Growing up in the church, one of the most disturbing comments made by believers is that someone is ignoring or leaving the truth of God. Once guilty of simply repeating what I had been taught, I would go around spreading the wickedness of condemnation on those who simply read the bible for themselves and were able to see behind the smoke screen of men creating commands of God when God would choose not to address a subject.
While I know I am not completely out of the bondage my fellowship placed on me in my youth, I am making every attempt to let others know the difference between absolute truth according to the bible and the wickedness of a misguided heart making claims of "absolute truth" not supported by the bible. I am forever greatful to great men of the faith who having walked the road much longer than myself have taken a stand for the real truth and made decisions in their teaching to expose the wickedness of those who would bind the teachings of men on others. One of the earliest to help me out of bondage was Lanier Stevens. With his help, I came to know the work of Al Maxey, Edward Fudge and Rick Atchley. I have seen wickedness in the hearts of many who claim openly how these men are leaving the will of God and teaching error in place of the scripture. My heart is deeply saddened when I see how far some have gone with no support of the bible to condemn the actions of these men.
While the bible speaks of putting to death whatever belongs to the earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, these men have created lists of their own as did the Pharisees of Jesus day. They would have us believe, and yes I was taught, that the use of musical instruments under any circumstance in the worship time equates to being sinful and leaving the truth of God. Yes, they have mixed the absolute truth of God with the "absolute truth" of man FOR GOD. The bible tells us in more than one place who will not have part in the kingdom at judgment and not once is it said that someone having musical instruments played in their auditorium will be excluded. In all fairness, the bible also does not say those using instruments will be welcomed in at judgment. Whether or not instruments should or should not be used is not a subject God chose to cover in what we refer to as the New Testament.
To the best of my ability I will help you with the absolute truth concerning musical instruments and what we call a worship service.
Absolute Truth About Instruments Being Used In Service
1. If I or anyone else says it is against the will of God for us to use musical instruments in our worship service, we are re-writing the bible for God to say something He does not say. It is easy to show where liars will not inherit the Kingdom of God so ask someone to point to an identical passaage stating those using instruments will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
2. If I or anyone claims that it is the will of God for us to use instruments, we are equally wrong for the same reason.
Conclusion: It is my belief that Christian men and women modeling the life of Christ in their lives should make their own personal decisions regarding this matter and honor God in their lives with their decision. Someone not wanting to worship with an instrument need only keep from picking one up and the one choosing to integrate the use in their worship should not look down on the one who chooses not to be a user.
I fully believe we stand against God and take our hearts far from Him if we choose to dictate our point of view as being the RIGHT choice for all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
For clarity, "these men" in paragraph three refers to those condemning men like Al Maxey, Edward Fudge and Rick Atchley.
ReplyDeletePlease don't neglect the Old Testament as though we are only bound by the New with regards to musical instruments. There are plenty of references in the Old, 2Sam6:5, 1Chr13:8 for example. In Luke 15:25 they even DANCE. OMG
ReplyDeleteRD,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up one of my pet peeves! When we have condemned instruments in the past as a fellowship, we have claimed we are no longer under the "Old Law." This is a ridiculous observation because if you were to ignore all of the Law of Moses, you still have the inspired writings describing how God liked His praise. I have even heard some say that God did not approve of David telling people to praise him with instruments in the Psalms and can't even fathom someone thinking God would allow something to be written in His book not meeting his approval. My position in this matter is that God did not "repeat" what was already a common practice from His instruction.
One of the biggest considerations in my view is the direction by the apostle Paul that all scripture is good for us in our development! He didn't indicate that some types of praise were now obsolete because of our Savior giving His life.
That's what I'm talking about. Very well stated!
ReplyDelete