Riding my bike home the other day I was behind a car with a bumper sticker that said, approximately “Musical instruments are the work of the Devil; Praise God through vocal hymns only.”
From the reference to “God” and “hymns” I assume that whoever professes such a belief is a Christian; I’m just curious which branch of Christianity subscribes to those beliefs.
More likely it was a Muslim bumper sticker. There is a debate within Islam between the hard-liners who insist that musical instruments are the Devil’s work and the easygoing ones who say music is OK.
I’ve known of one church of Protestant Christians that has this belief. They were an “independant” church, meaning that they weren’t alligned with any of the organized Protestant sects.
Some Amish communities shun musical instruments as ‘worldly’ or superfluous/frivolous - I don’t know if they’d go as far as saying they were the work of the devil (or indeed parade such a notion on a bumper sticker, if in turn they had bumpers on which to stick them).
(cite - scroll down to near the bottom of the page)
Do Muslims call religious songs “hymns?”, though? Do they even have them, or are they more like the fixed chanted/sung prayers in the Jewish liturgy?
I’ve encountered fire-and-brimstone radio stations at the left end of the FM dial, where none of the music played had any instrumental accompaniment.
Some (not all) Churches of Christ only allow acapella singing.
FWIW, I grew up in a self-identified Church of Christ, and we had a piano and an electric organ, and they’ve recently started using recorded music (with guitars and drums and everything! ;)). The Churches of Christ that don’t use instruments often include “(non-instrumental)” after their names: “First Church of Christ (non-instrumental)” Some don’t though.
In the Orthodox tradition, liturgical songs and hymns are unaccompanied. However, outside the liturgy, I doubt if any Orthodox adherents think that musical instruments are the work of the Devil.
This worthy is against instrumental music in church & has a dim view of music in general. (Warning: This site will make your head hurt.) He mentions some denominations that share his opinions, although I’d suggest further investigation. In the USA, more traditionally Calvinist churches are agin’ instruments. So are the Quakers–but a Quaker would be more likely to put a “Peace” sticker on his car. Of course, with Protestants, denominations are split into many sub-denominations & local churches are quite independent.
Apparently Martin Luther said :“The organ in worship is the insignia of Baal… The Roman Catholics borrowed it from the Jews.”
www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/lutherps.htm
I guess things had changed by the time J S Bach showed up.
Can’t provide an answer to the specific question, however:
There are many Christians who firmly believe that the Bible teaches that singing is to be unaccompanied by any instrument of any kind.
Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Since the admonition is specific, singing, anything else is excluded, instruments!
Nothing is said anywhere in the NT regarding the use of instruments outside of the worship assembly, hence thier use is not prohibited in other settings.
There are also the Old Regular Baptists. They are a small group from the Appalachian Mountain areas of SE Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennesee. They not only do not have musical instruments but the songs are not wrote down. They are still lined out with a caller saying a line and the congregation singing it after him.
Primitive Baptists.
(No, that’s not a derogatory adjective I tossed in, that’s what they call themselves).
I don’t know as how it was ever ‘mainstream’ for them to condemn muslcal instruments in all settings, but they are on record as believing that musical instruments are ‘not of God’. You can’t bring them into a church and I’m under the impression that they look down their nose at them generically, as one would expect for something that is ‘not of God’.
In other words, that which is not mandatory, is prohibited?
Yeah, hymns are called anâshîd in Arabic. Sung only informally, not part of the official worship service, but the singing of them is very widespread in the Arab world, under the influence of either Sufism or al-Ikhwân al-Muslimîn (the latter is a major force in militant fundamentalism, but was originally formed in the 1920s on the model of a Sufi order).
There’s a Pakistani satellite channel that has Urdu Islamic hymns on 24/7. The Muslims who follow strict interpretations, including all fundamentalists, use no instruments except voice and maybe sometimes a frame drum, but that’s the limit for them. The Pakistani Islamic channel often has women singers on with no accompaniment at all, just solo voice making elaborately ornamented melodies in classical Hindustani ragas–they sound so beautiful that way.
For some people, yes. If they didn’t have that command to “be fruitful and multiply”… they wouldn’t.
YES.
You order a specific make and model of automobile with spoiler, tinted windows and a fuel economy engine.
The dealer delivers that and Mag Wheels, Rear Deck Spoiler, and Satelite radio.
Did the dealer meet your specifications? NO.
That which is specified excludes all else not specified.
“Praise him with trumpet; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!” Psalm 150:3,4
This was the fallback for the Christian rock bands back when they actually had to argue for their legitimacy in the American Protestant church.
Are there rock bands which use lute, harp and timbrel? Though the loud clashing cymbals are common – and would be a good name for a Christian rock band!
I was just going to chime in and say the churches of Christ don’t use musical instruments (as already mentioned by Garfield226).
However, I don’t think any of them would go so far as to say “Musical instruments are the work of the Devil.” The churches of Christ with which I’m familiar are nowhere near that strident about it. Rather, I would characterize them as trying to err on the side of caution: if the New Testament doesn’t mention musical instruments, we’d better not use them. You know, just in case.
The lute is the ancestor of guitar, so you can probably argue that the passage justifies slamming power chords in praise of the almighty. OTOH, I would not be surprised if the modern translation of some ancient instrument as “lute” is a bit suspect.
Some of the break-aways from the Free Presbytyrian churches in Scotland just do a capella singing.
And some churches in Scotland consider the bagpipes to be the devil’s own instrument. :eek: At times when I’m having trouble with my pipes, I’m inclined to agree with them. :smack:
I’ve also heard from other pipers about priests and pastors who won’t allow pipes to be played in their churches. Some say it’s because they’re too loud (like that pipe organ is quiet? :rolleyes: ), but others will say it’s because bagpipes are a “worldly” instrument. :dubious: