The Christian Views Of music

[OneLight]

I am more in line with a strong simplistic message of the truth with simple instrumentals.  I have found the more attention is put into the beat, riff, and/or stage performance, the focus switches from the message to the messenger.

[teddyv]

I am not a musician, but I do enjoy music. When it comes to music in a service, I can enjoy the classic hymns to the modern modern worship songs. Lyrically, by and large, the older hymns do seem more meaningful, but there are some fantastic newer songs out there. I also grew up in the era of dead slow hymns which was pretty painful - although that might have been the organist, not the design.

 

[NotAllThere]

I've never been in a church where the pastor or leaders disliked music. The lead pastor of my current church is a musician himself.  The only problem is that he's such a perfectionist that it's hard for people who aren't very experienced and talented to get onto the worship team! We're praying for him. 

I was a student (mumble years ago) in a town where, in addition to the university I was at, there was a musical college. Many of the worship team members at our church came from there. Wonderfully talented musicians - but open to newbies. We'd worship literally for hours. The church grew - from new converts - from about 100 to over 400 in the space of a couple of years, so there was a lot going on, not just worship. Lives transformed.

In my third year there, the Lord warned me in a dream that the worship was becoming the object of the worship, rather than Him, and that if this didn't stop, He would act. I passed this message, respectfully, on to the leaders, but it was rejected. Six months later, the worship leader was caught in adultery, and the church practically collapsed. It was very sad. (He repented, and is still married to his wife and all is good). A year later I was reconciled to the leaders, so also good.

I like good music. I find that much of contemporary worship is very jangly - like U2 used to be, but not as good. However, there are some gems being produced every year. I think it's important to remember that the traditional stuff has already been refined - the dross that was around when that was written has been forgotten. The refining process continues.

I like a mixture of traditional and contemporary worship. Outside of church, I also listen to praise and worship, but more mainstream music as well. 

Satan was the worshiping angel - until he fell. He's incapable of creative acts, he can only corrupt. (Which is why we have <insert least favourite genre here>). 

Edited November 30, 2020 by NotAllThere

[GandalfTheWise]

5 hours ago, NotAllThere said:

(Which is why we have <insert least favourite genre here>)

   I don't know why, but I just love that line.  

[glff]

Hey!  Starise...   : )

I don't really listen to music as my ears ring whenever I hear a high note, But my favorite verse is in Zeph 3:17 "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty;  he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing."

I imagine that the throne room in New Jerusalem is large enough to hold the whole of the angelic host, and the faithful from both the old and the new covenants with plenty of room left over as the Lord himself sings songs of joy to us all.  Jesus come quickly!

[Alive]

Two cents--for what it's worth.

:-)

In my experience--in the context of a local expression of Christ, there are two types of songs. Ones that narrate an edifying story that generate praise and a joyful noise and those that aid in a more quiet worship and prayer. Those often repeat a few phrases and are directed at the Lord, His wonder Grace and Mercy.

[Starise]

12 hours ago, OneLight said:

I am more in line with a strong simplistic message of the truth with simple instrumentals.  I have found the more attention is put into the beat, riff, and/or stage performance, the focus switches from the message to the messenger.

I always tried to look at the makeup of the congregation and make song selections based on the music they were worshiping with prior to my coming along and see if it could be improved or if changes should be made. It seems some churches are more about presenting a show than looking at music for worship. The smoke machines, the long electric guitar solos, the stage lights. None of that was ever my thing. We  used click tracks for awhile, but I eventually got away from them because I thought they were too confining for most material. Click tracks are a great way to add a big sound to a small church but they have to be followed exactly. Using programs like Ableton you can be a bit more fluid because verses and choruses can be called at random using a midi controller. But that's tech most average churches don't have the manpower to support. You need all of the gear and people who can program it and make it work ( and people to actually show up to do it on Sunday). I used Ableton Live on a laptop for awhile and similar like the app from loopcommunity.com.

And at the end of the day it's all about the spirit of our worship to God and our hearts going into it. If a small setup gets it done and God isn't leading otherwise I always say why over think it? Sometimes just a piano or guitar does it. But men tend to think in terms of sophistication. Some churches are trying to equal professional traveling rock acts. To the flesh it looks impressive, but I always ask is it what we need? What does God want?  If God branches a more sophisticated ministry off of pure worship I see no harm in it so long as it doesn't change the hearts or the focus. That's the sad thing though. I believe some people attend church A instead of church B because they have all of that worship "stuff".

8 hours ago, NotAllThere said:

In my third year there, the Lord warned me in a dream that the worship was becoming the object of the worship, rather than Him, and that if this didn't stop, He would act.

Thanks for sharing. I have seen one church fall apart. Though there was nothing like adultery going on. I think it was just complacency and worldliness. Sad when scandals happen. They happen at all levels. I'm aware of at least two other situations involving pastors who fell. The devil is always looking for a place to get a dart in and destroy the effectiveness of the body. We can't always blame the devil either because people are sinners. I had a series of dreams about two months ago. I shared them here I think. In one of those dreams I walked into my last church and it was dark inside but it was like a Sunday morning service going on. Pastor was up front preaching. Congregation was all in the pews. I took the dream to mean the church was literally in the dark. I'm not sure what the outcome there will eventually be.

8 hours ago, NotAllThere said:

I like good music. I find that much of contemporary worship is very jangly - like U2 used to be, but not as good.

Exactly. Jangly is a good word. One dude over in the corner plinking his Telecaster. Hopefully modern worship will get away from that. U2 did it well. Another apparent theme are men who can sing higher than some women. Ever wonder why you're straining to sing the lead on some of those tunes? I guess these guys still have their manly parts? I have to transpose then two keys lower for the congregation to sing it. What's with that?

 

2 hours ago, Alive said:

In my experience--in the context of a local expression of Christ, there are two types of songs. Ones that narrate an edifying story that generate praise and a joyful noise and those that aid in a more quiet worship and prayer. Those often repeat a few phrases and are directed at the Lord, His wonder Grace and Mercy.

Very true. The slower more reflective songs always outnumber the more energetic tunes. It's something like 3 to 1. I would usually have an "opener" which was a more lively song. Not necessarily a rocker. Songs like Micheal W. Smith's - Great Is The Lord. Played in an energetic way, fast tempo, then after announcements and any movies or slides we had a set of 3 songs. 1st was energetic, 2nd and 3rd songs often more reflective. This was by design. Then we played an "ender". Since my background always had a song  of repentance because the pastor used it as a time for people to come forward. Later on we got away from that time and simply prayed at the end, so I began to use a lively song to "play them out" on. That worked well. Some of the modern worship songs are 5 minutes or more long, so I would cut out a few songs when we did those. I still had complaints that the song was too long from some of the congregation. Not sure why the pastor stopped having those times at the end.

3 hours ago, glff said:

I imagine that the throne room in New Jerusalem is large enough to hold the whole of the angelic host, and the faithful from both the old and the new covenants with plenty of room left over as the Lord himself sings songs of joy to us all.  Jesus come quickly!

Amen to that!

 

[brotherdon]

Notes, beats, chords, rhythm, harmony, is what separates decent from ugly. Music can be Heavenly or hellish. Music seems it can be a flesh trip bringing many emotions.

Heavenly music would probably put most of us to sleep or really relax us at the same time becoming emotional, feeling the Love. hellish music is more likely to arouse our flesh, and feel like head banging. some music i listened to way back, would not feel good today.

[Starise]

King David, described as a man close to God's heart was also a musician. Much of the Psalms are praises to God he penned. A few are more like lamentations. I don't have access to ancient Jewish music, but I would wonder how it all sounded then, especially the songs of joy and praise.

At one point in scripture David was "uninhibited" when he was dancing. Not something most denominations partake in. 

Westernized church often omits so many things that were a part of ancient practices. Neither did the early church envision such things as electric guitars, synthesizers and a bunch of drums.

[TheBlade]

Music.. oh He talks to me through it. I LOVE music.. any kind. I guess I should say for me everything must has to give Him glory and praise. For all creation worships Him. Some music has no life in it. My Dad was Nez perce and loved listening to them sing.

As for Churches...I can not speak on. I am not there nor now them.