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The real question is not whether you will be traditional or not,
but rather, which tradition will you embrace? The contemporary
spirit is defined not so much by style as by its demand for
immediacy. This is what has happened to us in our
mass-media-saturated culture. Anything that fails to give
immediate satisfaction, that demands some reflection, is going
to be perceived as unsympathetic to the needs of modern man.
[12]
A great deal of the problem with much contemporary Christian
music is that it is primarily commercial, which means that it is
designed to please the greatest number of people without
reminding them of the hard, demanding side of Christian faith
and discipleship. [13]
This
is the crux of our worship
music wars. We must see that though we take different stances on
all this, we are not enemies at all. Our true enemy, the devil,
is always searching for chinks in our armor, and now he has
found one—our musical appetites; so he pokes at it with glee.
[16]
Repetition is not evil in and of itself. In fact, it is often
quite good. The problem is not whether or not to repeat
something, but rather what to repeat and how to repeat it. The
problem is mindless
repetition, or repetition of the soft and fuzzy parts we like to
the exclusion of full-orbed teaching. [26]
If musicians are to make profound, theologically informed
decisions for the well-being of the congregation, they need lots
of study time just to figure out the why level. If we respond
only to the outward demands of church music, the musician will
not always appear productive. But when the Bible commands us to
edify one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the
intent is to place us together in right relationships to God and
one another and to transform our deep belief structures so our
ethical behavior will be godly. This involves the painstaking
development of wisdom. It requires reflection. [43]
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