Jay Guin Defending Danny Corbitt and repudiating Dr. Everett
Ferguson
Review:
Danny Corbitt: Missing More than Music
Review:
On the word Psalmos
Review:
Danny
Corbitt
Denying
Justin Martyr
Matt
Dabbs--Danny
Corbitt
Ripening
Issues
There is no recorded history which does not
connect religious music to females or perverted males. We have posted the only known definition of
LEGALISM where a musical instrument is "a machine for hard work
mostly in making war and in religious mind control."
NEW WINE SKINS: JAY GUIN'S SUMMARY OF RICK ATCHLEY
AND CHRIS SEIDMAN: "How to boil a frog."
Danny, like Jay Guin bases his defense of
instrumental music in churches of Christ knowing that it will so
discord. At the same time the "proof text method" consists of looking
up passages in the lexicon while ignoring the story line which ALWAYS
connects instrumental religion to Lucifer the singing and harp-playing
prostitute in the garden of Eden, to sorcerers or enchanters of the
Jubal family, to warriors threatening sexual attack on the looser, too
exorcists "making the lambs dumb before the slaughter," to prostitutes
and sodomites.
Posted on September 29, 2010 by Jay Guin
http://oneinjesus.info/2010/09/instrumental-music-everett-ferguson-responds-to-danny-corbitt/
Last
week, Danny Corbitt presented his work regarding instrumental music at
the Abilene Christian lectures, called “The Summit,” based on
his book Missing More Than Music. Today, I received
the September 2010 issue of the Gospel Advocate, containing
an article by Dr. Everett Ferguson attempting to refute Danny’s
work:
“Missing the Meaning: A Review of Missing More Than Music”
(pp. 33 ff).
I’ll not attempt a comprehensive rebuttal,
because one isn’t
necessary. The question isn’t what Clement of Alexandria or Philo
really meant.
The question is whether it’s sin to
worship God in the
Christian assembly using an instrument. And Ferguson’s arguments
fail
because they are built on two seriously flawed premises.
The answer is obviously to those not delusioned and promoting lying
wonders -- any and all of what Jesus, Paul, Peter and all SCHOLARLY
literature. The answer is that when the church in the wilderness
was established using the terms "ekklesia" or "synagogue" no one ever
called them worship assemblies. If you can't define--even at
ACU--the meaning of ekklesia / synagogue it is not possible that you
can accidentially be connected to one.
Jay Guin: But
first,
a
little
background.
Dr.
Ferguson,
a
professor
at
Abilene
Christian University, is a widely recognized authority on New Testament
backgrounds and the Early Church Fathers. He writes textbooks used in
many seminaries. And he has long argued against instrumental music in
the assembly, having written A
cappella
music
in
the
public
worship
of
the
church
, as well as a
number of
related books.
The first fatal flaw in Dr. Ferguson’s
logic is shown by the following quotations:
Ferguson: The
issue
remains:
Is
there
authority
for
instrumental
music
in
church?
… Opponents of instrumental music must have a text
rejecting [sic] it; advocates of instrumental music do have to
have a New Testament text commanding it or allowing it, and they still
do not have one.
On page 37, Corbitt asserts that
early Christian writers
“never oppose accompaniment in praise.” However, no writer
favors it
either.
That's a lie: if you say something untrue for your own benefit
that is a lie. The problem is that the ANTIs
will accept and propagate anything spreading hate on people who will
not bow to Baal.
Of course, Ferguson and Corbitt etal missed the church fathers all of
whom radically condemn instruments in the assembly when there was a
drift toward performance or what Jesus called hypocritic performance.
They missed the fact that singing as an ACT was introduced in a
discording sense in the year 373. That split the east church from
the west. That is because no simple simon being a minimalist reader of
the Bible ever understood any of the NOT MUSICAL passages to have any
musical connection.
The direct command was to SPEAK that which is written AFTER you silence
the doubtful disputations or SELF-pleasure which Paul connects with
reproaching Christ which was prophesied and fulfilled when the
instrumental Levites exposed His nakedness. They compassed Him about
like a pack of dogs. Dogs? Yes, dogs which Paul outlaws in Philippians
3.
REJOICE IN THE LORD does not
mean REJOICE IN THE CHURCH when you translate REJOICE as SING, PLAY,
CLAP AND STAMP. This is the MARK of bad choices in the past. Now,
REJOICE:
Chairo (g5463)
means to be "cheer"ful,
i.e. calmly happy or well-off;
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
Phil
3:2
Dogs were the CYNICS they
stamped, clapped and made noises like DOGS to attract their fellow
homosexuals. It assuredly works in churches of Christ which have been
INFILTRATED and DIVERTED into "theaters for holy entertainment" where
theatron means to MAKE A SPECTACLE. True to all of history, about
HALF run for their lives.
Parabolos,
poet.
paraib-
,
on,
(
[paraballô]
):I.
(parox.)
with
a
side-meaning, deceitful, paraibola, kai chalepon pragma
Isoc.6.49, kertomeousin
A. taunt, sneer ah.Merc.56
Aristophanes, Oh, Phales, companion of
the orgies of Bacchus,
night reveller, god of adultery, friend of young men, these
past six years I have not been able to invoke thee.
With what joy I return to my farmstead, thanks to the truce I have
concluded, freed from cares, from fighting and from Lamachuses! How
much sweeter, oh Phales, oh, Phales, is it to surprise Thratta, the
pretty woodmaid, Strymodorus' slave, stealing wood from Mount
Phelleus, to catch her under the arms, to throw her on the ground and
possess her, Oh, Phales, Phales! If thou wilt drink and bemuse
thyself with me, we shall to-morrow consume some good dish in honour
of the peace, and I will hang up my buckler over the smoking hearth.
See Isaiah.56.html, Acts.20.html
Lukos A. wolf,
oresteroi, oin humenaioi,
VI. nickname of paiderastai, AP12.250 (Strat.), cf. Pl.Phdr.
241d.
paiderast-ês , ou, ho, A. lover of boys, mostly in
bad sense,
Ar.Ach.265(lyr.), X.An.7.4.7, Pl. Smp.192b, Eub.130, etc.
Aristophanes, Acharnians DICAEOPOLIS
Oh, Phales,1 companion of the orgies
of Bacchus, night reveller, god of adultery, friend
of young
men, these past six2 years I have not been able to invoke thee. With
what joy I return to my farmstead, thanks to the truce I have
concluded, freed from cares, from fighting and from Lamachuses!3 How
much sweeter, oh Phales, oh, Phales, is it to surprise Thratta, the
pretty woodmaid, Strymodorus' slave, stealing wood from Mount
Phelleus, to catch her under the arms, to throw her on the ground and
possess her, Oh, Phales, Phales! If thou wilt drink and bemuse
thyself with me, we shall to-morrow consume some good dish in honour
of the peace, and I will hang up my buckler over the smoking hearth.
1 The god of generation,
worshipped in the form of a phallus.
2 A remark which fixes
the
date
of the production of The Acharnians, viz. the sixth year of the
Peloponnesian War, 426 B.C.
3 Lamachus was an
Athenian
general, who figures later in this comedy
Ferguson: Contrary
to
what
Corbitt
argues
on
pages
80-92,
the
case
is not that ado and ode require
one
to “sing only” but that they only say
“sing” and never said anything else.
Ode; , h(, contr. for aoide
A. song,
lay,
ode, h.Ap.20, h.Cer.494; in
Trag. (exc. that A. uses only aoid (q. v.)), of dirges, “pollas thrn;n ;das” S.El.88 ;dai kai h all poisis lyric poetry and
HH
2
494 [490] And now, queen of the land of sweet Eleusis
and sea-girt ParosAntron,
lady,
giver
of
good
gifts,
bringer
of
seasons,
queen
Deo, be gracious,
you and your daughter all beauteous Persephone, and for my song grant
me heart-cheering substance. [495] And now I will remember you and
another song also. and rocky
II. singing, Plu.Crass.33,
etc.; of birds,
“en tais ;dais kai melesin” R.399c,
cf.
398c; Opposite. lexis,
lexis , e;s, h(, (leg; B) A. speech,
opp. ;d, Pl.Lg.816d; l. praxis speech or action, Id.R.396c; ho tropos ts l. ib.400d; ta lexei dloumena orders given by word
of mouth,
autais lexesi or kata lexin word for word,
4. text of an author, opp. exegesis,
Poetic (mouses) diction
Later “epi lexe;s” PLond.5.1713.14
collectively, krat; kai ts l. the very words
“en tais ;dais kai melesin” R.399c,
cf.
398c; Opposite. lexis,
Melos , eos, to/, A. limb, in early
writers always in pl., Il.7.131, Pi.N. 1.47, etc. (kata melos is corrupt for kata meros
B. esp. musical member, phrase: hence, song,
strain
mel, ta, lyric poetry, choral songs, opp.
Epic or Dramatic verse, Pl.R.379a, 607a, al.; [m. ek tri;n sugkeimenon, logou te kai harmonias kai rhuthmou ib.398d.
2. music to which a song is set, tune, Arist.Po.1450a14;
opp. rhuthmos, metron, Pl.Grg. 502c;
opp. rhuthmos, rhma, Id.Lg.656c;
3. melody of an instrument, “phormigx d' au phtheggoith' hieron m. de kai aulos” Thgn.761;
“aul;n pamph;non m.” Pi.P.12.19; “pktid;n mel” S.Fr.241:
Ferguson: Plainly, Ferguson
reasons from what is
formally known as the Regulative Principle, the old Zwinglian/Puritan
idea
that
scriptural
silences
are
all
prohibitions.
Indeed,
Ferguson
writes,
Ferguson: An example is the insistence that no text says not to
use instruments, which corresponds to our counterclaim that no text
says to use them.
All people who read
the Bible for content believed in the regulative principle.
Why would a disciple want to expose their always-implicated gender bent
when commanded to "come before G
od in silence?" The
fall from grace at Mount Sinai was caused by musical idolatry. How much
talky-talky do you have to do to TRUMP this pagan idolatry to make it
acceptable to deliberately introduce a practice--necessarily legalistic
since it is imposed on everyone.
At
Mount Sinai:
> "Not to be overlooked here is the accompaniment of music
and
dancing which, with
the character of the ensuing phenomena,
makes the diagnosis (of
idolatry) certain."
(Schaff-Herzog, Ecstasy, p. 71).
> "The triumphal hymn of Moses had
unquestionably a religious character about it; but the employment of music in religious
services, though
idolatrous, is more distinctly marked in the
festivities which attended the erection of the golden calf." (Smith's
Bible Dictionary, Music, p. 589).
> "And the people celebrated this feast
with burnt-offerings and thank-offerings, with eating and drinking,
i.e. with sacrificial meals and sports, or with loud rejoicing,
shouting, antiphonal
songs, and dances, in
the same manner in which the Egyptians celebrated their feast of
Apis (Herod. 2, 60, and
3, 27)." (Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. II, p. 222).
Acts 4:20 For we cannot but speak the things
which we have seen
and heard.
Then the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Jer 13:8
Thus saith the Lord, After this
manner will I mar
the pride of
Judah,
and the great pride of
Jerusalem. Jer 13:9
This evil
people, which refuse to hear my words,
........which
walk
in
the
imagination of their heart,
[twisted]
........and
walk
after
other
gods,
to
serve them,
........and
to
worship
them,
shall
even
be
as
this
girdle,
which
is good for
nothing. Jer 13:10
Paul outlaws doubtful
disputations in Romans 14 by the sects marked by DIET but all who
practiced musical worship.
“Disputing”
implies
a
questioning
mind
and
suggests
an
arrogant
attitude
by
those who assume
they’re always right. Arguing with others in the body of Christ is
disruptive. That’s why Paul spent the first part of chapter 2 on
humility.
Jay Guin: Ferguson imposes a legalistic
interpretation on the scriptures,
seeking to reach his conclusions by declaring silences either
all permissive or all prohibitions, which is a classic
false dichotomy.
It’s just not necessarily true that either all silences are permissions
or all silences are prohibitions. That is deeply flawed logic, because
it’s entirely possible that some silences are prohibitions
and some are permissions.
The Disciple take
ownership of the LAW OF SILENCE. Those who do not use instruments do
not need a LAW to do something legalistic; on the face of it as a work
intending to appease or even seduce God and the clapping and
grinding is absolutely a virtual sexual act: the Vineyard, Plato and
the Egyptians calls it a visual or aural orgasm.
LEGALISM
IS
DEFINED
AS
HUMAN
CUSTOMS: IN MUSIC MEANING THE PERVERTED
|
Nomos: a. custom,
tradition Callicles boldly applies the word nomos, which so far has been used in the sense
of man-made law or convention, in its widest sense of “general rule” or
“principle.”
A. that which is in
habitual practice, use or possession, not in Hom. (cf. J.Ap.2.15),
though read by Zenod. in Od.1.3.
I. usage, custom, “ Mousai melpontai pant;n te nomous kai thea kedna” Hes.Th.66; “ n. arkhaios aristos” Id.Fr.221;
entha n. (sc. esti) c. inf., where it is the custom
. . , Alc.Supp.25.5; n. pant;n basileus custom is lord of all, Pi.Fr.169.1; “ n. despots” Hdt.7.104, Pl. Lg.715d; “ n. turannos t;n
II. melody, strain,
“ oida d' ornikh;n nom;s pant;n” Alcm.67;
“ n. hippios” Pi.O. 1.101; “ Apoll;n hageito pantoi;n n.” Id.N.5.25; “ n. polemikoi” Th.5.69; “ eplalaxan Arai ton oxun n.” A.Th.952 (lyr.); “ krektoi n.” S.Fr. 463, cf. AP9.584: metaph., “ tous Haidou n.” S.Fr.861.
Pindar, Odes 5. The
most
beautiful
chorus
of
Muses
sang
gladly
for
the
Aeacids
on Mt. Pelion, and among them Apollo,
sweeping the seven-tongued lyre with a golden plectrum, [25][25] led all types of strains. And the Muses began with a prelude to Zeus, then sang
first of divine Thetis and of Peleus; how Hippolyte, the opulent
daughter of Cretheus, wanted to trap
him with deceit
2. esp. a type of early melody
created by Terpander for the lyre as an accompaniment to Epic texts, “n. orthios” Hdt.1.24; “n. Boi;tios” S.Fr.966; “n. kithar;dikoi” Ar.Ra.1282, cf. Pl.Lg.700d, Arist.Po.1447b26,
Pr.918b13, etc.; also for
the
flute, “n. aul;dikos” Plu.2.1132d;
without
sung
text,
n. aultikos ib.1133d,
cf.
138b, Poll.4.79;
later,
composition including both words and melody, e.g. Tim.Pers.
[40] The fortune that is born along
with
a
man decides in every deed. And you, Euthymenes from Aegina, have
twice fallen into the arms of Victory and attained embroidered hymns.
Psauô humnos, Mousa
1 [*maô]
I. the Muse, in pl. the
Muses, goddesses of song, music,
poetry, dancing, the drama, and all
fine arts, Hom.: the names of the nine were Clio, Euterpe, Thalia,
Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia or Polyhymnia, Urania, and
Calliope, Hes.,
|
|
-Plato.Symposium"On
the road Socrates, immersed in thought, lags behind, and Aristodemus
arrives at Agathon's alone. Not till they are half-way through the meal
does Socrates appear; and Agathon rallies him on his devotion to sophia.
-Sophia , Ion. -iē, h(, prop. A.
cleverness or skill in handicraft and
art, as in carpentry, tektonos, hos rha te pasēs eu eidē s. Il.15.412; of the Telchines,
Pi.O.7.53; hē entekhnos s., of Hephaestus and Athena,
Pl.Prt.32 1d; of Daedalus and
Palamedes, X.Mem.4.2.33, cf.
1.4.2; in music and
singing, tekhnē kai s. h.Merc.483, cf. 511; in poetry, Sol.13.52, Pi.O.1.117, Ar.Ra.882, X.An.1.2.8, etc.;
in driving, Pl. Thg.123c; in
medicine or surgery, Pi.P.3.54; in divination,
S.OT 502
"The proposal of Pausanias to restrict
the potations, in view of yesterday's banquet, and that of Eryximachus
to dismiss the flute-girl and amuse themselves by logoi, are unanimously agreed to. Then
Eryximachus propounds an idea of Phaedrus,
logos , o(, verbal noun of legō
Opposite. kata pathos, Preacher's tales
Opposite human reasoning
Opposite Music
Opposite poetry
Opposite epagōg-ē 2.
bringing in to
one's AID, introduction, 4. allurement, enticement
b. incantation, spell,
Logos verbal noun of legō Opposite. muthos, as history
to legend, prose, opp. poiêsis, Id.R.390a;
Opposite
to
emmetros opp. poiêtikê, D.H.Comp.6;
opp. poiêmata,
ib.15; koinakaipoiêmatônkailogôn Only the words of lyric or
dramatic poetry.
X. the Word
or Wisdom of God, personified as his agent in
creation and world-government,
d The varying nomoi concerning Eros may be classified
thus:—
(1) In all Greek states except
Athens the nomos is simple, either (a) approving paederastia, as in Elis
and Boeotia; or (b） condemning it, as in Ionia and states
subject to barbarian rule, where it is held to foster a dangerous
spirit of independence (e.g. Harmodius and Aristogiton).
(2) At Athens the nomos is complex. (a) Eros is approved, and its excesses
condoned, when directed towards superior youths approaching manhood. (b) It appears to be condemned, in so far as
parents forbid their boys to hold converse with “erastae.” The
explanation of this ambiguous attitude must be sought in the principle
laid down above, that the moral quality of an act depends upon the
conditions of its performance. The Athenian nomos provides a test for distinguishing
between good and bad forms of Eros: the test of time shows whether or
not the right motive (desire for aretē) actuates both the lover and
his
object. This motive alone justifies all erotic pursuits and surrenders,
even mutual deception: hence we conclude that kalon aretēs heneka kharizesthai.
bad links below
gnêsi-os mêtêr tôn erôtikôn logôn, of Aphrodite, Luc.Am.19; g. aretai real, unfeigned virtues,
Pi.O.2.11; g. humnoi inspired
song, B.8.83; e. melos a love
song
mêtêr
tôn erôtikôn logôn Mother of erôt-ikos A. of or caused by love, orgê, or Aphrodite: ou rhaidiôs
dietethê : was handled not softly, i.e. cruelly killed (ou rhaidiôs, kakôs Hesych. and Phot.).
humnos , ho, A.hymn, ode, in praise of gods
or heros, u. Haidou, of one whose songs are death, E.Ba.72
(lyr.).]
Daughters of Zeus ruling on high, famed for the lyre, ... Pierian
Muses ... weave [5] Isthmian land ... son-in-law of wise Nereus ... ... of the island ... [10] god-built
gates of Pelops' shining island ... |
And as flawed as this logic is, even more
mistaken is the idea of
applying the Regulative Principle to the Patristics! In the second
quote above, Ferguson actually insists on a prohibition inferred
from
the
silences
of
the
Early
Church
Fathers.
But the Church Fathers were NOT SILENT as
God was not silent from "Lucifer as the singing and harp-playing
prostitute in the garden of Eden to the Babylon mother of harlots in
Revelation 17 using "lusted after fruits" as speakers, singers and
instrument players John called sorcerers.
Perhaps Ferguson understands that church was, and affirmed by the
Campbells--a School of Christ and worship was "reading and musing the
Word from the wilderness onward. It is a fact that Corbitt and
all of those sowing musical discord appeal to the church fathers to
actually ENDORSE the use of instruments in the assembly.
The
Meaning of
Worship
Worship
is in MIND with TRUTH -
According to Jesus and Paul
John
Calvin Worship and the Bible
Thomas
Campbell Worship is In Spirit and
Personal
Thomas
Campbell Worship - Fuller Account
Dance
and
John
Chrysostom
Basil
the
Great (329-379) - De Spiritu Sancto - Spiritual Worship
Thomas
Aquinas - Praise with the lips
Thomas
Aquinas Singing and Instruments
Since we know and boast about sowing discord to
achieve unity as well
as music in the temple are two things God hates. We would not
make this an issue unless one had an AGENDA to try to restructure
everyone to their own views.
Many throughout Church history have
followed the example of the Bereans
in measuring oral traditions against Scripture. Notice carefully how
Irenaeus, writing as early as the 2nd century, recognized that what was
"one time proclaimed in public, and, at a later period, by the will of
God, handed down to us in the Scriptures." He is saying plainly that
what was once inspired oral tradition in the Apostolic era was by the
will of God written down at some time.
Irenaeus (ca. 150)
Against Heresies 3.1.1
“We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation,
than from those through whom the gospel has come
down to us, which they
did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will
of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be
the ground and pillar of our
faith.”
Clement of Alexandria (d. 215)
The Stromata, 7:16
“But those who are ready to toil in the most excellent pursuits,
will
not
desist
from
the
search
after
truth,
till
they
get the
demonstration from the Scriptures themselves.”
Gregory of Nyssa (d.ca, 395)
“On the Holy Trinity”, NPNF, p. 327
“Let the inspired Scriptures then be our umpire,
and the vote of truth will be given to those whose dogmas are found to
agree with the Divine words.”
Athanasius (c. 296–373)
Against the Heathen, 1:3
“The holy and inspired Scriptures are fully sufficient for
the
proclamation of the truth.”
Basil the Great (ca.329–379)
On the Holy Spirit, 7.16
“We are not content simply because this is the tradition
of the Fathers. What is important is that the Fathers
followed the
meaning of the Scripture.”
Ambrose (340–397 A.D.)
On the Duties of the Clergy, 1:23:102
“For how can we adopt those things which we do not find in
the holy Scriptures?”
St. Augustine (354–430)
De unitate ecclesiae, 10
“Neither dare one agree with catholic bishops if by
chance they err in anything, but the result that their opinion
is against the canonical Scriptures of God.”
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)
Summa Theologiae, Question 1, art. 8
“For our faith rests on the revelation made to the Prophets
and Apostles who wrote the canonical books.”
Jay Guin: It’s not true that either all women are ugly
or all women are
pretty. Just so, it’s hardly necessary to conclude that either all
silences are permissions or all silences are prohibitions. Rather
than
pulling our theology out of doctrines invented by Zwinglian and
Puritan
disputants over how to conduct the assembly, we should turn to
the
scriptures. The way to read the silences of the scriptures is in
light
of the narrative of the scriptures and God’s redemptive mission,
culminating in Christ.
Christ in Spirit
defined the church inclusively and exclusively: in Isaiah 55 He
supplies the free water of the Word and in Isaiah 58 outlaws anyone
"speaking their own words." That is because the true REST was to Rest,
Read and Rehears the Word of God only.
It is a historical
fact that the Catholic church never practiced "congregational singing
with or without instrumental accompaniment." The Mass consisted of
parts and the gay troubador monks or professionals played
processionals, intermissions or recessionals.
In fact you CANNOT
sing any of the Bible in a metrical sense since none of it is metrical:
When the Son spoke from the Father the Words were "Spirit without
Meter" as the word is most often used.
It was only after the
Reformation that people used to attending musical performances in the
now-confiscated cathedrals that Calvin bowed to the clamouring and
permitted the Psalms (only) to be rewritten (radically) to make unison
singing even possible. Slowly parts were added so that a simple harmony
singing of the Psalms (only) was possible. Zwingli who had never
experienced singing as an ACT, and who understood the Greek word SPEAK
continued the historic practice of NOT singing musically.
Jay Guin: Can we seriously contend that God has been
working across the
centuries to honor his covenant with Abraham to the bless the nations —
by demanding a cappella rather than instrumental worship?
Gen. 26:2 And the
LORD appeared unto him,
and said, Go not down into Egypt;
dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
Gen. 26:3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless
thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these
countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy
father;
Gen. 26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven,
and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
Gen. 26:5 Because that Abraham
obeyed my voice,
and kept my charge,
my commandments,
my statutes,
and my laws.
Gen. 26:6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
Abraham would undoubtedly understand that the Flood was brought on
because of the evil Lamech family. Jubal, Jabal, Tubal-Cain and
Nammah were identified in the Clay tablets as sorcerers who used music
and weapons to steal people's property.
|
"Now
therefore,
since you do not yet understand how great darkness of
ignorance surrounds you,
sometime I wish to explain to you
whence the worship of idols began in this world. And by idols, I mean
those lifeless images which you worship, whether made of wood, or
earthenware, or stone, or brass, or any other metals: of these the
beginning was in this wise.
Certain
angels having left the
course of their proper order, began to favour the vices of men, and
in some measure to lend unworthy aid to their lust,
"in
order that by these means
they might indulge their own pleasures the more; and then, that
they
might not seem to be inclined of their own accord to unworthy
services, taught men that demons could, by certain arts--that
is, by magical
invocations--be made to obey
men; and so, as from a furnace and workshop of wickedness, they
filled the whole world with the smoke of impiety, the light of piety
being withdrawn." (Reognitions of Clement, Book IV, Chapt XXVI,
Ante Nicene Fathers, Vol 8, p.
140)
"Under
the assumption that a
common pattern of 'myth and ritual' prevailed in the
ancient Near
East, it has been argued that the enthronement psalms belonged in the cultic
setting of a 'throne-ascension festival,' held every New Year,
when Yahweh's kingship over
Israel, the nations, and the cosmos was celebrated in song, ritual,
and pagent (play)."
"In
the Babylonian
cult,
for instance, hymns of
praise had an important
place.
Every New Year,
when the cycle of the seasons returned to its beginning, the
worshipers reexperienced and reactualized the victory of the powers
of life over the powers of death. The creation myth of Enuma
elish
depicted the victory of the god Marduk
over the dragon
of Chaos, Tiamet.
Not
only was the myth
recited, but the battle
was reenacted during the festival. At the climax of the celebration
worshipers joined in the acclamation, 'Marduk has become king!' This
is interpreted to mean that he had reascended his throne
for another year."
(Anderson, p. 522).
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"The
rectangular
central shrine of the temple, known as a 'cella,'
had a brick altar or
offering table in front of a
statue of the temple's deity. The cella was lined on its long ends by
many rooms for priests and priestesses. These mud-brick
buildings were decorated with cone
geometrical mosaics, and the occasional fresco with human and animal
figures. These temple complexes eventually evolved into towering
ziggurats.
"The
temple was
staffed by priests, priestesses, musicians, singers,
castrates and hierodules
(including
Temple Prostitutes or ministers). Various public rituals, food sacrifices, and
libations took place there on a daily basis. There were monthly
feasts and annual, New Year celebrations. During the later, the king
would be married
to Inanna
as the resurrected fertility
god
Dumuzi..."
Asherah: Queen of Heaven,
Ashtoreth, Athirat, Astarte, and
Ishtar. Her "male" priestesses
were known as kelabim, the faithful "dogs"
of the Goddess, who practiced divinatory arts, danced
in processions, and served as hierodules,
qedeshim, in the company of
other priestesses.
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"The
ancient Middle East made a
place for homosexuality and bestiality
in its myths and rites.
In the Asherah cult the qedeshim priests had a reputation for homosexual
practices, even as the qedeshot
priestesses for
prostitution. Israel eventually
banned both the qedeshim and qedeshot, while in Ugarit the and kohanim
were priestly
guilds in
equally good standing.
Baal is portrayed in Ugaritic mythology as impregnating a heifer to
sire the young bull god. The biblical book of Leviticus
(18:22--27) bans homosexuality and bestiality expressly
because
the Canaanite population had been practicing those rites, which the
Hebrews rejected as abominations. Middle Eastern Religion
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Hercules
is Herakles worshipped at TYRE.
See
2Maccabees
to
the
worship
in
Jerusalem where the Pipers hoped to Get people
(Jesus) to lament and dance the "ouchie" initiation while the clergy
PIPED.
The
Greeks
also built one of their gymnasia (these were notorious throughout the ancient
world
for their association with homosexual practices)
in Jerusalem,
which 'attracted the noblest young men of Israel...subduing them under the petaso' (emphasis
ours
-- 2
Macc. 4:12). In the traditional Latin translation the above phrase is
rendered 'to put in brothels' (Riley:15).
The
tensions which led to the
Jewish revolt were exacerbated when the Jewish high priest, a
Hellenist himself, offered a sacrifice to Heracles
(Hercules) who was
a Greek symbol of homosexuality. Riley adds,'The
Jewish temple itself
became the scene of pagan sacrificial meals and sexual orgies [including
homosexuality].'
The
final
insult
(for
which
Antiochus
is
identified
in
the Bible as the archtype of the antichrist)'was the
installation in the temple of a pagan symbol, possibly a
representation of Zeus [Baal], called by a sardonic pun 'the
abomination of desolation'' (ibid.:16).
God didn't use the 'music' word in His redemptive scheme. The
Israelites fell from grace because of musical idolatr at Mount Sinai.
That is because they PROFANED the Sabbath.
The Redemptive purpose was to to preach the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM which
is the Church. All of the epistles define the church both inclusively
and exclusively. The God ordained leaders were specificially to PREVENT
musical and theatrical performers to invade the School of the Word: the
only worship words mean "to give attention to the Word of God."
Speak is the opposit
Jay Guin: How
on earth can we argue that God’s redemptive mission, fulfilled in
Christ, rejects worship because it’s accompanied by a lute or a
lyre?
Is this truly the nature of a God who so loves the world that he sent
his Son to die on a cross, revealing the self-emptying, loving,
serving
nature of God, Creator of the Universe?
Self-Centered and
Self-fulfilling is the mark of those intentionally "infiltrating and
diverting" happy churches into letting their singy-clappy boys and
girls expose themselves as the only possible center of attraction.
Jay Guin: No, Ferguson’s position fails, foremost,
because it’s predicated on
a legalistic God who makes up arbitrary rules, hidden amongst
the silences and unrevealed hermeneutical suppositions.
I
reject that view
of God and therefore that view of how to read silences.
Jay Guin: Were Ferguson to address the Regulative
Principle in the same manner
as he addresses instrumental music, he’d ask whether the Early Church Fathers
ever
taught
the
Regulative
Principle.
And he asks no
such
thing, as he takes it as axiomatic — too obvious to require a defense —
and yet it’s obviously not required logically.
And
when they shall
say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar
spirits (Old, empty
wineskins), and unto
wizards that peep, and that mutter (these people used
musical devices and said that the
gods lived inside of them):
should not a people seek
unto their God? for the living to the dead? Isaiah 8:19
To
the law and to the testimony:
if
they speak not
according to this word,
it is because there is no
light in
them.
Isaiah 8:20
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise, and will
bring to nothing the understanding
of
the
prudent. 1 Cor 1:19
Where
is the wise? where is the scribe?
where is the disputer of
this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom
of this world?1Co.1:20
For
after that in
the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. 1 Cor 1:21
Jay Guin: And the Early Church Fathers never defend
their opposition to
instrumental music based on lack of authority or the Regulative
Principle.
In fact, ALL of the
church fathers defend Apostolic Church as being faithful to what the
Apostles revealed.
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Chapter XV.-Exhortation to Confess Christ by
Silence
as Well as Speech.
It is
better for a man to be
silent and be [a
Christian], than to talk and not to be one. It is
good
to teach, if he
who speaks also acts.
There
is then one
Teacher, who spake and it was done; while
even those
things which He did in silence
are worthy
of the
Father. He who possesses
the word of Jesus, is truly able to hear even
His
very silence, that he may be perfect,
and may both act as he speaks, and be recognised by his
silence.
There
is nothing
which is hid from God, but our very secrets are near to Him.
Let
us therefore do all
things as those who have
Him
dwelling in us, that we
may be His temples, and He may be in us as our God,
which
indeed He is, and will manifest
Himself before our
faces.
Wherefore we justly love Him.
It is
better for a man to
be silent and be [a Christian],
than to talk and not to be
one. "The kingdom of God is not in word,
but in power."
Men "believe with the heart,
and confess
with the mouth," the one "unto righteousness," the other "unto
salvation." It is good to teach, if he who speaks also acts. For he who shall both
"do and teach, the same shall
be great in the kingdom." Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the Son of
the living God, first did and then taught, as Luke testifies,
"whose
praise is in the
Gospel through all the Churches." There is nothing
which is hid from the Lord, but
our very secrets are near to Him. Let us therefore do all things as
those who have Him dwelling
in
us,
that we may be His
temples, and He may be in us as
God.
Let Christ
speak
in us,
even as He did in Paul.
Let the Holy Spirit
teach
us to speak the things of
Christ in like manner as He
did.
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Chapter IX.-Ye Have Given No Heed to False
Teachers.
Nevertheless,
I
have
heard
of
some
who
have
passed
on
from
this to you, having false doctrine,
whom
ye did
not suffer to
sow
among you, but stopped
your
ears,
that ye might not receive those things
which were sown by
them, as being stones 58 of the temple of the
Father, prepared
for the building of God the Father, and drawn up on high by the instrument of Jesus Christ, which
is the cross, 59 making use of the Holy Spirit as a rope, while your
faith was the
means by which
you ascended, and your love the way which led up to God.
Ye,
therefore, as
well as all your fellow-travellers, are God-bearers, temple-bearers, Christ-bearers,
bearers
of holiness, adorned in all respects with the commandments of
Jesus
Christ, in whom also I exult that I have been thought worthy,
by
means of this Epistle, to converse and rejoice with you, because with
respect to your Christian life ye love nothing but God only.
Nevertheless,
I have heard
of some who have passed in among you, holding the wicked doctrine of
the strange and evil spirit; to whom ye did not allow entrance to sow
their tares, but stopped your ears that ye might not receive that error
which was proclaimed by them,
as being persuaded
that that spirit which deceives
the people does not speak the things of Christ,
but
his
own,
for he is a lying spirit.
Ye
are
of
your
father
the
devil,
and
the
lusts of your father ye will
do.
He
was
a
murderer
from
the
beginning,
and
abode
not
in
the
truth,
because
there
is
no truth in him.
When he speaketh a
lie, he speaketh of his own:
for
he
is
a
liar,
and
the
father
of
it. Jn. 8:44
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Jay Guin: And
so Ferguson takes their conclusion and defends it on
grounds foreign to their thinking — which is also seriously flawed
analysis. If they are the experts, then we need to give heed to their
stated reasoning, not to an interpretive principle that is only 500
years old.
And this leads to the second major, even
more serious flaw in his argument. Ferguson writes on page 35 –
Ferguson: Brother Corbitt concludes his book with a strong call
for unity. The reasonable historical and doctrinal ground for unity
would be the practice of the church in the early centuries
(continued
until today in the various Orthodox and other Eastern churches), the
practice of the Reformed and Anabaptist churches of the Reformation
(continued today in such groups as the Reformed Presbyterian and
Reformed Baptist churches and many Mennonites), and the practice of the
churches of the Restoration Movement before division came (in part
because of the introduction of instruments).
Jay Guin: Under this logic, we should immediately
merge with the Orthodox and other named churches. After all, they share
with the a cappella Churches of Christ the essential ground
of unity: a cappella singing on Sunday morning! But, of
course, neither Ferguson nor the editors of the Gospel Advocate
have any intention of urging merger with the Orthodox or a
cappella Baptist, Presbyterian, or Mennonite churches. Rather,
a cappella singing is just one of a very long list of
required elements for unity.
The Bible and Churches
of Christ understand that "church" is no larger for individuals than
the local congregation. Churches of Christ have no lust to
UNIONIZE with anyone: not eve the congregation accross the streed.
In fact, what became
The Church of Christ was never "unioned" with what became the
Disciples of Christ. Because the Christian Church or NACC sectarianized
out of the Disciples long after Churches of Christ refused to be
confiscated by the Disciples, the only people using the UNITY stalking
horse or Judas Goat are those seeking to force Churches of Christ to
conform to them. Churches of Christ have never sought unity with anyone.
Jay Guin: A member of my congregation recently shared
a meal with the preacher
for another Church of Christ near here. The preacher assured him that
the University Church of Christ (my congregation) was involved in many
great works, doing much good for the cause of Jesus, but he —
regrettably — couldn’t fellowship us. You see, in his eyes, we are only
95% right.
We clap to the music during worship. And
this
5%
flaw
makes
us
unacceptable.
There
are,
of
course,
no New Testament passages
authorizing clapping — by command, inference, or example — and
therefore it is prohibited and therefore it destroys unity.
If Jay is an elder then he also knew that the leadership was
actively seeking to deny all of the principles of the Churches of
Christ.
Moral people know why you don't "Stir up the flesh in body
worship." Clapping had the meaning of BOOING the
looser. It
is a show of contemt when God insists that we come before Him in
reverence and godly fear. In Egypt and in Plato when people fall
into "body drumming" they are seeking "an audible or visual orgasm."
The laded burden Jesus died to give us rest from was "the creation
of spiritual anxiety by religious rituals." The church SPEAKS:
Speak is the opposite of poetry or music.
No Simple Simon misses the fact that "Body Drumming" is in fact a
band of musical instruments. Tabering is from the tabret which is the
same meaning as Topheth: hell. Carol Wimber of the Vineward (aka
wineskins) calls for the creation of a Climax like experience.
"During the erotic dance
ritual, the priestess
would
actually
become
the
Goddess
in
all
Her
glory.
According to the ancient texts, during
the erotic
dance ritual the priestesses would achieve visionary orgasm in which great truths were revealed.
"Het Heret was the over-arching sky cow
Goddess,
associated
with fertility and bounty and plenty. Married couples would go to the
temples of Het Heret for fertility rites
that would hopefully lead to a successful pregnancy. The temples were
filled with sweet smelling incense.
Typically sweets
and red
beer or golden ale would flow freely.
The priestesses of Het Heret would dance
to the rhythms of
live
drumming.
When the couples were
sufficiently aroused, they would engage in sexual intercourse on comfortable
pillows.
"The priestesses would often
enter into an altered
state of
consciousness
during erotic dance, becoming the Goddess manifest in human form. On
occassion the
priestesses would experience compelling spiritual visions while in this eroticly charged state.
From Source See Bast and
Lesbians
"Women and girls
from the different ranks of society were proud to enter the service
of the gods as singers
and
musicians. The
understanding of this service was universal: these singers
constituted the 'harem
of the gods'."
(Johannes Quasten. In Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian
Antiquity,
beginning on
page 41)
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Plutarch in
Symposium VIII comments on the "getting drunk on wine or
ignorance" where the "crooked race" met in perverted assemblies.
That
is
why
it,
like
music,
is
grouped
as
enchantment or sorcery.
[or Jay Guin]
- For we
in one case as much as the other resign
up our souls to the impetuousness of pleasures,
- which pouring
in those potions of songs, cadences,
and tunes,more powerful and bewitching than the best
mixtures of the
most skilful cook or perfumer, conquer and corrupt us;
- and in the
meantime, by our own confession
as it were, the fault is chiefly ours.
The Devil could have never been wiser than the invention of what
McGarvey called the Guilt Clause
- Now, as Pindar saith,
nothing that the earth
and sea hath
provided
for our tables can be justly blamed; but neither our meat nor
broth,
nor this excellent wine which we drink,
- hath raised
such a noisy tumultous
pleasure as
those songs and tunes did, which not only filled the
house with clapping
and
shouting, but perhaps the whole town.
- Therefore we ought
principally to secure
ourselves
against such delights, because they are more powerful than
others;
- as not
being terminated in
the body, like
those which
allure the touch, taste, or smelling,
- but affecting
the
very
intellectual and judging faculties.
Besides, from most other
delights, though
reason doth not free
us,
yet other passions very commonly divert us. Sparing
niggardliness will keep a glutton from dainty fish, and covetousness
will confine a lecher from a costly whore. As in one of Menander's
plays, where every one of the company was to be enticed by the bawd
who brought out a surprising whore, but each of them, though
all boon companions, Sat sullenly, and fed upon his cates.
- For to pay interest
for
money is a severe
punishment that follows
intemperance, and to open our purses is no easy matter. But these
pleasures that are called genteel,
- and solicit the
ears or
eyes of those
that are frantic after shows and music may be had without any charge at all, in
every place almost, and
upon every occasion;
- they may be enjoyed at
the prizes, in the theatre,
or
at entertainments, at others cost.
- And
therefore those that have not their reason to assist and guide them may
be
easily spoiled.
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Hand clapping in worship services is
related to RISING UP TO PLAY in the musical idolatry at
Mount Sinai. This was a terminal sin and
God turned Israel over to worship the starry host. That is, they
"prayed for musical idolatry" and God answered their prayer by turning
them loose and letting them go.
> "Let revelry
keep away from our rational entertainments, and foolish vigils, too,
that revel in intemperance. For revelry is an inebriating pipe, the chain of an amatory bridge, that is, of sorrow. And let love,
and intoxication, and senseless passions, be removed from our choir.
Burlesque
singing is the boon
companion of drunkeness. A night spent over drink invites drunkeness,
rouses lust, and is audacious in deeds of shame.
For if people occupy their time
with pipes,
and psalteries, and choirs,
and dances,
and Egyptian clapping of hands, and
such disorderly frivolities, they become quite immodest and intractable, beat on cymbals, and drums, and make a noise on instruments of delusion." (Clement, Instructor, Eerdmans, p.
248)
