Yeh, it’s a bit small-minded of me, but what can I say? Those folks who assert that music in a Xian church can ONLY be a cappella–no instruments–like to say that musical instruments featured in worship in the Book of Revelation don’t count because references to musical instruments in Revelation don’t mean what they say. Like, for example, the words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven” apparently do not mean what they say, either. *shrugs* Their self-deception is no greater than those who assert that ONLY Psalm-singing is allowed, for some obscure, unscriptural reasons they rationalize with eisegesis and hand-waving.
It’s just the way of folks to lie to themselves to justify their own biases, ya know?
It’s not just the Revelation they ignore. In the Psalms Israel was instructed to praise the Lord using many instruments. And David set many Levites to that task.
We don’t have to use instruments in our worship, but we are also never forbidden to either, at least not in the Bible. Whatever happened to Christian liberty (by which I most certainly don’t mean that abomination called theological liberalism)? I guess we’ve forgotten 1 Corinthians 10 after all.
Agreed, Perri, it’s just that most of the people who argue against musical instruments in worship also argue (with wild abandon and open disregard for revelation–lowercase) that THEY are New Testament churches, and OT use of musical instruments in worship is superseded by their false interpretations and complete rejections even of NT examples.
IOW, their reasons for rejecting musical instruments in worship are entirely personal and they refuse to submit their personal desires to scripture.