Question:
I read King James all the time and I have extensive Bible training, but as I look at some of your arguments they are not Biblical or historically sound. I am concerned with reaching people for Christ, just as you are. I am completely dedicated to orthodoxy, theology and defending the Word of God. I am not interested in a watered down gospel. I would ask you a simple question, what does a music style have to do with Christ’s death on the cross? It is not a dogma issue.
Answer:
I will be happy to discuss anything in greater detail with you as to whether the Bible backs it up or not — just give me a specific question.
As to the rest of this question, you are not taking into account that God has not just entrusted us with the gospel, but also with instructions as to how to live that new life in Christ. The Great Commission starts with the gospel, but it does not end there. Matthew 28:18-20 says, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” God has commanded us to go forth and teach people to observe all things that He has written — not just the gospel.
What does dogma mean? Dogma — “a doctrine or body of doctrines concerning faith or morals formally stated and authoritatively proclaimed by a church” (Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary). The word doctrine simply means teaching. Is the gospel the only doctrine or teaching that is important in the Bible? Is that the only thing that is worth authoritatively preaching and teaching? II Timothy 3:16, 17 says, “ALL SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God, and IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” The Bible not only tells man with authority that there is only one way to be saved (John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”), but it also tells man that God expects him to live a different way to match his new life in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”).
You said, “I would ask you a simple question, what does a music style have to do with Christ’s death on the cross? It is not a dogma issue.”
Music is a dogma issue, because it is a doctrine which the Bible addresses. To disobey the Scripture in regard to this doctrine is to disobey God. Disobedience is sin, and that has everything to do with why the Lord Jesus Christ had to die on the cross. Ephesians 5:17-19 says, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” God has a perfect will for the Christian, and He does not want us to be ignorant of it. His will is for us to not be under the control of alcohol, and His will is for us to not be under the control of the world’s music. We are to sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” The contemporary Christian music scene condemns themselves in this matter, because they admit that they are playing the world’s sound to try and attract the world to their services. That is sin. They are disobeying clear Bible doctrine. Colossians 3:16 says the same thing, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:19 tells us the kind of music to listen to or sing when we are by ourselves (“Speaking to YOURSELVES in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…”), and Colossians 3:16 tells us what kind of music we are to play and sing before others (“TEACHING AND ADMONISHING ONE ANOTHER in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…).
Music is a dogma issue, because we are held responsible to teach people all that the Lord has commanded us to observe. Contemporary Christian music does not fit the above description. The CCM musicians admit that it is Christian Rock. Rock music did not come from the church, but from the world. I John 2:15, 16 says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
I do not know what hymn book you use, but Fanny Crosby wrote many hymns in our book, and she was very particular as to who she would let write the music for her poems. If you can document hymns that were actually bar-room songs, and show me the documentation, if there are any in our hymn books, we would remove them. But I have never seen or heard of anyone dancing to hymn music — it does not fit.