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To: kosta50; irishtenor; wmfights; Dr. Eckleburg; Mad Dawg
If you go back to my post and read it one more time carefully...you will find that I am talking about instrumental music, not choirs.

What do you have against instrumental music in service? Is it because the early churches didn't have it? They didn't have air conditioning either, and the Bible has nothing against it. In fact, the Bible says:

Ps 150:3-5 : 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.

2 Chron 29:25-26 : 25 He [King Hezekiah] stationed the Levites in the temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king's seer and Nathan the prophet; this was commanded by the Lord through his prophets. 26 So the Levites stood ready with David's instruments, and the priests with their trumpets.

Of course I do not say that instruments are mandatory, but I don't see anywhere how the Bible frowns on them in worship. And I assure you it is only a coincidence that I happen to be an instrumentalist in our church orchestra during services. :)

4,882 posted on 04/10/2008 9:55:37 PM PDT by Forest Keeper (It is a joy to me to know that God had my number, before He created numbers.)
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To: Forest Keeper; irishtenor; Kolokotronis; MarkBsnr; wmfights; Dr. Eckleburg; Mad Dawg
What do you have against instrumental music in service? Is it because the early churches didn't have it? They didn't have air conditioning either, and the Bible has nothing against it. In fact, the Bible says: Ps 150:3-52...Chron 29:25-26

The early Church banned musical instruments because they were used by pagans and Jews during temple sacrifices and the Church wanted no association with them. No musical instruments are used in synagogues during liturgical services. Since Christian worship is an outgrowth of synagogal liturgy, even though there is (bloodless) sacrifice involved, no instruments were used.

Early Presbyterian assemblies (whose services were/are supposed to be liturgical) also banned musical instruments as part of the Reformation movement in an attempt to get away from the pagan practices of using musical instruments that crept into the western Church.

Of course, in your quoting Chronicles you do not distinguish temple sacrifice from synagogal worship because Baptist services are associated with neither. Jews did not go to the Temple to pray but to sacrifice. The Temple wasn't a "mega-synagogue." Nor was it a synagogue-substitute.

The Temple was where the Jews believed God physically present in the Holy of Holies (Mercy Seat of the Ark), or the Tabernacle in earlier days. You would go to the Temple to offer God the blood of dead animals and burnt offerings (because the Old Testament God, the same God we are supposed to associate with Christ, "likes" the smell of grilled meat in the minds of the Old Testament writers). 

Now, a church is pretty much a mixture of a synagogue, where people go to worship, and the Temple, where the priest offers (a bloodless and perfect) sacrifice of the Eucharist. In fact, large Orthodox Cathedrals are called Temples, such as the Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia (one of the largest Orthodox Churches in the world; compared to buildings surrounding it one can get the idea of its size).

The Divine Liturgy (i.e. the "Mass") consists of two major parts: worship, petitions, litanies (which is variable to some extent), which is synagogal and liturgical, and the Eucharistic offering (invariable), which is sacrificial and templar.

Of course I do not say that instruments are mandatory, but I don't see anywhere how the Bible frowns on them in worship. And I assure you it is only a coincidence that I happen to be an instrumentalist in our church orchestra during services

Well, this is one example why the Bible is not Encyclopedia Britannica. If you want to fashion your services according to the Bible, then you should be Jewish because the Bible doesn't describe how Christians are to worship. Apparently, the early Christians knew and agreed on how to worship (since there were no known objections, as far as I know, on this subject for at least 1,500 years of the Church, that is until bible-toting Reformers came on stage to teach the world how to do it just "right").

4,889 posted on 04/11/2008 8:12:36 AM PDT by kosta50 (Eastern Orthodox is pure Christianity)
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