Quote for the Day

Quote for the Day

“The idea that music is a neutral force and that any music can be used to glorify God and serve His purposes is one of the key philosophies of the end times apostasy.”  Contemporary Christian Music Under the Spotlight, by David W. Cloud, p. 9.

 

A Christ Centered Music Philosophy is Different part 4

A Christ Centered Music Philosophy is Different part 4

 The disturbing fact is that many Christian musicians are beginning to squeeze God out of private education and all philosophical basis of church music.  They squeeze God out of philosophical basis because they believe that God is only God of matters of grace and not nature (See Escape from Reason by Francis Schaeffer).  When nature has thus eaten up grace, the result is devastating to Christian music philosophy.

Certainly Christian musicians should walk “circumspectly” constantly being aware of any humanistic autonomous music philosophical basis that would even hint at the thought that music is amoral.  If it is amoral then church music doesn’t matter.  If church music doesn’t matter, then it is not an effective form of worship.  Therefore, it is not capable of being efficacious.  I believe that just as James 5:16b says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  The effectual fervent song of a righteous man or woman avails much.  A Christian’s musicing is effectual because, in the same manner that a Christian prays to God, the musician presents his or her music as an offering to God.  Therefore, it is a means of grace to the believer just like prayer.  That is one of the reasons why Church Music Matters so much!

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Quote for the Day

Quote for the Day

“When endeavoring to develop a unifying philosophic system based upon biblical principles, it becomes necessary to internalize those principles from Scripture that apply to any given situation.”  A Philosophy of Church Music by Robert Berglund, p.3. 

A Christ Centered Music Philosophy is Different part 3

A Christ Centered Music Philosophy is Different part 3

Post postmodern musicians are now so squeezed into the world’s mold that they do not seem to realize that the whole belief-system that music is amoral is the result of autonomous music philosophy.  It is no wonder that you can trust a humanist to conclude that all music endeavors begins and ends with man.  The philosophical bias of a humanist will always be that all meaning in life (if there is meaning in life) will be the result of self-actualization and the act of a person’s free will.

This musical mind believes wholeheartedly that in the beginning was “ameba” or worse yet in the beginning was “nothing”.  This musician believes within himself that man came from nowhere and is ultimately going nowhere.  It is not hard for him to believe that man exists in a purposeless universe and that he is “caught in the wheel of time”.  This musician also believes that music came from nowhere and is ultimately going nowhere.  To this humanistic musician the only thing that really matters is “me”.  This type of thinker concludes that music is amoral since man is god and god is man therefore god is in man because man created god.  So, man is god of his music.  Any music that he composes or performs is god’s music i.e. all man’s music is created in god’s image since god is created in man’s image.  Any music that pleases man will also please God and conversely no music that displeases man is pleasing to God.  So, if you can wade through all the previous mumbo-jumbo, you will be able to understand why a synthesis thinking religious humanist, who is autonomous, believes that all musical roads lead to heaven – why there is no profundity in music – why all music is appropriate for public worship and ultimately why music is all a matter of taste.

Quote for the Day

Quote for the Day

 “A person’s world view almost always shows through in his creative output, however, and thus the marks on the things he creates will be different.”  How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer, p. 98.

A Christ Centered Music Philosophy is Different part 2

A Christ Centered Music Philosophy is Different 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 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.  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.

Quote for the Day

Quote for the Day

“People are unique in the inner life of the mind—what they are in their thought world determines how they act.”  How Should We Then Live? By Francis Schaeffer, p. 19.

 

 

A Christ Centered Music Philosophy is Different part 1

A Christ Centered Music Philosophy is Different 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 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

Thought for the Day

In my opinion there is no substitute for a ministering musician developing his or her musical skills.  However, I would prefer to be ministered to by a musician who is a good Christian than one who is only a good musician.

The Man Behind the Harp part 4

The Man Behind the Harp part 4

            As we know David was chosen to play for Saul because he was a skillful musician.  Now let us look at some other considerations of David's life that caused him to succeed.  In I Samuel 16:18b one of Saul's servants said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite that is cunning in playing [see Chapter I The Music of the Bible] and a might valiant (chayil 2428)^A man, and a man of war, and prudent (biyn 995)^A in matters (dabar 1697)^A, and a comely (toar 8389)^A person, and the LORD is with him."

            So, he was a skillful player, a man of substance or virtue, a military man, and a man who could distinguish mentally in matters of communication or speech (A.V. margin).  We know that David was skillful in language and communication from his master works in the Book of Psalms.  Thompson reminds us that "His musical and poetic gifts were great and they were consecrated (as such gifts should be) to the glory of God and to the good of men."  Thompson, Introducing Biblical Literature. p. 312.