Someone asked me this question and I would like your opinion. I looked on your great web site but didn’t see it addressed.<\/p>\n
A young lady asked me if it is okay to listen to “Christian rock” or instrumental (“Christian”) songs outside of worship.<\/p>\n
I would appreciate your opinion.<\/p>\n
Thanks for the good work you do.<\/p>\n\t
I’ve known brethren to argue both sides of this issue. Those for it argue that it is better than the trash available on many other stations. While they won’t join it and sing with the instrumental music, they prefer to hear decent words and lyrics that are focused on praising God. The other side points out that many of these songs are worship songs but set with instrumental music. Since worship is involved, then the one being worshiped is the one who sets the rules. Since God did not authorize instrumental music for His worship in the New Testament, then we should not seek to add it to ours, whether it is congregational worship or personal worship.<\/p>\n
Thus the core issue is whether listening to someone else sing songs that can be used in the worship of God constitutes worship or not. It is an issue that I am not certain I can settle. I usually ask the person whether they consider it to be worship or not and work from there. Personally, I don’t go out of my way to listen to such music. I won’t change channels on a station necessarily if a religious song comes on. I have even heard and admired some of the thoughts expressed in some songs set to instruments and wonder if we could get a hold of an acapella arrangement for the congregation. But I definitely don’t allow myself to sing along with such songs because it focuses my mind on God and I would rather worship God as He wants to be worshiped.<\/p>\n
We also ought to be careful of the music branded as Christian music. I’ve heard numerous songs that might mention God, but what the song teaches is contrary to the teachings in God’s word. Filling our minds with erroneous teachings is bad whether it is from secular or religious sources. In some ways, a religious source is more dangerous because we are at least on our guard for false teachings from a secular source.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Someone asked me this question and I would like your opinion. I looked on your great web site but didn’t see it addressed. A young lady asked me if it is okay to listen to “Christian rock” or instrumental (“Christian”) songs outside of worship. I would appreciate your opinion. Thanks for the good work…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[292],"class_list":["post-14318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-instrumental-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32040,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-ok-to-play-hymns-at-home-without-singing\/","url_meta":{"origin":14318,"position":0},"title":"Is it OK to play hymns at home without singing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question is regarding instrumental music.\u00a0Is it okay to\u00a0play hymns on the piano at home, without singing, for fun? Also, how do I answer someone who says that instrumental music predates the Mosaic\u00a0law and, therefore, is okay in worship today? Thank you so much for your time! Answer: God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35677,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-started-meeting-in-the-temple-and-the-temple-had-instrumental-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":14318,"position":1},"title":"The church started meeting in the Temple and the Temple had instrumental music","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 are used out of context. Neither verse is dealing with worship services. The context of Ephesians 5:19 goes back to Ephesians 4:1. It's about your life as a believer. The same with Colossians 3. When the Israelites were baptized in Acts 2, they went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94676,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-must-you-use-instrumental-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":14318,"position":2},"title":"Why Must You Use Instrumental Music?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Author Unknown Recently, a congregation in the city where I preach decided to start using instruments in their worship assembly. Apparently, even the community realizes that among churches of Christ, this is a big deal because the local news and newspaper have done stories on it. Obviously, I love\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15152,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/have-i-been-worshiping-in-vain-all-these-years-by-using-instrumental-music-in-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":14318,"position":3},"title":"Have I been worshiping in vain all these years by using instrumental music in worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have enjoyed your questions and answers on your web site. Thank you for your time in addressing matters that concern people. Now I would like to ask you, as many others have asked, about the restriction that your church has placed upon \"instrumental music\" in the worship of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11827,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-your-opinion-about-instrumental-music-in-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":14318,"position":4},"title":"What is your opinion about instrumental music in the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was having a heated conversation with a very close friend of mine about musical instruments in church. It is very hurtful to know the word of God and try and explain it to someone, but they refuse to listen. I know that the Bible does not specifically say\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7669,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-instrumental-music-be-used-during-weddings-held-in-a-church-building\/","url_meta":{"origin":14318,"position":5},"title":"Can instrumental music be used during weddings held in a church building?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have searched your website and didn't find any information on this so I am submitting this question: Is it scriptural to have recorded music (not vocal) in a wedding ceremony that is held in the church building? There is a young Christian couple that has asked to have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}