Philosophical Justifications for “Doing”

Philosophical Justifications for “Doing”

            A Christian musician often musics in a certain manner simply
because of personal musical and spiritual instincts or because of musical 
traditions established by others. However, musicing by accident can be 
risky policy. A worship leader and a music educator must be able to
articulate reasons for performance and teaching choices. It is better for
one not to teach others than to teach them in a willy-nilly manner because
the *onus probandi falls on the one who attempts to teach (Matthew 18:6,
Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2.  

            Although the Bible gives us principles of musicing unto God, it
does not cover every aspect of music that concerns the twenty-first
century Christian musician. So, every performer, music director, and
music educator must, in the fear of God, interpret and apply principles
taught in Scripture. Furthermore, performers, directors, worship leaders,
and music educators must also come to philosophical conclusions
about aspects of music that do not appear to be covered by Scripture.
With this in mind, I have covered several aspects of music which are
vital to a Christian’s musicing in the twenty-first century. The NIV
translates Isaiah 28:10 as, “For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule,
a little here, a little there.” The translation above makes sense in the
context of understanding how we music. We “do” over and over
again until we are conditioned to do what we do musically. As a result,
we develop musical tastes—likes and dislikes— from what we listen
to and perform.