Even as we discover truth and
discern wisdom, our finite minds cannot cover everything. “No philosophy can be
comprehensive in the omnipotent sense of providing the whole truth and nothing
but the truth,” says Garen Wolf. “A
philosophy can never say all there is to say about something. However, a philosophy
can and should explain what something is all about.” (Wolf, Garen, Church
Music Matters, 2005 p. 18) Not everyone will have exactly the same lines
of demarcation, but we all must filter our philosophies through the gridlines
of the Bible.
A musician’s philosophy is not established
to make other people happy, but to set guidelines for living a Christ centered,
God honoring life. Christ must have
preeminence in our lives; He must have lordship over all of our choices and
decisions, including music. Francis
Schaeffer says, “There is nothing autonomous- nothing apart from the lordship
of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Scriptures. God made the whole man is
interested in the whole man, and the result is a unity.” (Schaeffer, 1968 p.
29) Part of submitting to His lordship is considering what God thinks about
music. God loves beautiful things, and
we bring to Him our best offerings and abilities, but we do not perform art for
the glorification of art itself. Webber says that the arts are “vehicles for
communication. The arts are not venerated or worshipped. Rather they are used
to communicate truth about God.” (Webber, R, E. Enter
his Courts with Praise, 1997, p. 78)
The
author of this philosophical excerpt is Ms. Rachelle Wolf. She holds a BA degree in Christian music ed.
with a performance emphasis in applied violin from God’s Bible College and a MM
degree in violin performance at Miami University at Oxford Ohio. She currently teaches music at Aldersgate
Christian Academy, teaches violin privately, and is active in her church.
Material used by permission of author.
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