Saturday, March 25, 2017

Is all Religious Musicing Adiaphorous?


Is all Religious Musicing Adiaphorous?    

                Christian musicians who are trying to develop a congruent Christian music philosophy should understand that many Christians who are conservative in many areas of their lives consider the way that any Church musics to be an adiaphorous form of worship.  They really believe that the conflict over contemporary Christian music to be “much ado about nothing”.

             When I was mentioning some performance styles and practices that I considered to be inappropriate for public wordhip, one of my colleagues recently said to me, “I believe we’ve already lost that battle”.  Just because the postmodern church musics a certain way and furthermore, just because many conservatives have been so conditioned by repeatedly hearing a style of religious music that they no longer oppose it, does not make it a good choice.

            The “neither good nor bad” notion about religious music has become the slippery slope that has finally led to style and performance practice capitulation. Although his book was on a completely different topic, the title of Thomas Anthony Harris’s I'm OK, You're OK New York Times best seller has been taken out of context in the development of a false notion by the postmodern church. This philosophical fallacy has allowed these musicians to believe a convenient falsehood rather than deal with an obvious truth. This everything goes philosophy fits well with the adiaphorous philosophy of contemporary Christian musicians.  Many Christians, including a host of Christians who are conservative in many of their beliefs, seem to believe that all the possible ways that religious musicers can possibly music are OK. Simply put, although there are wonderful things happening in sacred music in this century, everything that is happening in church music is not OK!  

Thought for the Day

Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  Since God has an acceptable, good, and perfect will, it is not unreasonable to believe that he has a will concerning how a Christian musics unto Him.

              


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