Music Was My Undoing

Arielle noted on my comments that she never would have taken me for a post-legalist, but to some extent in my distant past I was legalistic in my stance concerning Christianity. I had felt that people should follow the Word and if you did not, or did not fit in my theology you just could not possibly be a Christian or you just were not that good of one. There was one little problem I had; I could not toe the line with most people who are dogmatically legalistic in one little area. These people are whom I now refer to as the “Music Police”. These people are quite dogmatic in what is acceptable to listen to. If it is not a hymn in one of the recognized hymnals then the song has no value to G_d and should be shunned. If the song is set to modern music it is all the worse. I just could not stomach this. For as good as a lot of hymns are they are not scripture, nor are they sacred in any way. They are just man’s attempt at musically glorifying Him. There are some hymns that are not even good music, lyrically or musically. The one that stands out the most to me is a hymn titled “ Tell the Good News”. This hymn is supposed to exhort the believer to spread the gospel, yet each time I hear it I cannot get out of my mind the phrase “tell the gnus” (I know the “g” is silent in that name but it does not come out that way in my mind). As hard as I try to keep from thinking “Why do African antelope need to hear this story?” I just can’t. I also like modern music. I grew up listening to country, rock-n-roll, and pop music.

The whole thing got me to thinking about what kind of music is pleasing to G_d. The more I looked the more I found that there were no specific bans on types of music. The more I researched the origin of hymns the more I realized that the style of music was simply a reflection of the common music of the period it was written in. This got me to thinking more (I know that is dangerous) about what kind of music was common before most of the common hymns of today were written. My research at the time was limited and I could not find much information on the subject. It was almost as if music was not around before the hymns. I know that it was because there are references in the Word about praising Him with music, but it seems history was quiet about it. It just may not have been an issue in the church during that time.

Well the whole music issue got me to thinking about the rest of the legalistic positions and I realized that while sin is still sin and we are to strive toward perfection in Christ, we can never do it on our own, and that there is a broad spectrum of doctrine within Christianity that is not heresy. This was an eye-opener for me and I have since been striving to find just what the Word says without the intervention of man-made doctrine. It has not been easy and at times I have had to reconsider what I have previously thought to be true, but this is what is truly meant by “working out our salvation”. I like to call it the daily struggle to follow after Yeshua and has been truly “my undoing”.