BUDDY
User of Aspercreme
As Christians we have the responsibility to follow the word of God and do his will always, both in and out of the church service. To say that we have to change with whatever is happening now, is saying in a way that God's word is not complete. I would disagree with this. He said, "sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord". I think this is pretty clear on what we are supposed to do. Now, I know he didn't expound on that and say, "...and don'tplay any musical instruments either", but did he really have to in order for us to know what the command was? Think about it, you tell your child, "Go next door and borrow a cup of sugar." An hour later they come back with not only sugar, but flour, milk and butter. You ask him why he did this and he tells you because you didn't tell him not too and he saw you borrow the same items last week. Kind of see what I mean? It doesn't make much sense. It doesn't make much sense to say that the servant can subjegate his own wants for what he is told by his master to do. God is my master and I want to follow what he says, not what I think me means.Prohibiting instruments on the basis of "non inclusion" by the scriptures is short sighted at best. How about song leaders? There were many men who were qualified to lead songs back then but the scriptures failed to authorise their use.
How about song books? There were written songs back then, but there exists no authority to use them.
How about harmony? Harmony existed back then, but there exists no authority to use them.
The "ban" on instrumental music occured from the over zealous application of "Speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent". It has also been used by some churches to prohibit kitchens... go figure! That doctrine needs to be refined though. It should read "speak where the Bible speaks and all else is merely opinion". This would allow the freedom that we have in Christ to come forth. Rather than drawing meaningless lines in the sand over things that do not really matter, we are able to be all things to all men so that we might convert some.
As far as the question is concerned, yes, I do believe that it is getting out of hand. Case in point, I just moved here from Texas and a buddy of mine their owns his own audio/visual company. He was asked by a Methodist church in Westlake, Texas to run audio for them one Sunday. Do you know what the nickname for that church building in Houston is? The MethoDome.