47
votes
Accepted
What's up with churches and guitars in this joke from The Big Bang Theory?
Simply put:
Contemporary worship services stereotypically include both free-form prayers and music accompanied by guitars.
Traditional worship services stereotypically include the recitation of set ...
- 42.3k
19
votes
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Why did John Newton oppose Handel's Messiah?
Newton did indeed have issues with Handel's Messiah, so much so that in 1784–85 he gave a series of 50 sermons at his own church (St. Mary Woolnoth) in response to the oratorio being played at ...
- 42.3k
15
votes
Accepted
What is the basis for forbidding prerecorded music in worship services?
Clear statements against the use of prerecorded music have been made by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians ("On the Use of Pre-Recorded Music in the Liturgy") and Paul S. Jones (...
- 42.3k
15
votes
Why do Christians stand when we sing?
Why do Christians stand to sing?
I think the reasons are fundamental to the act, so I do not see biblical instructions or precedents to be relevant.
One may ask, how one should eat a meal: should one ...
- 23.7k
13
votes
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Was Arianism spread using musical jingles?
The source appears to be mostly St. Athanasius, who was a deacon in Alexandria at the time the Arian controversy broke out (and later the bishop of the same see). He writes in his Discourses Against ...
- 13.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Do Mormons in European countries also sing patriotic American songs?
Latter-day Saints in other countries do not typically sing United States patriotic songs.
The full LDS hymnbook is currently published in 38 languages. The English hymnbook has 341 hymns, including ...
- 1,775
10
votes
Secular Music and Christian Standards?
Philippians 4:8 is an excellent guide when considering whether the lyrics in a song, or the words in a book, or a television programme, are appropriate for a Christian to read/see:
Finally, brothers, ...
- 29.8k
9
votes
What's up with churches and guitars in this joke from The Big Bang Theory?
Worship styles are highly contentious within many churches. Several years ago our music minister died and when we replaced him, his successor started singing more contemporary songs than hymns. ...
- 1,394
8
votes
Accepted
Who first compared the Trinity to a musical triad?
Short Answer: Johannes Lippius (1585-1612), a German Protestant theologian, philosopher, composer, and music theorist, who also coined the term "harmonic triad" as a set of three notes ...
- 22.2k
8
votes
Accepted
What is the basis for calling God's love "reckless"?
It's best for Cory Asbury himself to explain the meaning. From SongFacts website entry of his song:
"When I use the phrase, 'the reckless love of God,' I'm not saying that God Himself is ...
- 22.2k
6
votes
Accepted
Eastern Orthodoxy: what is the difference in character between each of the 8 modes?
Byzantine Modes
What does each individual mode convey? What are the goals of expression?
First, I have to explain one small part of the music. Modes 1-4 in Byzantine music, are each a unique scale, ...
- 2,005
6
votes
Why do Christians stand when we sing?
It is common for Christians to stand while singing in church because it is common to sing while standing regardless of context.
Standing allows the singer to make better usage of their diaphragm and ...
- 161
6
votes
Is there a good alternative word to “performance” to describe an evangelical worship team's actions?
Set is an acceptable musical term and doesn't carry as many negative or "performance" overtones as other words may. It can be used of a final production in front of people, a studio session ...
- 14.8k
5
votes
Accepted
Which Christian denomination removed trinitarian language from the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy"?
I don't have any particular knowledge of which hymnal Gordon Clark was referring to, but on a hunch, I consulted my copy of "Christian Science Hymns" [1952 Edition], edited by Mary Baker Eddy's ...
- 5,623
5
votes
Accepted
In RC doctrine, when is pop culture, like Bernstein's Mass, appropriate to tell sacred messages?
What the Bible says
For starters, the Bible says in (Psalm 100: 1,2)
1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
RC ...
- 6,707
5
votes
Modern musical instruments in Catholic church service
We recently hired a new music director who has fired up this debate in our parish. As a result I did some research:
Musicam Sacram section VI, 63 states that any instruments can be approved if
the ...
5
votes
Accepted
Contemporary Catholic views on music in the Church: is music for God or for the people?
Sacred music is "to arouse man's devotion towards God". God has no needs, being perfect in Himself.
Addressing "Whether God should be praised with song?," St. Thomas Aquinas answers:
As stated ...
- 38.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Was Eastern-Orthodox liturgical music influenced by Islam?
Was Eastern-Orthodox liturgical music influenced by Islam?
The short answer is: It is seriously doubtful.
It is seriously doubtful considering that the Prophet Mohammad (c. 570 AD – 8 June 632 AD) ...
- 67.9k
5
votes
Why do Christians stand when we sing?
I don't know your denomination, but in roman-catholic church there are times when you are standing and other times when you are sitting.
If a hymn is sung during the time when you are sitting (this is ...
- 784
5
votes
Why do Christians stand when we sing?
As for a Biblical basis, take a look at 2 Chronicles 5:12:
all the Levite singers who belonged to Asaph, to Heman, to Jeduthun, and to their sons and their brothers were clothed in fine fabric, ...
- 1,898
5
votes
Secular Music and Christian Standards?
Secular Music and Christian Standards?
If you do not mind I would like to answer your question from a Catholic perspective (which I think would be appropriate to some degree to other Christian ...
- 67.9k
5
votes
Is there a good alternative word to “performance” to describe an evangelical worship team's actions?
the set
your set
the music set
the musical portion of the service
the service
the praise
the worship
might all work, depending on your congregation.
Comment: If you are playing along with loops/...
- 149
4
votes
Accepted
Kids christian music from the 80's
The answer to your question is "Psalty's sleepytime helpers". There are a bunch of volumes, but one of them have the "be kind one to another" song on it!
- 56
4
votes
What rubric, canon, and/or rules forbid(s) the use of recorded music in a Tridentine Missa Cantata?
Recorded music is not permitted.
As far back as 1958 in the important Congregation of Rites’ instruction De Musica Sacra we find at 60 c:
"Finally, only those musical instruments which ...
- 67.9k
4
votes
Accepted
What is "the moon runs down in a purple stream" referring to?
In Joel 2:31 NIV, which says that
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
as well as in Mark 13:24-25 NIV
However, ...
- 244
4
votes
Was Satan/Lucifer the angel of music before his fall?
This is not necessarily a Catholic answer, but it's the only answer I can provide. The answer, then, is that it is not clearly demonstrable from Scripture (or any popular tradition) that Satan / ...
- 1,068
4
votes
Accepted
Why do Christians stand when we sing?
Why do Christians stand when we sing?
Because the day of the Lord is consecrated to the Resurrection, it is a kind of image of our hope in the Resurrection, the attitude of standing had for the early ...
- 67.9k
4
votes
Is there a good alternative word to “performance” to describe an evangelical worship team's actions?
We've found ourselves asking a similar question (for context: I lead the music group in an independent evangelic church in the UK). I get around the issue by shifting from using nouns to using verbs. ...
- 1,288
3
votes
Which Christian denomination removed trinitarian language from the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy"?
Reginald Heber (21 April 1783 – 3 April 1826) was a Church of England parish priest who became Bishop of Calcutta in 1823. Heber wrote "Holy, Holy, Holy" for Trinity Sunday, a day that ...
- 29.8k
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