I have often given my opinion concerning the use of musical
instruments and while I see nothing wrong with instruments being used, the
hypocrisy of those keeping them from being used burns brightly within our
heritage today. I use the term “burns brightly” because I believe the youth of
our families have an incredible access to the reality of instruments not being
an issue affecting the salvation of an individual. In my youth, access to
biblical information was only through my local congregation and the specific
book stores containing only material written by those of our faith heritage.
With the vast resource of information available on the internet today, a simple
search easily opens the eyes of those asking religious questions to the
ridiculous traditions we hold fervently to in our services.
From as early as I can remember, I was reminded and told
the addition of instruments was simply a “feel good’ addition speaking to the
human nature and drawing people into an artificial worship ignoring the purity
of our singing offered to God. While I won’t discuss it in these comments, we
even went so far as to take the Bible out of context as we used the comments of
the apostle Paul of “singing and making melody in our hearts.” While I
definitely believe the purity of the human voice can be extremely beautiful, I
do not believe it should be encouraged over any other form of musical offering.
I also find it amusing to hear comments concerning the concept of “attending a
concert,” and this is exactly where my use of the word hypocrisy comes from in
the title. While it might be a serious mistake to rely on the English words we
have in the Bible, I am not even basically familiar with the original language
of the Bible. When I see Abel offer God the first/best of his labors and Cain
offer “some” of his, God is pleased with the best offering.
Possibly, in my ignorance, I can’t accept God’s disapproval
of Cain’s failure being the fact he did not offer a blood sacrifice, as many
will say, but rather his failure to offer his best. In our hypocrisy, we preach
and teach for everyone to not be satisfied with offering less than our best. We
use the word sacrifice to emphasize the Christian concept of going beyond what
is expected or normal. Yes, we are encouraged to go the extra mile. What can be
wrong with this and how can it possibly be considered hypocrisy burning
brightly? The answer is rather simple since those in our fellowship are only
allowed to offer their best when the best can make it through the filter of “what
is appropriate for our congregation!” There is a big difference between what is
appropriate and what can be declared sinful.
Reading articles, blogs and discussions on this topic, I’ve
often come across the word, “expedient,” which simply means “this addition to
our worship is necessary or non-offensive to Christian principles.” The common
additions listed often detail the use of song books, microphones, church
buildings, located preachers, office staff, etc., and yet in reality, a person
simply has to make it past the filter and they are “home free.”
In more recent times, we have seen the addition of praise
teams and elaborate audio/visual presentations. Remembering those people who
objected to the projection of simple sermon outlines on a screen is almost
humorous when I consider the elaborate pictures, PowerPoints, and videos used
in our services today. We even have objection to using song slides with music
because beautiful motion videos can’t be used to “enhance” the worship
experience. I almost fell out of my chair the first time I heard this
expression because this is the “root of all evil” when it comes to instrumental
worship! How many times have we been told throughout our history that
enhancement is wrong? Is this not hypocrisy and is it not burning brightly? I
almost sound like I am against this use of audio visual enhancement and yet it
simply points to something having made its way through the filter and while I
bet it is good for some people, I can remember singing a song recently with
Christmas lights flashing off and on in the picture/video behind the words. I
was distracted on two levels because I need the music notes in order to make
sense of the song and at the end of the song, I could not even tell you the
name of the song we had just finished. Was my worship experience enhanced? No,
but it was not my Christian place to complain. We recently had a video played
during our communion where the words and the instruments used took me to a feeling
of really being in the presence of God and yet others were shocked or offended.
It was not their Christian place to complain and yet some did, anyway. It was “filtered”
out as a mistake of showing the wrong video of two and I believe it was the
actual working of God to edify those like me during this service.
Hypocrisy does not rest entirely with the subject of music
and the worship experience, but also in other areas of our church experiences
with little notice. Even as the thoughts on this area of hypocrisy begin coming
forward in my mind, I am excited that I can look forward to bible class each
Sunday morning. For what seems like the first time in my adult life, I can go
to class knowing that I will leave each week with more knowledge of God than I
had before coming to class. My class on Sunday morning is not a “rehash” of the
same thing I was taught back in the elementary years. This class, is, week to
week, the only “non-milk” I’ve ever had.
While this is an incredible exception to the case, our
bible classes are a prime example of what is hypocrisy in our fellowship. We
encourage the study of God by our brothers and sisters and with tremendous
access to information available we have people devoting time to understanding
God in a variety of areas out of the main stream of class study. While they
want to know more about God and encouraged to learn more about God, they
continue to participate in classes where the same information, though often
packaged differently is discussed with Amen! I would suggest we don’t grow in
our love because we are in a perpetual state of re-runs when it comes to God.
We are bored with Christian education because we never move past the milk.
While I don’t fancy myself as a teacher, I have volunteered
to lead class discussions over material I have read and studied concerning the
nature of man and final punishment. If it was not filtered out, this would have
already taken place and yet, we still have people believing what I now consider
to be the “lie of hell” because they have never considered what they have been
taught or given an opportunity to openly discuss in a class something I believe
has much to say about the character of our heavenly Father and how our
portrayal of the character of God to other people DOES HAVE ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES!
I have heard it said that the Crusades became the main deterrent to those who
might otherwise accept Christianity and I believe our characterization of God
does as much to keep people out today. I wish someone could explain to me why
we allow our “work for God” to actually work against the will of God.
In closing these thoughts, I offer a simple solution to our
problems in the church. We take the filters off and we use everything at our
disposal to help us draw others toward God. This might mean I am distracted by
some of the visuals I see, others might be distracted by the instruments in a
video or actually used in service, people might be uncomfortable discussing
topics outside the normal course of study because of the implications it might
have on their held beliefs, and we might have others who feel they are being
given a performance when someone does a solo for the larger group. The solution
just might look a lot like Paul’s comment of being all things to all people and
yes, we might actually reach all people rather than just the few who think like
me. The question coming to mind as I consider these comments finished, is will
I ever be part of a church family willing to leave the 99 to help the ONE? How
far are we willing to go for that one person to have a meaningful relationship
with God? Only our hypocrisy stands in our way.
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