From Rejection to Toleration

 

From Rejection to Toleration

   Rock music and a host of other styles of music that are related to it by the way their formal properties have been arranged have been around long enough that most Christian musicians have conceded to the fact that many of them are not going away.  Many conservative Christian musicians have gone through the different stages of rejecting them, complaining about them, ignoring them and finally tolerating them when they are used as church music vehicles.  Likewise, some conservative Christian musicians who earlier believed that they were not suited for sacred musicing, now   believe that they might be, in some situations, used of the Holy Spirit, and finally still others believe that, since they realize that most of these style of music are not going away, we might as well get on with the program and use them regardless of their suitability or usefulness.  Others of us have continuously refused to perform these styles of music on the basis of their lack of suitability and appropriateness in public and private worship. 

   Richard S. Taylor once wrote, “Some readers will point to the conversions which apparently occur following the use of religious rock, with the dubious assumption that even one soul saved is a divine endorsement. The question is, ‘What is true, appropriate, and inherently sound?’  In some of our sincere but misguided evangelism, the Spirit reaches around our gimmicks and finds some conductor over which spiritual energy can flow to reach a hungry heart.  If the Word is preached, if sincere testimonies are given, if there is an atmosphere of warm love, of course there will be fruit.  But let us not naively suppose the deafening rock music has been the instrument.” A Return to Christian Culture, by Richard.S. Taylor p.90.   

  Dr. Taylor’s statements reach to the core of the matter.  A host of Christian musicians have failed to understand that, in the long run, a discerning music leader will ultimately choose music that is “true, appropriate and inherently sound” in its enactment.   Any other musical praxis leads a body of believers down a faulty musical and worship path. Those who believe that the musical vehicle does not matter as long as “seekers” enjoy it are Jesuit in their music philosophy and praxis.  They should remember that the Bible never teaches that the end justifies the means.