Worship Wars?

[Armchair Apologist]

I don't think it's a matter of whether or not certain instruments are devilish, but why they are being played. If an instrument is being played to aid the congregation as it sings hymns, fine, but if any instrument is being played as part of a "performance" to be watched, listened too, clapped, etc. by the congregation, the that is not, in my view, worship.

But it certainly was the focus among certain "Fundamental Baptists" I was running back in the 80s and 90s!

Drums and syncopated beats were bad, bad, bad and was used to conjure up demons! Remember this?

I guess I went to the other "extreme" for a while but now have come around full circle focusing on what truly matters. I do not believe our churches should be turned into "Concert Halls" with fog machines and laser light shows. Also, if the "Worship" team is so loud that you cannot hear yourself sing, this is a problem plus one really needs to take a good hard look at how many "Excuse themselves" from the auditorium during the music and then come back in when it is time for the preaching.

I don't think that all music has to be "Worship" though. Not all hymns out of the hymnbook are worship. Some songs are didactic in nature while others serve to exhort and encourage which is where toe-tapping and hand-clapping songs come in. We shouldn't be trying to turn everything into "Worship" nor should we make worship synonymous with music!

And some of my favorite singing of all is acapella right out of a hymnbook.

 

[Armchair Apologist]

Nothing infuriates me more than a church to capitulate to a snot nosed 20 something who has the title of “minister of music” or whatever

He knows nothing about worship unless he has studied diligently

I wouldn't blame the snot-nosed 20-something but the church leadership that put him in such a position to begin with!

 

[Aaron]

"You really do not know what you are losing here and worse yet, you will never get it back!

Yup.

 

[Ascetic X]

From Got Questions:

In the Bible, the Hebrew word translated as “worship” is shachah and literally denotes the act of bowing down.

The Greek word proskuneō, rendered as “worship,” means “to encounter God and praise Him.”

Both terms seem to define worship as an activity or an action.

However, an accurate depiction of biblical worship extends beyond mere activity.

A better, more comprehensive definition of worship can be summarized in this statement: “Worship is the reverential response of creation to the all-encompassing magnificence of God” (McCaulley, E., “Worship,” Lexham Theological Wordbook, ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Press, 2014).

Everything we say and do should be an act of worship before God.

A simplified definition of worship can be stated as a continual heart attitude of bowing down in reverence and humility before the supreme Lord and Creator of the universe. Worship is the heartbeat of the believer’s existence, a lifelong celebration of the worthiness of God. To worship is to respond with one’s whole being in adoration, exaltation, humble submission, and obedience to God.

The apostle Paul also defined worship as an all-encompassing way of life: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1).