I have recently came upon some short lectures by Dr Derek Thomas, co-editor of the book Give Praise to God and Minister of Teaching at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi (the church J. Ligon Duncan III serves as senior minister).
I recommend your listening to several of these. They are all brief, only seven to ten minutes in length. For those of you who do not listen to many things on-line, the church has also posted transcripts of each in this series called “Understanding the Times.” “Flip-Flops in the House of God” (audio) is pretty good, and calls the church back to recognizing that one’s dress to some degree does matter. He has some good points in “The Idea of the Holy” (audio) as well, adding a great remark by C. S. Lewis. I very much enjoyed his tribute to Thomas Tallis, “Too Many Notes” (audio). I nearly fell out of my chair (for delight) as he concluded,
Not all music is appropriate for public worship or to express particular thoughts and ideas about God. Anyone who remotely raises the chestnut of Luther employing bar-songs is the victim of twentieth century historical revisionism/deconstruction. “It ain’t true, my friend!” Our heavenly Father deserves and demands the best we have to offer. As literature and art can be critiqued according to certain standards, so too can music. And when it comes to public worship—there is a style that is better than another, else we might as well abandon any hope of biblically critiquing western culture and throw in our lot with the Philistines!
I recommend that we all read that last sentence one more time: “And when it comes to public worship—There is a style that is better than another, else we might as well abandon any hope of biblically critiquing western culture and throw in our lot with the Philistines.”
It certainly is nice to hear other Christian brothers speak concerning these matters.
Good stuff.
It’s truly sad that modern (postmodern) day Christians think “God doesn’t care what we wear” when there are hundreds of verses to the contrary. I’ve recently been brought to an understanding that this is the Gnostic tendency in action. This pietism says that only spiritual things matter, so we can wear/do/say anything we want. Of course it started with Christians compromising God’s standards of modesty and dress, and the world followed suit.
There is indeed a quasi-Gnostic tendency among some today.
However, I also think there’s just a complete lack of knowlege, or a willful ignorance, about music.
I’m not going to promote myself as a great musician. I can play piano. I used to play the drums. I’m learning the banjo. But I’m not all that great a performer- I’m too self-conscious and too nervous. I was always better at theory, but it’s been at least twelve years since I’ve picked up a theory book.
I can say this with assurance: not all forms are appropriate for all ideas. I grew up in West Virginia. I love Appalachian folk music. It’s great to have a banjo and fiddle working when you’re singing about the joy of your salvation or looking forward to heaven. But it’s hard to adapt songs of introspection and remorse to a bluegrass style.. “Be Thou My Vision” can work on a banjo if you play it in a truly Anglo-Celtic folk style, but it’s just not going to work if you lay down some rolls.
Likewise, the death metal genre just doesn’t work for any kind of worship music. I don’t care what people say, you can’t have electric guitars thrashing and someone shrieking at the top of their lungs and communicate the love of God for sinners. Doesn’t work. Ain’t gonna.
[...] Here’s more good stuff from those outside of fundamentalism: “Not all music is appropriate for public worship or to express particular thoughts and ideas about God…Our heavenly Father deserves and demands the best we have to offer. As literature and art can be critiqued according to certain standards, so too can music. And when it comes to public worship—there is a style that is better than another, else we might as well abandon any hope of biblically critiquing western culture and throw in our lot with the Philistines!” (Derek H. W. Thomas, “Too Many Notes!” — HT: Immoderate) [...]