Richland Hills & Instrumental Music - Apologetics Press

160 Pages·2008·0.89 MB·English

Apologetics Press, Inc.
230 Landmark Dr.
Montgomery, AL 36117-2752
Sain Publications
P.O. Box 616
Pulaski, TN 38478
© Copyright 2007
ISBN 10: 1-60063-30-49
ISBN 13: 978-1-60063-004-0
Cover by Rob Baker
Text set by Jim Estabrook
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form without permission from the publisher, except
in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or critical
reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Dave Miller (1953 - )
Richland Hills & Instrumental Music: A Plea to Reconsider
Includes bibliographic references.
ISBN 10: 1-60063-30-49 ISBN 13: 978-1-60063-004-0
1. Public worship & other practices. 2. Christianity & Christian theology.
3. Sacraments, other rites & acts. I. Title.
203-dc22 2007903519
DEDICATION
To Deb—
whose positive influence on my life
has been inestimable, profound,
and eternal.

Table of ConTenTs
“The Both/And Church—Part 1”. . . . . . . . . . . . .2
“The Both/And Church—Part 2”. . . . . . . . . . . . .4
“Old.Testament.Reasons.for.Accepting.
Instrumental.Music”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
I/II ..Commanded.and.Blessed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
III ..Prophesied.for.the.Kingdom?. . . . . . . . . . . 17
Instruments.in.zamar?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Hebrew.Lexicons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
English.Translations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Theological.Dictionaries.and.Commentaries. . . .24
Human.Inference.and.Deduction. . . . . . . . . . . . 25
“New.Testament.Reasons.for.Accepting.
Instrumental.Praise”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
I ..Jesus.Did.Not.Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Prodigal’s.Homecoming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
II ..“Non-Issue.in.Acts”?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
“No.Authority.for.Congregational.Singing”?. . . .36
III ..Not.Prohibited?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
“Daily.Walk”.Only?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
“Only.Solos.in.the.Assembly”?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
“No.Command.to.Sing.Only?”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
IV ..In.Heaven?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
V ..Giftedness?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
“Making.it.Difficult”?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
“The.Authority.to.Forbid”?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
“Connected.to.the.Cross”?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
“Arguments.Against.Accepting..
Instrumental.Praise.to.God”. . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
I ..The.Psallo.Argument. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Greek.Lexical.Evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Summary.of.Lexical.Data.on.Psallo. . . . . . . . . . .61
Psallo.and.English.Translations. . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
Greek.Theological.Dictionaries.and.
Commentaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Which.Instrument.in.Ephesians.5:19?. . . . . . . . 67
Grammatical.Parallels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
Quibble. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Who.Must.Psallo?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Summary.of.Psallo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Early.Church.History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
II ..The.Law.of.Exclusion/Silence.of..
Scripture.Argument. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
The.Biblical.Principle.of.Authority. . . . . . . . . . .79
Colossians.3:17:.“In.the.Name.of”. . . . . . . . . . . 80
Old.Testament.Illustrations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
New.Testament.Illustrations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Illustrations.from.Secular.Society. . . . . . . . . . . 86
Authority.For.EVERYTHING?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Jesus,.the.Synagogue,.&.the..
Feast.of.Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
Wine.at.Passover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
God.“Saying.Nothing”?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
“What.It.Says.About.the.Bible”. . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
“What.It.Says.About.God”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Who.God.Is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Credibility.Gap?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
“The Both/And Church—Part 3”. . . . . . . . . . .110
Sabbath.for.Man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
Romans.14:5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Communion.on.Saturday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
Why.First-Century.Omission?. . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Appendix A:.Old.Testament.Occurrences..
of.zamar.in.the.Piel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Appendix B:.New.Testament.Occurrences..
of.psallo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Charts
A.Comparison.of.Ephesians.5:19.&..
Colossians.3:16. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Ephesians.5:19.&.the.Psalms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
How.the.Bible.Authorizes.1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
How.the.Bible.Authorizes.2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
How.the.Bible.Authorizes.3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
Authority.&.the.Passover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99

Preface
The church that claims to be the largest church of Christ
in America now conducts a 5:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon
worship service that incorporates both the Lord’s Supper
and instrumental music (Ross, 2007). In preparation for this
historically significant departure from past practice, Rick
Atchley delivered three sermons (all titled “The Both/And
Church”) in December 2006 from the Richland Hills pulpit
in an effort to explain the rationale behind the change (2006).
This book constitutes a critical review of the contentions
contained in those sermons that purport to justify the use
of instrumental music in Christian worship. The reader is
encouraged to secure Rick’s sermons and give them a fair and
equal hearing in conjunction with the critique that follows
(see Atchley, 2006). [NOTE: Due to Rick’s reliance on the NIV,
that version is used repeatedly in this critique.]
No human on Earth today has the power to look into the
heart of his fellowman and ascertain the man’s true motives.
We are called upon by God to think the best, believe the best,
and hope the best about each other (1 Corinthians 13:7). I
absolutely refuse to question Rick’s motives, or charge him
with deliberate misrepresentation of the facts. I desire to
attribute to him the same sincerity that I would like him to
ascribe to me. I have no desire to “nit pick” Rick’s sermons.
My sole desire is to ascertain God’s truth on matters that will
affect our eternal destiny. This is serious business. And the
matter of how to worship God has eternal consequences—
souls are at stake.
Since God admonishes every accountable person to be a
sincere seeker of truth (Proverbs 23:23; John 7:17), genuine
Christians should have no hesitation in examining contrary
viewpoints. My prayer is that those who have accepted the
claims and conclusions that Rick has offered will be willing to
give the contrary viewpoint an honest hearing. With humility
I offer the following critique of Rick’s claims.