They Don’t Sing on Sundays Anymore

The following is from a blog post called, “Why They Don’t Sing on Sunday Anymore.” It was written by a man named Thom Schultz, who is not a member of the church of Christ. I am not bidding him Godspeed but using his words to show how man’s “innovations” in worship have backfired on them. By the end of the article, Schultz finds himself desiring the kind of music God requires in New Testament worship–corporate, reciprocal singing from the heart (everyone singing together to the Lord while also singing to one another) (Eph.… Read more

God Does Not Owe Us a List of Everything He Does Not Want

Where did God say that using mechanical instruments in New Testament worship is forbidden? If God did not say, “Thou shalt not use mechanical instruments in New Testament worship,” are they automatically authorized? Friends, God has never owed man a list of all the things He does not want (as will be shown). To be faithful to Him, we simply need to know what He does want, and give Him exactly that. We must not presume that something other than what He specified is acceptable to Him, as many people in Bible times learned the hard way by being punished or even killed (Gen.… Read more

Do Hezekiah’s Actions Give Us Authority for Mechanical Instruments?

When God was bringing Israel out of Egypt, He instituted the Passover, which was to be observed by the Jews annually on the fourteenth day of the first month (Ex. 12:18). When Hezekiah was king over Judah, the Jews once observed the Passover in the second month instead of the first month, “because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves to Jerusalem” (2 Chr. 30:1-3). Some claim that since God had specified the first month, not the second month, they must have been allowed to do something differently than God specified.… Read more

15 Reasons Not to Use Mechanical Instruments in Worship

  1. Worship must be offered exactly the way God specified. It is not about what we may want, but what God wants (John 4:23, 24). Just ask Cain, Nadab, Abihu, Korah, Jeroboam, Uzziah, and many others who “learned this the hard way” in the Bible (Genesis 4:1-5; Leviticus 10:1-3; 1 Kings 12:26-33; 13:4; 2 Chronicles 26:16-23; Matthew 15:9; John 4:23, 24; Colossians 2:23, etc.).
  2. Mechanical instruments are not authorized in the New Testament for worship.  God specified singing as the type of music He desires in New Testament worship (Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; James 5:13; cf.
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Historical Quotes About Mechanical Instruments in Worship

“I have no objection to instruments of music in our worship, provided they are neither seen nor heard.”  — John Wesley, founder of Methodism, quoted in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. 4, p. 685.

“But were it even evident, which it is not, either from this or any other place in the sacred writings, that instruments of music were prescribed by divine authority under the law, could this be adduced with any semblance of reason, that they ought to be used in Christian worship?… Read more