Instrumental Music in Worship, a Sin?

[mythociate]

From the LET THE BIBLE SPEAK ad-campaign, the issue that started it all: Is worship still sanctified if you add instrumental music to it?

Pioneer & Bell Church-of-Christ says it's NOT. That instrumental music should not be allowed in worship as--like 'any wood-type other than gopher-wood making-up Noah's Ark--God doesn't mention it, but DOES mention singing.

P-&-B compares it to 'sending an assistant out for wheat bread; you send them out for wheat bread & they come back with white-, Italian-, rye- or pumpernickel-, then they're not following your instructions.'

But God is pretty pathetic if He DEMANDS that we worship Him in exchange for not destroying us. I don't worship bullies 

Besides, GOD'S voice existed even before singing was invented; who are we to restrict Him to what humans write into a book? 

[paints]

Sin is disobedience to God.

If He tells you, "Don't play that guitar!" don't.

Otherwise, there is no sin. Man's rules, not Gods'.

[loulizlee]

New International Version

"Psalm 150

1Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord."

It amazes me how some people can take the Bible and make all sorts of rules to coincide with their beliefs, taking the Bible out of context and even changing it.  I do not serve a bully of a God, either.  I serve a God who is loving and kind.  All he wants is for one to believe in Him and trust Him.  God is not responsible for all the problems of the world.  When He gave man freedom, He did not demand that we worship Him.  We worship and praise Him if we love Him.  If we decide to sin against God, we make Satan our deity.  Because we have been given the ability to choose, our planet will have wars, sicknesses, and death until the time when God overcomes Satan, once and for all.  And the end has already been written:  "God wins."

[Falconer02]

But God is pretty pathetic if He DEMANDS that we worship Him in exchange for not destroying us. I don't worship bullies

As you shouldn't. The Abrahamic god (jews, xtians, muslims) is horrifyingly malevolent.

If He tells you, "Don't play that guitar!" don't.

"Kill your only son for me!"
"Okay."
"Nah I'm just kiddin'. Don't play that guitar!"
"Okay."

Blindly following anything without question is stupid behavior.

God is not responsible for all the problems of the world. 

Actually an omnipotent being who created anything with a conscience is responsible for any problems created. The key word here is omnipotent. A god who can do anything, yet refuses to help with anything despite poor choice, is a god not worth worshiping.

When He gave man freedom, He did not demand that we worship Him.

Actually he did demand it in the bible, but it's disguised as free will. Failure to worship him will lead to hell, right? This is nothing far of The Godfather's 'offer you can't refuse'. Sure you can not follow his offer, but then bad things happen. It is the illusion of choice that this religion has that is furthest from choice. Christians are fatalists without even realizing it.

And the end has already been written:  "God wins."

If the outcome is already known, free will cannot exist.

[mythociate]

Sin is disobedience to God.

If He tells you, "Don't play that guitar!" don't.

Otherwise, there is no sin. Man's rules, not Gods'.

Their main argument is that "the silence of Scripture is a forbidding action (as in the use of 'gopher wood' in Noah's Ark ... God doesn't MENTION any other wood-type, therefore all other wood-types are FORBIDDEN! say the Church-of-Christers))"

And how can we tell which rules are man's & which are God's? Atheists here would tell us that those are both the same thing, but here is where I'd fashion myself as a 'Christian Scientist' (literally, TESTING man's observations-of-God to see if they hold true).

New International Version

"Psalm 150

1Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord."

It amazes me how some people can take the Bible and make all sorts of rules to coincide with their beliefs, taking the Bible out of context and even changing it.  I do not serve a bully of a God, either.  I serve a God who is loving and kind.  All he wants is for one to believe in Him and trust Him.  God is not responsible for all the problems of the world.  When He gave man freedom, He did not demand that we worship Him.  We worship and praise Him if we love Him.  If we decide to sin against God, we make Satan our deity.  Because we have been given the ability to choose, our planet will have wars, sicknesses, and death until the time when God overcomes Satan, once and for all.  And the end has already been written:  "God wins."

Church-of-Christers could argue that the Psalms were 'written under the Old Covenant (the one that required blood-sacrifice ... interesting; the Jews still believe they're under the Old Covenant, right? Do they still do animal-sacrifice? If not, Why not?)

Their argument is that we are given no examples of 'instrumental music' in the NEW Testament. Are we?

But God is pretty pathetic if He DEMANDS that we worship Him in exchange for not destroying us. I don't worship bullies

As you shouldn't. The Abrahamic god (jews, xtians, muslims) is horrifyingly malevolent.

No He's not! Well, He was, but ... this is where God is a 'paradox'---Christians affirm that "God is the same today as He always has been & always will be," but the same God that promises Paradise to His children promises eternal punishment to the very-same children with very-little difference ... He wants us to be 'rich,' but not 'at anyone's expense' (something that is not possible, but you don't care how weak you are forcing the money to become (through Keynesian economics) as long as you-yourself are still getting everything money can still buy!)

God is not responsible for all the problems of the world. 

Actually an omnipotent being who created anything with a conscience is responsible for any problems created. The key word here is omnipotent. A god who can do anything, yet refuses to help with anything despite poor choice, is a god not worth worshiping.

But what kind of entertainment could God have if He always knew what was gonna happen? That's why He gave us free will, because it would all be BORING if there weren't 'choice' >:-)

[paints]

If He tells you, "Don't play that guitar!" don't.

"Kill your only son for me!"
"Okay."
"Nah I'm just kiddin'. Don't play that guitar!"
"Okay."

Blindly following anything without question is stupid behavior.

And blindly following what some man tells you "God said for you to----" is worse.