The Songs of the LORD

The Songs of the LORD

 “One of the most curious phrases (and concepts) of Rabbinic Judaism is making a fence around the Torah (asu s’yag latorah). It is found in the very first passage of Avot (Pirke Avot) and is part of the ‘genealogy’ of Rabbinic Authority: ‘Moses received the Torah from Sinai and committed it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly.  They said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah.’”  https://www.britshalomstatecollege.org/torah-commentaries/2017/11/20/making-fences-around-the-torah    This concept is quite foreign to many Christians in this century.  As a matter of fact, it is very much in vogue for Christian scholars to very loosely translate Scripture with more emphasis being put on easy reading rather than on the exact , or as nearly exact, a translation as is possible.  More and more Christians, by their actions, see little need for protecting Scripture with accuracy. 

Since it is in vogue to treat the Holy Writ with much latitude since it is perceived to be only a loose guideline for what a Christian does, Christian musicians often do not treat what the Bible says about music and musicing with much respect.  Since the OT was written thousands of years ago, there is often, among worship leaders, disbelief of the statement in 2Timothy 3:16 that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”  What is written by Christian musicians is many times scattered verses about praise and worship without careful systematic study of what the Bible teaches about music and musicing. 

The ancient Jews were deeply serious about accurate transmission of Scripture.  The Temple musicians were also very careful to preserve accurate and careful musicing.  We know this with certainty because of Scriptures like, 1Chronicles 25:7, “So the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed in the songs of the LORD, even all that were cunning, was two hundred fourscore and eight.”  Christian musicians would do well to take a lesson from these ancient temple musicians.  Instead of sitting glibly by while pop music mutates Christian worship, there needs to be a resurgence of “building up a wall around sacred music and musicing.”

Song for the Day - Find us Faithful  by Steve Green

A Distorted Music Aesthetic

A Distorted Music Aesthetic

PROOF

The reason many Christian musicians have a distorted understanding of music’s beauty is that they often do not have an understanding of great music. They only understand “consumer” music. Many times consumer music is shallow and sometimes inartistic. In some cases it is not well composed or arranged. It is produced by what is called a musical hack. Someone brings a poem, perhaps with a melody line, to an arranger. This arranger sets this music to a simple chord progression in the desired style with little thought of any intricate development of the formal properties of the music. The result is often a very predictable piece of music that will sell to the music consumer but is not very unique or great. Such music stays on the market for a while then virtually disappears. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with such music. It is simply not great music.

Since many Christian musicians only know, like, listen to, and perform consumer music, they have little or no understanding or appreciation of more profound styles of sacred or secular music. These musicians lack an understanding of music with well placed, organized and developed internal formal properties which make it truly great music.

Musical Offerings

 Musical Offerings

References to the Old Testament sacrificial system appear in the New Testament in Hebrews 13:15— “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” (For more references to the sacrificial system, also see Romans 12:1, Philippians 4:18 and 1 Peter 2:5.) So, since there are references to the concept of sacrifices made unto God in the NT, without any reference to this concept not being compatible with Christian worship, I see no philosophical problem with worship leaders referring to their worshiping by musicing unto God as musical offerings. I am simply contending that there is no logical philosophical reasoning behind the notion that these musical offerings should not be the very best offerings that a Christian is capable of presenting. If one accepts the concept of musical offerings presented in the Bible, then it stands to reason that not all musical offerings, regardless of what they represent, how they are presented, and what they contain, are necessarily equal in their nature or value.

Although the quality of the music we bring to God as an offering matters, musical offerings are not solely about quality musical performance or high-quality musical art forms. Amos 5:22-23 states, “Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.” God declared that He would not accept Israel’s musical sacrifices because of their spiritual condition and referred to their musical offerings as noise. God was referring to the spiritual condition of those who “leave off righteousness in the earth” rather than, at least in this case, the quality of their music. I am drawn to this conclusion by what is recorded in Amos 5:12, “For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.” The Bible lesson is clear that our musical melodies and our instrumental music will be considered to be noise by our heavenly Father if we attempt to music unto him with sin in our hearts.

Truth and Peace-part 2

Truth and Peace-part 2

It is part of the mission of the church’s music to reflect the truth of man’s lost condition and the eternal hope that the good news of the gospel gives  seekers who are made to understand the truth taught in Romans 10:10, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  Evangelical music must teach the truth taught in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The balanced diet of the evangelical church must include lavish praise to God and the truth of the good news of the gospel.  It is deceitful to imply to seekers who attend worship services that one can enter the kingdom through the praise gate without understand the truth taught in 2Corinthians 7:10 that “… godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation…”  and that as 1John 1:9  teaches, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. “ 

Remember that Psalm 85:10 teaches, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”  Worship music that is selected for a service where both Christians and those who do not know Christ by personally experiencing forgiveness of sins and accepting Christ by faith alone on the merits of Christ blood must be selected with care.  Unless evangelical churches continue to evangelize through their music and their musicing they will not have a balanced music ministry that meets the needs of all who attend.

Truth and Peace-part 1

Truth and Peace-part 1

It is essential that evangelicals sincerely worship the blessed Trinity with their music.  Giving lavish praise to the Father Son and Holy Spirit is not an option.  It is commanded over and over in the Bible in verses like Psalm 29:2, “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” Furthermore, we are commanded in Psalm 100:2 to, “Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.”  God is worthy and on the reality and verity of that true truth alone part of the work of the church is to worship Him.  However, when the church witnesses to seekers through their music, this doing is a vital part of living out a life of worship to God. It is an essential part of the Christian’s becoming “a living sacrifice” and his or her “reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). 

Part of the mission of the church is to be evangelistic and in order to fulfill this mission the music of the church is commissioned to tell the seeker the truth.  It is the truth that God is worthy of worship, but it also true that Romans 3:23 teaches that un-regenerated man is separated from God,  “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” and that “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23).  Luke told the truth in 12:5 when he said,” But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.”  Hebrews 9:22 tells the truth when it states, And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”  1John 1:7 gives hope and truth to the seeker, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 

“Truth” and Modernism, Postmodernism and Post Postmodernism

“Truth” and Modernism, Postmodernism and Post Postmodernism

An understanding of postmodernism (and now post postmodernism) is important because these philosophical viewpoints do not consider what the Bible teaches about the nature, value, meaning and purpose of music and musicing to be important  in the process of establishing a philosophical basis. Remember that modernists believed that the Bible contained both truth and error, so their truth basis was flawed. Postmodernists for the most part have not retained what the Bible teaches in their knowledge or at least they have embraced pluralism in their belief system. They believe that the stove can be hot and not hot at the same time. Post postmodernists are experiencing further philosophical mutations of pluralism, nihilism, and hedonism in their epistemology.  Therefore, it is not completely clear what truth basis, if any, they will espouse since many of them believe in multiple perceived truths that are equally valid at the same time. The one thing they know about truth is that it is impossible to experience any objective truth. One thing that they know is that we cannot know with certainty. Christian writers need to study the development of this new direction in philosophy in order to assess how it will affect music philosophy in the near future.

 Many millennials are growing up or have grown up with parents, pastors and teachers who do not consider Bible truths to have ultimate authority over their truth basis. These young musicians will most likely not even consider what the Bible teaches about music and musicing in the establishment of this new epistemology.  When they study the nature of music and the grounds for establishing the validity of this knowledge and the limits of what a Christian can know about music and musicing, Bible knowledge will most likely not be considered or at least not considered strongly.

Remember, the one thing that post postmoderns who are pluralists “know” is that a musician cannot know with surety, because they believe that there are no “true truths” or absolutes concerning music and musicing. They tend to believe that what is recorded in the Bible about music and musicing is not relevant to religious musicing in this century. With this mind set, all of what is recorded in the Bible about music and musicing is relative and is somewhat analogous to the shifting sands in a desert. Post postmodern pluralism espouses the notion that it doesn’t really matter which philosophical music wagon one gets on because there is a multiplicity of wagons that are equally valid. This pluralistic view is one of the foundations of undisciplined musical leadershift.

About My philosophy Books

About My philosophy Books

Church Music Matters which was published in 2005 is primarily a church music philosophy written from a Bible and faith basis. Music Philosophy in Christian Perspective which was published in 2018 considers many of the major philosophical issues that are relevant to Christian music education and church music and lays a foundation for developing a music philosophy. Both Church Music Matters and Music Philosophy in Christian Perspective are useful to guide Bible College music majors who will teach music in Christian colleges and Universities and Christian schools. It will also be helpful to pastors and administrators who are  in charge of church music and or music in Christian schools to develop a Bible based church music and music education philosophy for those institutions.

          Thinking about Music in Christian Perspective which is forthcoming will be a continuation of my thoughts concerning Christocentric music philosophy that is faith based. Hopefully, some Bible College music majors will eventually teach music in Bible colleges and Christian Universities. It is my wish that these three companion philosophy books will serve as College music philosophy texts and supplemental readings for students of music philosophy. 

Are the Te’amim Significant?

Are the Te’amim Significant?

The history of the te’amim is shrouded in mystery.  Opinions range from the belief that they were given to Moses at Sinai to the belief that they were created by the Masoretes.  There seems to be enough historical evidence to establish that they were much more ancient than the time of Masoretes like Moshe ben Asher and his son Aaron ben Asher.  Some scholars have believed that the te’amim are at least as ancient as the time Ezra.  Other scholars have asserted that they could be as old as the Bible texts themselves.  This , of course, we do not know.

Why all the fuss about the te’amim since they have been ignored by most Christian scholars over many centuries?  One explanation of why Christian scholars have been nearly silent about their existence may be that we have a tendency to ignore what we do not know or understand.  One thing that we do know with certainty is they do exist in ancient manuscripts and they are considered authentic by a host of Jewish scholars.  Certainly, Christian Bible scholars should at least give  serious thought in their writings to why they exist in Scripture and what they mean.

There is general agreement among Jewish scholars that they are a musical notation.  However, there is much disagreement among them about whether they are or are not a precise or nearly precise notation.  Also, Jewish scholars generally agree that all of the OT was intended to be sung  (i.e. intoned, cantillated).  Therefore, Christian scholars should struggle with why there they exist and if they have meaning for Christians in the 21^st century.  If the te’amim are as ancient as the Scripture itself and if  they are actually a melos (i.e. text and melody conceived and produced as a unit), then they have great significance to all who read and trust the authenticity of the OT.  Even if the existence of the te’amim is not as old as the texts themselves, they are ancient and should be considered seriously by Christian OT scholars.

Being Prepared in this Century

Being Prepared in this Century

     2Timothy 2:15 admonishes Christians, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” All too many musicians' libraries consist of a host of volumes on music history, theory, literature, a few volumes of hymn stories, and their favorite hypnology text without a single concordance or lexicon to study the original Bible languages.  I hope that your word study appetite has been stimulated until you will at least invest in the standard works that are now keyed to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.

          Now that we are in the second decade of the 21^st century, you need to not only be prepared spiritually and musically, but also have a deep understanding of the significance of music in the Bible.  It is important that you be able to understand the music of the Bible in Christian perspective.  I Corinthians 2:12-13 states, "Now ye have received, not of the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that ye might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual."

          No book written by man will be able to successfully guide church musicians in the twenty-first century.  Only an understanding of what the Book of Books has to say about sacred music will serve as a guide for Christian musicians of the next century.  If my book has stimulated you to study music in the Book of Books, the twenty years that it has taken to prepare it have been well spent.      

Caught in the “Cogs of the Wheel”

Caught in the “Cogs of the Wheel”

 Christian musicians must not get caught in the “cogs of the wheel” of this world’s musical doing.  This is what is being taught in Romans 12:2. Whether we like or not, Romans 8:29 teaches that God has predestined that we should conform to the image of His Son—not to the image, will, or way of those who let their lives be influenced by Satan.  I will say again, we are doers and since every time a musical doer does, what is done must conform to the image of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  So, how and what we do when we music matters. The words matter; the music part of the music matters; the styles used in our musicing matters; our actions including our bodily movements matter; our musical enactment matters; our clothing and our adornment matters; our attitude matters; and our sincerity and passion matters.

Christian musicians who are careful about the sacred music they compose, arrange and perform should not feel isolated or intimidated, because music is only one of the many art forms that must be judged by whether it is Christian art when it is used in conjunction with God’s house or in Christian worship.  When a fellowship of believers is decorating the foyer of their new church, it would be highly inappropriate use a copy of a sculpture of Michelangelo’s “David”.  Although it is a famous sculpture of a biblical character, it is not Christian art because it is nude art and therefore is not appropriate.  Although Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Jesus Christ Super Star is a religious musical based on Bible characters, it is not sacred music because it twists and misrepresents the story of Christ’s life.  Christians must realize that using a Bible character or including Christ’s name in our art does not make it Christian.  No art form is truly Christian unless the story it tells is accurate; it properly represents the moral nature of God; and is amenable to the principles of the changed life of a Christian taught in the Bible.

Song for the Day  When in Our Music God is Glorified by Fred Pratt Green

Musicians Who are a Living Sacrifice

Musicians Who are a Living Sacrifice

                Romans 12:2 clearly identifies the biblical mandate for separation from the world, “And be not conformed [suschematizo 4964]  to this world: but be ye transformed [metamorphoo 3339] by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”   Metamorphoo means to transfigure or completely change; suschematizo means to pattern after something else. This verse warns Christians about the dangers of conforming to this age and as has been mentioned before, the Bible in Basic English renders it, “And let not your behavior be like that of this world…”  Remember that Christian performers are doers so the way these musicians “behave” musically will be affected by their music aesthetic and their music aesthetic will have a great influence on the understandable meaning that the musical art form communicates to the audience.

             Part of presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice that is taught in Romans chapter 12 is letting our musical behavior be a part of the sacrificial process.  It may not seem reasonable for a Christian musician to refrain from musicing exactly or similarly to the way the world often musics, but it is.  Having so much reverential respect for God that a musician refuses to music in a manner that will connect his or her ministry with the musical crowd that does not love and serve Jesus Christ, is not popular, but it is a part of the behavior involved in living out a separated life that is truly a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1).  In this verse the Christian is admonished to present “reasonable” service to God.  The English word reasonable in the AV is translated from logikos (3050) which means rational, logical or reasonable service.  Christian performers must not get so preoccupied with the artform aspect of their musicing that they forget that sacred musicing must always be rationally Christian.

Thought for the Day

It is refreshing to meet a Christian musician who willingly presents his or her music ministry as a living sacrifice unto God rather than ministering out of a sense of duty.

Non-believers Do Not Teach Faith-based—part 2

Non-believers Do Not Teach Faith-based—part 2

 We cannot trust public education to produce Christ-centered musicians who have a Christocentric music philosophy.  Christians never should have trusted the world to formulate music philosophy for Christian young people.  It has always been the responsibility of Christians to train their own. Although many Christian parents have ignored it, the world has never been a friend of grace.  Could you imagine the ancient Hebrews calling in the Philistines to train their Levite sons?  The 20^th century church did just that--they called in the worldly musicians who outwardly profaned the name of Christ to train church musicians.  The result was generation after generation of Christian musicians filled with Philistine philosophy. 

One thing for sure, public education will not directly teach the next generation of church musicians wrong things about God because they are not allowed to teach God in their music knowledge.  Although federal law in the United States has mandated that public education can no longer retain God in our educational knowledge, the fact that they will not directly teach false concepts of God does not indicate that no “God-education” will take place in public schools and universities.  By eliminating God as the Creator and Lord of music education, public education relays strong false messages about the nature and value of music to our young people.  Public education can no longer recognize God in the development of a philosophical basis for music education.  As a matter of fact, teaching God as the basis of all philosophical thought is forbidden.  The only safe path in public education is to omit the authority of God in any philosophical discussion of music.  In public education, no sacred music concerts are legal and the sacred classics may only be taught or performed as music literature.  It is often mandated that there be no Christmas or Easter concerts or any concerts that use sacred music for any religious purposes.  The only time that it is totally legal to mention God in the music classroom is when the music instructor stubs his toe on the desk leg. 

Quotes 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.

 Romans 6:16, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”

1Peter 2:5, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ..”

Non-believers Do Not Teach Faith-based—part 1

Non-believers Do Not Teach Faith-based—part 1

Christian musicians often question the necessity of developing a series of systematic beliefs concerning the nature and value of the whole of music.  Furthermore, they often seem to believe that those values set forth by major public colleges and universities are adequate for Christian musicians.  After all, aren’t the elements of music the same for Christians and non-Christians?  The philosophy of a musician who does not bring his entire musical endeavor under the Lordship of Christ should never be trusted. Not only can you trust a communist to be a communist, you can also trust an unregenerate musician to be worldly in his or her philosophical basis.  Remember, direction determines destiny!

Any musician who believes the end of all human endeavors is the gratification of self will ultimately come to different philosophical conclusions than a musician whose life is sold out to Christ.  For the committed Christian, music begins and ends with God.  To the humanist, music begins and ends with self.  The musician who has submitted his or her music to the Lordship of Christ believes that all church music is sung and played to glorify God since God owns music.  Conversely, the secular humanists (and the religious humanists) believe that music belongs to man’s true humanness since all music is about self-actualization.  This type of thinker owns his or her music.

 Thought for the Day

Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

Ancient Musical Accuracy-part 2

Ancient Musical Accuracy-part 2 

          It is important to note that St. Paul, who was an educated linguist, used a technical reference to the production of musical sound in the aforementioned discussion of spiritual gifts.  I believe the reason that he used this reference to the music part of music was because he knew that there was a broad understanding of the musical importance of musical production.  This reference should put to rest the silly notion that some Christian musicians have that the music part of music has never mattered much.  Let me emphasize that when we read Bible references to music through 21^st century “Western eyes” with contemporary Christian music views in mind, we will doubtlessly come up with erroneous notions about what the Bible teaches about music.

          So, what do we derive from St. Paul’s reference to music?  One thing we learn is that the need for musical accuracy is not a Western invention.  We also learn that Paul chose to use a reference to accurate sound production because this ephemeron was well understood by the common man at the time this passage of Scripture was written.  We also can rightly deduce that if musical accuracy was important in St Paul’s lifetime, it is still important in the 21^st century.  Church musicians do not have license to merely produce noise when they music before a congregation when one is musicing unto God.

           

Ancient Musical Accuracy-part 1

Ancient Musical Accuracy-part 1

1Cointhians 14:8, “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?”

           The Greek word adelos connotes an indistinct or uncertain sound.  Why did the writer use a word in this passage that means an unclear, indiscriminate, uncertain sounding of the trumpet?  Salpigx (4536) is a Greek word that refers to the quavering or reverberation of a trumpet.  So, the writer is referring to the music part of the blowing of the shofar (7782) instead of some spiritualization of its sound.  St Paul was most probably referring to the ancient blowing of the shofar in the presence of the soldiers in ancient Israel.  

           The reverberations that produced sounds that produced the limited amount of pitches that the shofar (7782) needed to be distinct or obviously the wrong signal would be given to the soldiers.  This mention of the trumpet was given in a discussion of the right use of spiritual gifts.  However, Paul used a reference to the technique of blowing the trumpet.  Furthermore, he referred to the he made reference to the accurate articulation of “sound” (phone 5456).