I'm sure the Church of Christ was founded with the best of intentions. However, the thing about musical instruments - I don't believe this is biblical. Furthermore, the idea of works-based salvation, to me is like saying all that Jesus went through, and the cross, is just not enough. And that'll never do for me. There seems to be a lot of rules in this church as well, which is legalistic. ';It was for freedom that Christ has set us free';. When we try and extrapolate what's in the bible to make our own rules we allow pride to set it, we open our hearts to judging, and we take our focus off Jesus.Why do people say the Church of Christ is based on false doctrine?
I had a long discussion with a coworker about this because I didn't understand why they don't allow it. He said the Bible tells you to worship with your heart and the heart is a named instrument, so that excludes all instruments that are not named. I think that's an absurd argument. But it's what he was taught.
Psalm 150
';Praise the LORD!Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!';
Let's start with that one. Of course it's only a minor issue, but why no instruments? The whole book of Psalms is accompanied by instruments, and many instruments are mentioned favorably in the worship of the Lord. When was it decided that they no longer brought glory to the Lord?
The Church of Christ seeks to follow the authority of the scriptures.
Christ says he has ';all authority'; and the disciples were to teach the things He had commanded. (Matthew 28:18-20) Nowhere in the New Testament did the apostles teach or show an example of the use of instrumental music in worship of the church. ALL of the verses in the New Testament that talk about music in the church have SINGING as the type of music.
To use another type of music cannot be done from authority found in the New Testament because the New Testament nowhere authorizes its use. The authority to use instruments in the Christian church therefore does not come from God. If used, instruments must be authorized by men. If we follow a man's authority (teaching), does Christ still have ';all authority'; in our religious lives? Most is not the same as “all”!
One of the verses that teaches about music is Col. 3:16. This verse specifically tells us to sing. The very next verse (verse 17) says, ';Whatever you do in word or deed, DO ALL IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS.';
';In the name of'; means by the authority of, or according to the instructions. Jesus and the apostles did not authorize the use of mechanical instruments in the New Testament church. You cannot play an instrument by the authority, according to the instructions of, or in the name of Christ because he did not instruct it.
The New Testament did specify ';singing'; as the type of music we are to use in worship. To do anything else is to follow the commandments (doctrine) of men rather than God. Teaching as doctrine the commandments of men makes worship “vain”, or useless in God’s eyes! (Matt. 15:9) Why not be satisfied to worship in the way God's word has authorized? “We ought to obey God rather than men”! (Acts 5:29)
When God told Noah to use ';gopher wood';, other types of wood were excluded. When Naaman was told to dip in the Jordan River, he knew other rivers were excluded (2 Kings 5). God has been specific about the music in the church, singing. Why add to his word?
Interesting, many of the founding fathers of denominations that now use instruments were opposed to their introduction. Among those against instrumental music were John Wesley, Adam Clark, John Calvin, and Martin Luther. So one should not question why we don't use them, the question should be ';By what authority do you add them to your worship';? Why not be satisfied to simply worship as God's word instructs?
Some point out that David used instruments. As for David’s harp, He lived under the Law of Moses (Old Testament). We are now under the Law of Christ (New Testament). If you bind one part of the Old Law today, you are subject to keep the whole law.
In Galatians 5:3, some were trying to bind circumcision, an Old Testament commandment. Paul said if they bound this one item, they were “debtor to keep the whole law”. In James 2:10, if you keep the whole law, but miss one point, you are guilty of all.
If you try to bring over authority for David’s harp from the Old Testament, you must with the same authority bring over all of the animal sacrifices, feasts, Passover, the Sabbath day observance, yearly trips to Jerusalem, and the all of the other Old Testament commands. We must keep the whole law if we keep any part.
If we try to justify ourselves by the Law of Moses, we have “fallen from grace!” (Galatians 5:4)
God is not worshiped with men's hands (Acts 17:25) but with the heart. This verse talks about God not living in a temple made with hands, but it also applies this to hand-made worship, yet many say they worship on an instrument that was made with hands and played with the hands.
The instrument God wants is our heart. Ephesians 5:19 instructs us to make melody in the heart. These verses also say the purpose of music in worship is to speak and teach. An instrument cannot do this. In fact, it is more difficult to speak where there is background noise, therefore an instrument may interfere with these scriptural purposes of music in worship.
We should not add to or take away from God’s word. We should worship as he instructs! The New Testament does not instruct the use of a mechanical instrument in worship, so the church of Christ has no authority from the Bible to add it.
Yes it would seem that at times, the God at least tolerated instruments in the Old Testament, but we now have a new covenant, the New Testament.
Also by the end of the Old Testament, God’s word says, “Woe to you… Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David” (Amos 6:3-5)
Does this sound like God now wants instruments?
It is a works based religion.
Eph 2:8-9
The Church of Christ teaches that salvation is the result of baptism in water.
If they are not following or teaching the true Word of God from the KJV Bible. they are teaching false doctrine. There is nothing in the Bible that you can't use musical instruments.
i think it is the philipino church of christ that teaches fase doctrine, it goes under the name ';iglesia ni christo.';
Perhaps because all religious beliefs are false. It's all just mythology, i.e. fiction.
All churches are based on false doctrines - none of it is real.
For those questioning the musical instrument thing, the reason the church of Christ doesn't allow musical instruments is because they are a New Testament church (following the commands of the NT) and believe that you should only do something/not do something if it's mentioned in the NT. So, the NT speaks of worship through singing. Therefore, CofC uses only voices.
Do I agree with that? Not so much...and I am part of the CofC. My reason? The NT mentions psalms. Many in the OT were written by David. David played instruments. Therefore, psalms probably involved instruments. But, I love worshipping with only voices. So, I attend the CofC.
As for works. Faith is also a work... You must do it to be saved....
EDIT: My point for saying faith is a work is this: so many other denominations claim that the CofC is a works-based religion because we believe baptism is part of salvation. But is it a work to do something God asks of us? With that definition, faith is also a work, because you must act (believe in Christ's death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins) to be saved.
Now if those criticizing the CofC are doing so because they believe ';once saved, always saved,'; then it is there that we disagree. If we don't live our faith, were we really saved? If we choose to continue sinning and disregarding God's word, are we still saved? Can we believe and later fall away? Our faith leads to good works, not to earn our way into heaven but because we want to please our father. This is picking up our cross and following Jesus. See James, Matthew 7, Galatians 6: 7-10.
Also, each CofC is a separate entity. We have no hierarchy, just general agreement on basic doctrines. So what one sees in one congregation may not hold true in others. I personally don't see a list of ';rules'; we must follow. The claims of legalism, at least in my congregation, are unfounded. And we certainly don't say that Jesus' death was not enough!
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