My boyfriend and I had a conversation about why the Church of Christ believes the way it does and when it came to the topic of music I really didn't have an answer. Growing up I had always been told there are no examples of instruments in the New Testament so it's better to be safe than sorry. I had never questioned this. It has been so easy to just believe this because that was how I was raised, but I realized that when someone else questioned it I didn't have a valid answer. So, I decided to do a little studying and figure out why exactly we don't use instruments or have a choir. I don't want to offend anyone that uses these things; I just want to share why this is my belief. Here is what I found:
We are under New Testament Law not Old Testament Law. This means we are to follow the commandments laid out by the New Testament. Yes, there are valuable lessons to be learned in the Old Testament, but the Old Testament is the Law of Moses which was overridden by Jesus Christ and the New Testament.
That being said, there is no mention of instruments in the New Testament. This means the Bible never tells us that we are to use instruments in worship. This brings up the argument that it never specifically says not to use them. This isn't sound logic. There are a ton of things we are not specifically told we can't do that we understand does not show respect to God. For example, the Bible doesn't say we can't eat our lunch during worship, but we don't do that. We know it is disrespectful, yet the Bible never strictly prohibits it. So why is this any different.
Ephesians 5:19 is a popular verse for this argument. It says "speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (NKJV). Singing, not singing and playing the piano or guitar, but singing.
This brings us into the argument of "I sing better with the music," or "it sounds better with the music," or "the music keeps my attention." These are not solid defenses. These statements do not show respect. These statements are basically saying "I'm doing this because I like it and I think it sounds good." It doesn't matter what we like or what we think sounds good, it matters what God wants. What God wants is for us to sing joyfully and give praise to Him. He never says it has to sound good.
If you go back to the first 600 or so years of the church, there wasn't any instrumental music. Around this time, the Catholics attempted to introduce it, but it was so frowned upon that they pulled the instruments back out and they were not introduced again until sometime in the late 1800s. Even churches that have instruments and choirs today didn't start off with them. A lot of their founders were documented as saying they believed it was an abomination; however, somewhere along the way, someone decided that it was okay. So why exactly did these individuals believe they had the authority to add these elements.
So let's talk about the choir for a minute. I also don't believe choirs should be used in worship. Again, this isn't something the Bible states we specifically shouldn't do. I will admit that choirs sound nice and technically all they are doing is singing, but they do create some issues.
First off, choirs tend to discourage others from singing. I'm not saying they mean to, but many times people will not sing because they are admiring how the choir sounds or are worried they don't sound as good as the choir. This is where a problem occurs. We are now admiring the choir instead of praising God.
Second, choirs tend to be more of a performance. When a song finishes and the audience claps they are now praising the choir. They are telling the choir that they did a great job and sang beautifully. By applauding, the choir, we are applauding the performance and taking away form the respect and worship we are to show God.
Every religion has their own views. It is not my intention to say I am right and everyone else is wrong. It is simply my intention to come up with a clear view of why I believe what I believe and share that view with others.
