QuickMenu Save Document website statistics
 		  

Music from God's perspective

 

  

"Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;"         Ephesians 5:19

           Today I see the church of our Lord being divided by a movement that has become another god and its name is music. When I drive by a church, I often see the following message "Traditional Service followed by Contemporary Service" showing that people can not come together to worship the Lord because of the music. Jesus said a house divided against itself cannot stand. Once again something that has a godly purpose has been used for evil all in the name of the Lord.

          This is a time when compromise has engulfed God's people. They have forgotten how to be holy and have found it easier to buy the lie and conform to the world. The most deadly of compromises is in the area of music.

          One day I asked a congregation if society as a whole could ever be deceived and the answer was yes, history has shown us many examples. My next question to them was,  "How can one know that we have or are presently being deceived?" The answer was since God's word is the foundation for all of life, then by it we can know if we have been deceived.

          God gave several warnings to a nation that had a Godly beginning but had turned their backs on him or were worshipping him deceitfully. That nation was Israel.  

"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man ..."             Jeremiah 17:5

           One interpretation of this verse is “one who puts his trust in what a man says that cannot be backed up by God’s word. 

"Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully..."        Jeremiah 48:10

          Literally means practicing something in the work of the Lord that is contrary to his word.  

 

The Basics of Music

          All things point to God one way or another and music is no different. Since man is created in the image of God and he has three parts (Trinity) so does man (mind soul and spirit). Music also has three parts: the melody, harmony and the rhythm.

●        Melody - is the chief theme of a musical composition according to Webster’s dictionary, without the melody there is no music.

●        Harmony - is when two or more notes are played at the same time. Harmony is the basis for the formation of chords.

●         Rhythm - is the pattern of tones with regard to their relative time pattern. Rhythm is the movement in music. It is an unseen but required component of the music score.

          These components are vital to making music. Music has laws and principals that have to be obeyed or it is no longer music. It is math and in some cases it's a language.

            Like the trinity, each part has a function that the other does not cross over or its not really music. God refers to the dominant part of music as the melody as we find in Isaiah 23:16, 51:3, Amos 5:23 and Ephesians 5:18-19. In rock music, the rhythm dominants with little or no melody. Mozart said that the melody is the very essence of music not the rhythm. 

          How sad that churches across America are allowing a type of music that is out of balance which encourages compromise. 

The Origins of Music

           The earliest mentioning of music/singing/instrument is Job 38:4-7 which records that when the foundations of the earth were laid the morning stars (possibly angels) sang. In Ezekiel 28:13 "... the workmanship (ministry = choir director in heaven) of they tabrets and of thy pipes". Since music comes from God it was complete and it was prepared by God's greatest angel, Lucifer before his fall. After his fall he would have no problem using it to pervert godly music even in the church.

          Fanny Crosby, who wrote more than 8,000 songs, said near the turn of the 20th century that the music in the church was becoming worldlier. Today, major pastors are telling their congregations that all music is good and God loves them all.

Is music amoral?

 Amoral = Neutral, incapable of distinguishing between right or wrong

 

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness"                                                       Isaiah 5:20

 Example: Rick Warren in his book Purpose Driven Life states on page 66, "There is no such thing as Christian music; there are only Christian lyrics. It is the words that make a song sacred, not the tune." 

Only in this generation and mainly in the Christian Contemporary arena has music been defined as amoral!

Robert Shaw, a legendary giant of Choral Music for over fifty years, was asked about the controversy concerning the belief that music was amoral. His answer was that he did not believe that the church today realizes the kind of music that they are allowing to be played and he considered it perverse.         

 

"Music can be Philosophical or Orgiastic, it has powers for Evil as well as for Good"                                   Howard Hanson

           Some people compare music with television and say it's neutral.  What comes out can be good or evil. Therefore television is either good or bad. One needs to understand that music comes out of a television; therefore it is good or evil.

          Neil Postman, a professor of Communication of Arts and sciences says in his book "Amusing Ourselves to Death", "To maintain that technology (Music) is neutral is stupidity plain and simple"

 

"The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light"            Luke 16:8

 

What is God's view on the subject?

                   Let us remember that everyone has an opinion concerning everything. We should see every area of our life through God's eyes. Therefore ,what do His principals teach us?   

        In the beginning, everything God made was good and at the end of his creation it was considered very good.
(Genesis 1:31)

       We know also that:

 "God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil"                                                      Ecc.12:14    

        Therefore there is no neutral ground with God. So when we look at the TV. it is good until it’s turned on, then it will continue to be good or it will become evil. 

Music - Each note is of God and therefore each note is good until a series of notes are put together, at that point it will either continue to be good or it will become evil. 

Speech - Speech is made up of words which are put together by a series of letters. Since each letter is given to help us communicate to each other and since language came from God then each letter is good. They will continue to be good until a series of letters are put together making one or more words. It will then either continue to be good or it will become evil.    

Art - Art is communicated with lines and circles which depict the things around us. Each line and circle is good until a series of lines and circles are drawn, then it will either continue to be good or it will become evil. 

 "The meaning of music is music itself, it is more understood than language itself."
Wayne Barlow

 Words alone are inadequate; music helps us understand the truth of the facts. Music goes beyond the facts to the hidden meanings.

 Conclusion

           Since music has laws, principals, timing and theory isn't it time that we as Christians stop chasing after the things of the world and start conforming to the image of his Son. If the world did not act this way neither would the contemporary area act this way as well. Who is following whom? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hit Counter