# Which Christians think musical instruments are the work of the Devil? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231 "2006-11-13T14:12:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Emilio\_Lizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/1 "2006-11-13T14:12:39Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/2 "2006-11-13T14:19:04Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/3 "2006-11-13T14:32:28Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/4 "2006-11-13T14:39:20Z")
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](http://www.800padutch.com/amishpeople.shtml) - scroll down to near the bottom of the page) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/5 "2006-11-13T14:39:45Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] 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. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/6 "2006-11-13T15:04:20Z")
Some (not all) [Churches of Christ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Christ) only allow acapella singing. > [@](#): > > There are three different historical positions among churches of Christ against instrumental music. The “principle of silence” argument states that since singing and making music with the heart is specified when the New Testament speaks of music in worship, instrumental music is thus unauthorized and excluded; passages such as Hebrews 7:14 (cf. Hebrews 8:4) are cited to demonstrate the exclusive nature of such specificity. > > A second argument against instruments in worship is that such would be entertainment and thus worldly and inappropriate, but not necessarily false doctrine. > > Other arguments against the use of instruments are that those who were created for the glory of God are commanded to worship to give glory to God, and someone playing an instrument apart from the congregation will inevitably be glorified. Also, not all members have the ability to play instruments, therefore they cannot possibly be commanded to do so in worship. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/7 "2006-11-13T15:05:47Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/8 "2006-11-13T15:10:59Z")
> [@](#): > > IT’S ALL A BIG SCAM! There is NO music ever used or approved in the worship of a SPIRIT. You may search my extensive resources by the search form below. You will NEVER find music used in the spiritual worship of a Holy Spirit God. You will ALWAYS find that attemting such worship is many times in the Bible and always in paganism telling the Patriarchal God Jehovah that you WILL NOT listen to His words and teach them "as they have been taught. > > No Levitical Warrior singer or musician ever got into the Holy Place as a “national” model of the synagogue and a carnal type of the body or church of Christ. No! Not even to clean out the garbage. Therefore, any national or Monarchy “noise making” was a civil ritual for a nation which had FIRED God… > > 100% of the time the MUSIC words and names of instruments point to Satan, to innocent children, to prostitutes, sodomites or lost people slaughtering tens of thousands of TYPES of God in Christ. > **[How to Approach Child Custody Issues in Australia with Confidence | CDN...](https://www.cdnarchitect.com)** > > Explore the intricacies of Australian custody laws, emphasizing child welfare and amicable resolutions. Learn strategies for effective legal preparation and stress management during custody cases. 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](http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/lutherps.htm) I guess things had changed by the time J S Bach showed up. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/9 "2006-11-13T15:32:15Z")
[QUOTE=Emilio Lizardo] …I’m just curious which branch of Christianity subscribes to those beliefs. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![twiceshy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@twiceshy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twiceshy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/10 "2006-11-13T16:15:39Z")
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. > **[Home - Indian Bottom Association Of Old Regular Baptists](https://oldregularbaptist.com/)** > > Old Regular Baptists We Old Regular Baptists are a peculiar people.  We sing differently.  Some say our worship has a… ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/11 "2006-11-13T16:19:08Z")
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’. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/12 "2006-11-13T16:21:33Z")
[QUOTE=spingears] 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! [/QUOTE] In other words, that which is not mandatory, is prohibited? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/13 "2006-11-14T08:37:52Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] Do Muslims call religious songs “hymns?”, though? [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/14 "2006-11-14T08:42:15Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] In other words, that which is not mandatory, is prohibited? [/QUOTE] For some people, yes. If they didn’t have that command to “be fruitful and multiply”… they wouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/15 "2006-11-14T14:35:34Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] In other words, that which is not mandatory, is prohibited? [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/16 "2006-11-14T21:05:46Z")
“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. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/17 "2006-11-14T21:16:22Z")
[QUOTE=Cardinal] “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. [/QUOTE] 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! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/18 "2006-11-14T21:33:16Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/19 "2006-11-14T21:34:10Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] 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! [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231/20 "2006-11-14T21:52:02Z")
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: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-christians-think-musical-instruments-are-the-work-of-the-devil/380231.md?page=2)