The Biblical Mandate For Music

The Bible informs us that as they sung and praised God the Moabite armies became disoriented and began to fight one another. Perhaps this is why we schedule the choirs and praise teams to minister before the preached Word. Singing spiritual hymns to God will soften the hearts and prepare our minds for what God has to say to us. Once our hearts are “plowed” or softened we can receive with joy the assignments or correction God will give to us.

Then there were other people who did not like change in the church. They thought the only instrument should be a piano and the only songs that should be sung were the hymns. And then there was a third group. This group liked a mix, they did not see a problem with some new music and adding a few instruments, but they also liked the traditional hymns, they did not feel like they had to get rid of one to have the other. Their concern was more with trying to please all people; obviously not everyone was going to like everything that occurred, but to compromise was there thought and tactic.

From the beginning of times, music has played an important role in everyone’s life. At first, it started with drum-based and percussion instruments made out of what was available as rocks and sticks. Our ancestors proved that human beings have an innate need of music. Nowadays, no one teaches a baby to follow the beat of a song, he just naturally lets his body get involved with the rhythm. Since the prehistoric era to Christian times, several forms of music have developed leaving a trail to new genres of music. For Christianity, hymns and plainchants were the first forms of music considered as a worship to God. As time passed by, Christian music has evolved giving way to new and fresh sounds.

From this point of view we have essentially four classes, the almost ritualistic prayer songs or pure Spirituals, the freer and more unrestrained evangelical "shouts" or camp-meeting songs, the folk ballads so overlaid with the tradition of the Spirituals proper that their distinctive type quality has almost been unnoticed until lately, and the work and labor songs of strictly significant character. Indeed, in the pure Spirituals one can trace the broken fragments of an evangelical folk liturgy, with confession, exhortation, "mourning," conversion and "love-feast" rejoicing as the general stages of a Protestant folk-mass. It is not a question of religious content or allusion, for the great majority of the Negro songs have this more delicate question of caliber of feeling and type of folk use. The distinctiveness of the Spirituals after all and their finest meaning resides in their musical elements. The characteristic beauty of the folk song is harmonic, in distinction to the more purely rhythmic stress in the secular music of the Negro, which is the basis of "ragtime" and "jazz"; while regarding the one as the African component in them, and the other as the modifying influence of the religious hymn.

To participate in worship, a person must have a relationship with God. In other words, how can a person worship someone he/she does not know or experienced. To obtain that link an individual must become a part of the body of Christ by accepting Jesus as their personal Savior and surrender their will for God's will and plans for their life. They must also have had an encounter with God as Saul on the Damascus road and David with his many issues. However, music has a multipurpose, it drives away evil spirits, calms the mind, and drives a person toward the love and warmth of Christ.

Music is an everyday occurrence for most people. In some way, shape and form, people listen to music. For Christians, specially those at bible college, this can be in chapel day to day. For others it may be in a car or even in the workplace, which can be the case for Christians also. Music for me is an everyday occurrence, not only in chapel but also in other places such as my dorm room and when I get ready for sports.

Although starkly different in dogma, Methodist and Baptist churches were able to evangelize many African Americans due to their common sharing of musical fervor. For example, in “the evangelical movements of popular reverends, John and Charles Wesley, [they] embraced ecstatic expressions; including, “speaking in tongues, fainting, [and] moving with the shakes.”(Walker, 1974). The African adoption of Christianity indelibly changed their views of the universe. However, pre-existing religious practices, particularly in West Africa, lend themselves to eighteenth century protestant denominations, in which both see music as connection to God or gods. Consequently, this legacy of cultural syncretism can be linked to twentieth century gospel music, wherein it has “certainly functioned as a catalyst for similar expressions of religious fervor.” (Wilson,

This essay is separated into four parts by the approach used to analyze the music preformed by Paul Brandt on April 5th, 2017 as part of a religious studies course focusing on religion and music at the University of Calgary, RELS373. Scott provides a standard of music’s role in cultures, explained in lecture, culture is seen as a product of religion, geographic location, and language. The phenomenon of a spiritual experience due to music is explained through the perception of William James. The metaphysical nature of music is analyzed philosophically, from the point of view of Rudolph Otto. The experience of praise (to God) is analyzed with a doxological approach through the lenses of James Frazer and Dietterich.

1. Discuss the use of music in Catholic and Protestant worship practice, from the development of polyphony, through the music of J.S. Bach. In so doing, discuss the shift in responsibility for musical development from the Catholic Church to the Lutheran Church.

Music played a significant role in the lives of ancient Greeks. They believed that music fostered one’s relationship with the gods, and some instruments, such as the lyre, were created by the gods. Music and dance were also taught

While many people would easily agree that music is an art form that comes from the emotional complexity and passions of human beings, Aristotle’s truth that “music that rouses ignoble passions distorts a person's character” is debatable. The claim that “the wrong kind of music makes the wrong kind of person, and the right kind tends to make the right kind of person” is a paradoxical statement that changes meaning and credibility depending on the reader’s perspective. While morality has been an integral part of religious music throughout history, there is no direct correlation that a person’s listening choices reflect their personal belief structures or that the mental health or character of the listener is defined by their choice of music

Music is the only medium that blesses both man and God at the same time and as such to see it as an entertainment factor within our worship services is a gross misunderstanding of its purpose. Music is made up of three elements: melody, harmony, and rhythm. Mankind is also made up of three parts: spirit, soul and body (1 Thess 5:23). It can be argued that music and the triune, or trichotomy, of mankind are intrinsically linked i.e. melody is likened to the spirit, harmony to the soul and rhythm to the body.

In Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, Paul records three terms identified with music. We are to talk and instruct and scold each other in "hymns, psalms and profound melodies." When we hear song, we may consider more established of the congregation who survived the trial of time, treasured psalms like Amazing Grace (John Newton) or When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (Isaac Watts). What's more, when we see profound tunes we may think about a portion of the more up to date, inspiring religious tunes of our day that wouldn't fit the more conventional names of psalm or hymn, melodies like Let Creation Sing (Hillsong) or All I Have Is Christ (Jordan Kauflin). These are generally real types of music for adore. Psalm was a term that would have been particularly well-known to the Gentiles.

Music not only has issues in discrimination and racism but also in religion. In an article by Lake State Publications (2002), the transformation of music started during the early Christian era. It said that only Gregorian Chants were recognized in sacred ceremonies. However, secular and non-religious songs became rampant when the church had an unlikely encounter with the French Nobles called troubadours causing them to write the very first secular songs and ask the ministers to sing them to the public. Secular music continued to gain importance to the masses and vocal music became more important

Worship comes in different forms depending on how the church wants the service to proceed. For the Amazing Grace Church, the service began with the congregation singing a number of worship songs to the Lord that lasted for about an hour. Christian praise and worship by music, and in fact, music is a great tool for helping them feel closer to God. Music is an emotional language because it effectively affects their emotions and the lyrics can swell their hearts. There is nothing bigger and greater than the grace of God that is delivered to them from condemnation through the sacrifice of his own Son. Thus, Christian chooses to praise and worship Him by singing. While singing, the congregation stands on their feet and they seem to be affected by the songs in some way as they raise their hands as a sign of accepting the Lord into their hearts. The emotion that was thrown from the congregation was very distinctive to us as we could see that the songs are an important tool of expression. According to the pastor of the Amazing Grace Church, singing let the people focus on the worship, helps them respond to God’s grace and also guide them to reflect on God’s glory. In his opinion, singing mean nothing if people do not respond to what they have sang and related it to God and reflect it to make them better believers.