Skip to main content

Which Musical Instruments is it OK to Use in Worship?

This is a controversial topic for some! There are those who think that only pianos and organs are appropriate for worship. Others are OK with drums, electric guitars and so on. What does the Bible have to say?

Instruments used in the Bible

Some instruments were used for false worship:
'Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the nations and peoples of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.' Daniel 3:7

'They have harps and lyres at their banquets, 
         pipes and timbrels and wine, 
 but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, 
         no respect for the work of his hands.' Isa 5:12

Some for true worship:
      Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet
            praise him with the harp and lyre
      praise him with timbrel and dancing
            praise him with the strings and pipe
      praise him with the clash of cymbals
            praise him with resounding cymbals. Psa 150:3-5 

David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals. 2Sa 6:5

What do you notice about these lists of instruments? They are virtually identical:


So you can see that there weren't special instruments used for worship. Therefore it's good to use whatever is already used in our culture or subculture. For instance if you're area is full of ex-hippies, you might want to have acoustic guitars, electric guitars, bass, keys and drums. If your area is full of house music or hiphop fans, you might want to have drum machines and keys. And so on.

Ethno-Arts

In some parts of the world 19th century missionaries, who weren't afraid to be directive, told people not to use instruments that were perceived as being used to contact the spirits. The trouble with this is the people themselves probably didn't have a problem with using them to worship God. Also there is a huge advantage in people using their own instruments to worship God, and write their own songs, and it becomes culturally theirs, and not a colonial import. It's true that some instruments may need to be prayed over and 'redeemed' or 'cleansed' for use in worship before we bring them into our gatherings.

Conclusion

As we have seen, any musical instrument can be used for worship. In fact it is much better to use instruments already used in the wider culture, whatever they may be. This will depend on the cultural background of the audience in question (not just church-goers, who may be from a different generation and/or sub-culture).

Bible quotes from: The New International Version. (2011). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Flow Chart for Bible Translation (a Relevance Theory Approach)

One of the current theories behind modern translation work is Relevance Theory. [1] Here is a flow chart that explains the process often used to produce a draft when using such an approach: *Make sure your translation committee makes the decision as to what kind of translation they want. A domesticated translation is one that submits to dominant values in the target language [2] whereas a foreignized translation is one that is happy to import foreign terms and ideas from Hebrew, Greek, or the language of wider communication such as the Greek term baptizo . The chart looks something like this: Text                                   Communicated Ideas                  Context A sower went out to sow  A farmer went out to sow grain   People scattered/threw seed etc. The text has very little information, but behind i...

Asking the Right Questions in Bible Translation and Scripture Engagement Planning

If you want to get useful answers you have to ask the right questions. Do you agree? Yes, of course you do. In the Bible translation world we often ask a very narrow question when planning for the next stage of work: 'What would you like to see translated next?' Now, if you simply want to translate, and that's it, that question is fine, but what if you want to see some kind of result from your translation work? What if, for instance, you want to see transformation occur? Then a more powerful question to ask the community and positive stakeholders in the project would be: 'What kingdom goals would you like to see reached?' These kingdom goals should meet felt needs of the community - they should solve problems that are apparent to most or all in the community. See below on how those can be met. If that's too abstract, then try, 'What kinds of things, in your extended family, do you tend to worry about?' This will help establish some felt needs, from which...

A Plea Regarding Footnotes in Bible Translation

Recently I was giving input to a team who had worked on Psalms. I noticed that in several places they had included footnotes referring to the New Testament use of those Psalms. One example was a footnote in Ps 34:20 'not one of [his bones] will be broken' that referred to John 19:32, 33, 36 where this prophecy is fulfilled. Now, obviously this is a useful link for readers, but it is better to put it in John's gospel referring back to Psalms. Why? Because the New Testament is (to some extent) a commentary on the Hebrew Bible, whereas the reverse is not true (the Hebrew Bible never refers to the New Testament). There are often two possible ways of reading a Psalm: In its original context, and  As interpreted by the New Testament writers. This is quite important, as the Hebrew Bible belongs to two faith communities, the Jews and the Christians. (Muslims too, to some extent, though they refer to the Torah and the Psalms only). If we translate the Bible in such a way that it onl...