Jesus and the Guitar



Modern worship today is, apparently, really big on long songs that are not old hymns but written recently. There are conferences discussing seriously whether this modern music which eats up more worship time than the sermon is "Christianity"?  Some are wondering if Jesus would return playing a guitar.

I've been at such a service and am baffled by this practice. This reflects, of course, my age and that I associate "worship" with the practices I have known in my lifetime. 

None of this means my experience was "right" nor that modern worship that is closer to a rock concert is wrong. It merely shows that the entire enterprise of religion, its beliefs and its rituals, are man-made to fit what the culture reflects at any given time. It's a given that the worship I experienced would have seemed strange to generations before me.

Many churches have two different kinds or style of services--almost two separate groups in the same congregation. Does the invisible being like to see one type of service but not the other? It's easy to answer that because the invisible being does not exist and those who are self-appointed to speak for it can assign anything they want. The answer invariably is the invisible being will have the same opinion as the person informing us of its views. 

The larger question is why is music part of "worship." Do other religions that worship other gods use music to worship or fill the pews? Christianity in the U.S. is more entrepreneurial than Christianity anywhere else and probably more than all other religions. Music helps put butts on the bench and money in the plate. 

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