Has God Ordained a certain style for Musical worship?

[JonC]

Not conforming to the world is a key criterion for discerning what kinds of instrumental music are acceptable to God for use in corporate worship.

Depends on what you mean.

Is using a paino conforming to the world because the instrument was not designed specifically for worship music? Obviously not. It isn't instruments.

But maybe it is how they are played. Is adopting the music of the world...like "What Child is This?", "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken", "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" did conforming to the world? Maybe. They used secular music.

But then again, our older traditional hymns used music that were modeled after bar tunes because they were easy to sing.

Here Contemporary Worship music has an advantage over hymns.

While instruments that are used in secular music (like a paino, guitar, drums) are often used in contemporary worship the music itself is set apart from the music of the world (unlike hymns in relation to the music when they were written).

Nobody would hear a contemporary worship song without any lyrics and think that is the type of music the world is listening to. It is distinctinct, not like the music sung in bars that inspired the music of traditional hymns.

That said, I do not believe that hymns are wrong because the music was secular at the time. The common ground with contemporary worship music is they are singable and biblical. So I say, sing your hymns without guilt. If you can't then for conscious sake change to contemporary worship.

Now....Christian Rock, Christian country, Christian rap....thats another story....but those have another purpose.

 

[JonC]

You have to love the Babylon Bee.

Yea...that one is my favorite one.

 

[JonC]

And I would consider that a real objection and maybe the soundest objection to it.
The question has to be asked: Even if a Rock song has incredibly great lyrics, if they are unintelligible (at least to many) are they then not particularly edifying?

Mind you, I loathed this objection as a youngster when the fuddy-duddies asked it, and to be fair, they might often have used that objection simply because they personally disliked it and not asked it in good faith (if you take my meaning). However, I must admit that it is a real objection that raises meaningful questions.

I think that there is a distinction between Contemporary Worship music and other types of CCM (like Christian Rock, Christian Rap, etc.).

Christian Worship music is designed to be sung (I doubt anybody woukd have a hard time understanding the lyrics). The accompanying music is fairly simplistic (and simple to play).

This was the reason that hymns used secular music of their time, or modeled their music on songs sung in taverns. They were easily sung.

The rest of CCM is both Christian entertainment and evangelism (like Christian movies and TV shows), but to people who listen to that type of music. My son listens to Christian rap-hip hop. I can't understand a word. He can.


In other words, I get why people who do not like rap would mot like Christian rap. Same with any other type of music.

I do not quite get the objection to Contemporary Worship music, especially given the origins of the music that accompany traditional hymns. It seems hypocritical.

How can somebody sing a hymn set to a secular English song, or modled off of tavern songs, and complain about the music accompanying Contemporary Worship music being too secular (especially when it sounds nothing like secular music)?

 

[John of Japan]

I think that there is a distinction between Contemporary Worship music and other types of CCM (like Christian Rock, Christian Rap, etc.).

Christian Worship music is designed to be sung (I doubt anybody woukd have a hard time understanding the lyrics). The accompanying music is fairly simplistic (and simple to play).

This was the reason that hymns used secular music of their time, or modeled their music on songs sung in taverns. They were easily sung.

This is a complete myth. You cannot name a single hymn that came from a tavern song.

Here is an essay about this accusation against the Wesleys by someone who did the research you could have done: Wesleys' Tavern Songs

Here is another about the charge that Luther used drinking songs: Which Of Our Favorite Hymns Are Rewritten "bar" Songs?

We do have Christian music from folk songs, however: "I Have Decided" (India), "What Child Is This" (England), etc.

Look through a hymnbook. Every song has the author of the music on the left and the author of the tune on the right. In an appendix in many hymnbooks you can find the sources for many hymns. You will look forever and not find a single tavern source. Instead, you will find great hymnwriters like Charles Gabriel (traveled with the great evangelists), P. P. Bliss (traveled with Moody), John W. Peterson, and Alfred B. Smith (a friend of my grandfather who I have met). Even the great "We Shall Overcome" was patterned after a hymn written by a faithful black pastor named Charles Albert Tindley whose son Elbert was a great singer--traveled with my grandfather for years.

In fact, believe it or not, I wrote a song myself that is in a Japanese hymnbook, and it was not from a tavern song.

 

[John of Japan]

Folks, I consider John W. Peterson (1921-2006) to be the greatest hymnwriter of the 20th century. Here is a website devoted to honoring him: John W. Peterson Music: Welcome

He wrote so many great songs of all kinds--except CCM I'm sure. And almost always he wrote both words and music.

 

[JonC]

But at the same time consider that the style of music accompanying traditional hymns originated from tavern and folk songs.

 

[JonC]

This is a complete myth. You cannot name a single hymn that came from a tavern song.

Here is an essay about this accusation against the Wesleys by someone who did the research you could have done: Wesleys' Tavern Songs

Here is another about the charge that Luther used drinking songs: Which Of Our Favorite Hymns Are Rewritten "bar" Songs?

We do have Christian music from folk songs, however: "I Have Decided" (India), "What Child Is This" (England), etc.

Look through a hymnbook. Every song has the author of the music on the left and the author of the tune on the right. In an appendix in many hymnbooks you can find the sources for many hymns. You will look forever and not find a single tavern source. Instead, you will find great hymnwriters like Charles Gabriel (traveled with the great evangelists), P. P. Bliss (traveled with Moody), John W. Peterson, and Alfred B. Smith (a friend of my grandfather who I have met). Even the great "We Shall Overcome" was patterned after a hymn written by a faithful black pastor named Charles Albert Tindley whose son Elbert was a great singer--traveled with my grandfather for years.

In fact, believe it or not, I wrote a song myself that is in a Japanese hymnbook, and it was not from a tavern song.

Yes, I can. But by tavern songs I dont mean merely drinking music. I mean folk songs often sung in taverns.
Greensleeves was a tavern (and folk) song. Some think Lady Green Sleeves was a prostitute, others just a woman, but it was a tavern song before accompanying a hymn.