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Rock Music? It's Not What God Likes.

© Paul Landkamer

I got an e-mail back on 8 March from a concerned brother named Ed. The reason I'm writing about it so late is that I try to keep ahead with articles. Here are some quotes from the letter: "The Lord would not be interested in a rock band but in personal evangelism." "It's not what God likes, it's what the listeners like." "It is mixed worship unacceptable to God. It is used by compromised musicians, some of whom have backslided."

Here's what the Bible says about music, and it only took me a half hour to gather these up. I could get more with additional concordances, but this mini-essay based on the handful of references gathered from one concordance gets to the point. Incidentally, all my biblical quotes come from the RSV unless otherwise specified. That's the translation I happen to have by my computer.

"[Address] one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart." (Eph 5:19) "...Is any among you cheerful? Let him sing praise!" (Jam 5:13) The New Testament clearly says to sing to one another. This is God's word! I'll let you look up the definitions of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, if you like. You'll find they limit our songs very little. (And look them up: don't simply get your dogmatic traditional definitions from your head. Hymns aren't necessarily old. All psalms aren't necessarily written in the Bible, and they're certainly not all joyful. Spiritual songs can be nearly anything which get you thinking about God.

"He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord." (Ps 40:3) "O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day." (Ps 96:1-2) "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and praises! Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord." (Ps 98:4-6) "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!" (Ps 100:1-2) "Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage" (Ps 119:54) "Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful... Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with timbrel and lyre!" (Ps 149:1,3) "Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!" (Ps 150:3-5) Our instructions for Christian music are pretty clear from God's Book of Psalms. (KJV substitutes cornet, psaltery, tabret, organs, pipe and harp for some of the RSV instruments.)

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