have discussed: using the internet to spread the Gospel. Is this adding to the command we are given in Matthew 28:19-20?
No, but we usually sing out of the old shaped note hymn books accompanied by a piano; but on Saturday nights once a month there are gospel singers accompanied also by the piano, guitar and anything else. It is a small, rural freewill Baptist church. - We don't have music to the Psalms, but sometimes one is read out loud; just not often enough, really.
The accoustics in our church aren't too good and we sound pretty bad when we do sing anything, I'm afraid. (Always blame the accoustics.)
Specifically, you refer to "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
I must tell you, I see no specific authorization in that passage to use computers and networks for teaching and preaching. This Great Commission tells us to go...it by no means allows us to merely send our words.
So, yes, if I interpret this passage from Matthew as strictly as you interpret the passages from Colossians and Ephesians pertaining to praise music, then using computers to spread the Gospel is an unlawful modification of God's command.
But I don't believe that God ever intended his Commission to be interpreted that way; therefore I must conclude that such an application of the "don't add-don't subtract" principle is wrong. And if it's wrong as it applies to the Great Commission, therefore it might very well be wrong as applied to instrumental music.
In the Great Commission, we are told to go, but we are not told what medium to use in order to do that. It is specific in that we are to go, but it is general in the method. May we use a plane, a car, etc. to get where we are going? Sure, those are the methods to fulfill the command to go. The internet is used to help fulfill the part of the command that says to teach.
In Ephesians and Colossians, we are given a specific command. That command is to sing. There is only one medium that we can use to sing, and that is our voices. We are also told that it should come from our hearts. Mechanical instruments of music are not expedient to the command to sing. They are an additional form of praise that is not authorized in the New Testament.
Then we would be in complete agreement. Musical Instruments are OPTIONAL!
I'm just so glad we could end this discussion on this agreeabe note. (no pun intended).
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Marlowe
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