Instruments of peace

It is ironic that musical instruments get the blame for a major division in Christ’s body when music is supposed to be (and is in fact) such a unifying part of Christian worship. There is nothing more unifying than standing and praising God in song together with other believers, whether there are instruments in the background or not.

Blaming the instrument for a major division between brothers is a lot like blaming guns for violent crime. As the clichéd truism goes, guns don’t kill people, people do. Likewise, instruments don’t divide Christians, Christians do.

It is only because we choose to divide from one another over the use of musical instruments that these divisions persist. We can’t blame it on tradition, or our creed (remember, we don’t have creeds…right?), or some unknown brother who we think might be offended. Should we avoid stating the truth for fear of offending someone? Since when has that been our motto? I believe we are supposed to speak truth in love, and if that is our guiding principle, God will bless our efforts at unity.

The scriptural truth is that using or not using musical instruments neither makes one part of the Kingdom nor excludes one from it. If you have believed otherwise, I challenge you to search the scriptures high and low for instruction to the contrary. I challenge you to see the Christians down the street using musical instruments as just as much a part of the Kingdom as the Christians who don’t. Period. It’s time to set aside for the moment all of the arguments about which we think is better, or which we prefer. The answers to those questions may be useful in determining how each congregation chooses to worship; but they are not useful for determining who is or who isn’t in the body of Christ.

I fear that we’ve tolerated too long the undertones (and sometimes blaring overtones) of intolerance on this subject, allowing too many hearts to be hardened by years of mistaken ideology and hermeneutics. I pray the time has come for us to be the instruments of peace we sing about in a tangible way. Perhaps (and maybe this is still a long shot) it’s possible to reconcile some far-flung factions among brothers who have a lot in common – namely, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. If so, let’s work hard to bring about a peaceful and gentle overthrow of incorrect ideas. And please…no new factions. There is only one Body of Christ, and it’s time to act like it!