On Bible Interpretation, Evidence, and Music
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2 Timothy 3:16 reveals that all of Scripture is God-inspired and instructive. Taken with Romans 15:4, similar verses, and examples of NT use of OT passages, some have concluded that even incidental narrative details are potential sources of doctrine.
Since OT narrative details reference everything from clothing to cooking, tools, weapons, vehicles (carts, chariots), and so much more, there are, of course, references to music. There are even references to specific instruments, moods, and uses of music.
I want to offer a few thoughts here for two audiences. The first is those who claim the hermeneutic (interpretive approach) that takes every narrative detail as a potential source of doctrine. The second audience is those who have participated in conversations, debates, or quarrels on the topic of “what the Bible teaches about music” and sensed that there was some kind of disconnect regarding how to use Scripture to address features of present-day culture.
Maybe something here can help a few understand each other a little bit better on these topics and more accurately identify points of agreement and disagreement.
Narrative and Evidence
I’ve written about proper use of narrative before, with a focus on why we should avoid “spiritualizing” elements of narrative—whether OT or NT. Many of the same problems afflict efforts to extract doctrine from narrative details.
Here, we’ll focus on the role of evidence in Bible interpretation, especially narrative.
It should be a given that since we’re talking about God’s Word, and teaching we are going to claim is “biblical,” any interpretation we take of any passage of Scripture—narrative or not—needs to be justified by evidence and reasoning. Saying “God meant this when He said that” is a weighty claim! It needs to be justified.
In other words, whenever we claim, “This information in this text has this meaning for us,” we should be expected to prove it. The “proof” may be informal, as it usually is in preaching. Still, we should expect listeners to want reasons. Our beliefs and assertions should be warranted, and we should help others see why they are warranted.
Narrative is no exception to this duty—any more than poetry, prophecy, or epistles.
Classifying Evidence
Some years ago, I wrote about casting lots as a thought experiment on handling biblical evidence. A lot of readers wanted to debate the validity of casting lots—but my intent was to stir curiosity: Why don’t churches or individual believers generally make decisions that way today?
There’s a reason we don’t. It has to do with evidence.
I’m going to talk about three qualities of evidence, two types of evidence, then five sub-types.
First, three qualities:
- Consistent with
- Supportive
- Conclusive
Say a building burned down, and we discover that Wolfgang was at the location when the fire started. His presence there is consistent with the claim that he started the fire, but it doesn’t support that conclusion at all. This is more obvious if lots of other people were there, too.
But suppose we also learn that Wolfgang had publicly said he wished that building would burn. He also bought lots of flammable liquids earlier that day. That still doesn’t prove he did it, but it is supportive. Though inconclusive, it is evidential for the claim that Wolfgang started the fire.
Now suppose Wolfgang was the only person there at the right time to have started the fire. Suppose the building was recently inspected and found to have no faulty wiring. There were no electrical storms that day, either.
We are now probably “beyond reasonable doubt” about Wolfgang’s guilt. The evidence is conclusive in the sense that it warrants a high-confidence conclusion.
On to the two types:
- Internal evidence
- External evidence
In reference to the Bible, internal evidence is anything within the 66 books of the Bible. External evidence is everything from human experience, human nature, and the whole created world outside the Bible.
Simple enough. On to the five sub-types. These are types of internal evidence. We could choose almost any topic, then classify every (or nearly every) biblical reference to it as one of these types. I’ll use music for this example:
- Direct teaching on the nature and purpose of music in all contexts.
- Direct teaching on the nature and purpose of music in a particular setting.
- Examples of people using music, with contextual indications of quality, and evidence of exemplary intent.
- Examples of people using music, with contextual indications of quality but no evidence of exemplary intent.
- Examples of people using music, but no contextual indications of quality or exemplary intent.
What do I mean by “exemplary intent”? Sometimes we read that person A did B, and the context encourages us to believe we’re seeing an example of good or bad conduct. For example, we read that Daniel prayed “as he had done previously” (Dan 6:10). The context encourages us to see Daniel’s choices as both good (“contextual indications of quality”) and something to imitate in an appropriate way (“exemplary intent”).
Evidence and Certainty
Why bother to classify evidence? Because classifying the information (evidence/potential evidence) guides us in evaluating how well it works as justification for a claim. In turn, that shapes how certain we can be that our understanding is correct and how certain we can encourage others to be.
Looking at the five types of internal evidence above, the evidential weight and certainty decrease as we get further down the list. By the time we get to type 5, we may not have evidence at all—in reference to our topic or claim. Depending on the size of the claim, there might be information that is consistent with a claim, but not really anything supportive, much less conclusive.
As we move up the list of types, relevance to the topic becomes far more direct, and interpretive possibilities are greatly reduced. Certainty increases because there are fewer options.
There is no Bible verse that tells us this. It’s a function of what is there in the text vs. what is not there. We know there is a difference between an apostle saying, “Do this for this reason” and an individual in an OT history doing something, with no explanation of why it’s in the text. The relationship of these realities to appropriate levels of certainty follows out of necessity.
How Narrative Is Special
Speaking of differences between one genre of writing and another in Scripture, let’s pause to briefly note a few things about narrative.
- Humans pretty much universally recognize narrative. They may not be able to explain what sets it apart from other kinds of writing, but they know it when they read or hear it.
- The characteristics of narrative that enable us to recognize it are not revealed in Scripture. There is no verse that says “this is the definition of narrative.” We just know.
- Those characteristics include the fact that many details in narratives are only there to support the story. They are not intended to convey anything to us outside of that context.
- There is no Bible verse that tells us narrative works this way. We just know. It’s built into the definition.
What does this mean when it comes to evidence and justifying our claim that a passage reveals a truth or helps build a doctrine?
It means that narrative detail has a different burden-of-proof level by default. Because the story-supportive role of narrative detail is inherent in the nature of narrative, our starting assumption with these details is normally that they are there to give us information about the events and characters, not to provide other kinds of information.
Can a narrative detail have a secondary purpose of revealing to us the nature of, say, hats and other clothing, carts and other vehicles, stew and other dishes, axes and other tools, lyres and other musical instruments? Probably sometimes. As with any other interpretive claim, the burden of proof lies on the interpreter to justify it. In the case of narrative, though, the interpreter has a lower-certainty starting point, and a longer journey to arrive at a warranted belief.
The Profitability of All Scripture
2 Timothy 3:16 and Romans 15:4 do indeed assure us that all of Scripture is important. “Verbal, plenary inspiration” describes our conviction that every original word of the Bible is fully and equally from God. So we don’t look at any words and dismiss them as unimportant. What we do is ask how do these words work together in their context to provide us with “teaching… reproof.. correction… and training in righteousness.”
Narrative details are important. They’re so important that we’re obligated to stay out of the way and let them do their job.
Aaron Blumer 2016 Bio
Aaron Blumer is a Michigan native and graduate of Bob Jones University and Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN). He and his family live in small-town western Wisconsin, not far from where he pastored for thirteen years. In his full time job, he is content manager for a law-enforcement digital library service. (Views expressed are the author's own and not his employer's, church's, etc.)
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The following post treats biblical revelation that teaches us that certain human musical activities were not culturally determined--rather, they were supernaturally determined.
Learning from Supernaturally Directed Creation and Soundings of Musical Instruments
November 11, 2024
God directed the Israelites to make two trumpets—this, therefore, was not independent cultural musical activity. Furthermore, God determined what the trumpets would be made of (silver) and how they were to be made (“of a whole piece shalt thou make them”):
Numbers 10:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.
God also specified how the trumpets were to be used through distinctively different soundings of them:
Blowing both trumpets but not sounding an alarm to assemble all the assembly:
Numbers 10:3 And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Numbers 10:7 But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. 8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations.
Blowing only one trumpet to gather only the princes:
Numbers 10:4 And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the princes, which are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee.
Blowing an alarm to direct the camps to move in specified ways:
Numbers 10:5 When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward. 6 When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.
Blowing an alarm when going to war:
Numbers 10:9 And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.
Blowing the trumpets over certain sacrifices on certain days:
Numbers 10:10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God.
Discussion
This passage plainly teaches us that certain human beings (the Israelites) made two musical instruments (two silver trumpets) and engaged in certain musical activities (the soundings of the silver trumpets) such that all their activities with those instruments were supernaturally directed—this was not independent human musical activity that was culturally based.
Moreover, their heeding that entirely supernatural direction included at least two distinctively different soundings of those instruments: blowing an alarm versus blowing that was not the blowing of an alarm.
Conclusion
We, therefore, can say with certainty that the Bible does not teach that all musical activities of all people of all time have all been culturally determined. Rather, some of those musical activities have been supernaturally directed in both the making of the instrument or instruments used and the soundings of the instrument or instruments.
Taking what Scripture reveals to us in this passage and applying it to our understanding of the distinctively occult percussive activities of skull drummers and others involved in demonic musical activities provides us with biblical instruction that fully supports our accepting as valid and true the testimonies that occultists have given of getting both their instruments and their ways of sounding them from demons.
This comment ("no civilized person thinks . . . ") is a fallacious use of the "no true Scotsman fallacy."
More important, it is in direct denial of the wisdom of God.
Deuteronomy 12:29 When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; 30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, *How* did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. 31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Acts 19:19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
1 Corinthians 10:14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Of course, the existence of the one proves the existence of the other. The skull drums have to be sounded in some manner when they are used in the occult activities.
I think the drums themselves are offensive and unacceptable for holy worship, based on your description of them being constructed by desecrating corpses and applying some kinds of demonic symbols or incantations. Of course they must be played somehow, but it does not follow that they are played in any way that is distinct from how non-skull drums are played. Nor does it follow that the detestable nature of those drums (by virtue of their construction) has the effect of rendering any percussive sound they make distinctly immoral or even identifiable different from sounds made by non-skull drums.
What are we to believe about those distinctive percussive practices that the occultists use to sound their skull drums?
I don't know whether skull drummers have a style or any techniques that are unique to them or whether they simply play skull drums the way any other drummer plays his instruments. There are just too many assumptions here to know if there is anything we ought to believe regarding "distinctive percussive practices that the occultists use to sound their skull drums."
Taking what Scripture reveals to us in this passage and applying it to our understanding of the distinctively occult percussive activities of skull drummers...
It is not at all clear why we should take what Scripture says about 2 silver trumpets the Israelites were to make and use under the Mosaic code and apply it to whatever is going on when occultists engage in some kind of pagan practices. These two things could hardly be further apart!
We’re just going in circles. I’ll probably ignore this one going forward.
Example…
Wrong. Skull drums are relevant because they prove that sinful humans have made musical instruments that are not acceptable to God for any use in worship. Nobody, therefore, can make any legitimate claims that there are no musical instruments that are off-limits to believers.
Already pointed out multiple times that nobody thinks it’s good to use instruments with occult symbols on them.
Hence, no, not relevant to anything that is a point of disagreement.
What I think would be interesting to see at some point, Rajesh, is a summary of what your view is on one of the main points of disagreement, along with a short list of supporting arguments.
Something like…
My view is that it’s always wrong to use ____ in Christian worship, for these reasons:
- Reason 1:
- Reason 2:
- Reason 3:
Make it your top three reasons. Follow that with as much detail as you like to support each reason. Then we have something concrete to look at and consider.
Or, if you’d rather focus on the hermeneutical approach, something like…
My view is that it is right and necessary to use the bible in this way____ to derive broadly applicable principles about life today.
An example:…
This view is correct for these reasons… (pick the strongest three reasons)
- Reason 1:
- Reason 2:
- Reason 3:
I’m not speaking for anyone else on this, but I can’t personally track what your views really are and what their based on because the discussion veers quite frequently into some sub-sub-sub-point or other that isn’t, in itself, related in any important way the main questions, as far as I can see.
If that happens, somebody PM me. I’d like to take a look at it.
Otherwise… I’ve got a lot going on right now. It’s always a challenge to try to offer clear counterarguments in response to an unclear thesis. I don’t think have any more time to try to do that this time around.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Music discussions are always inexact, both because of the nature of music, and the because of the way we have to process what is in scripture, just as Aaron has pointed out.
To my knowledge, there is no one here who either thinks only styles/instruments spoken of positively in the Bible can be used for life or worship, and I also do not believe there is anyone here who thinks that anything the Bible doesn’t express directly is automatically acceptable to God. That leaves us with the “squishy” middle. As many others have said, we have to use what we know about principles in the Word, and how to read, interpret, and apply them, as well as things we know from life experience to come to some conclusions on things the Bible doesn’t address directly.
The whole big thread about the GCI never resulted in any clear principles on what styles/instruments can be used from what we read in scripture there, because there simply isn’t enough information about what styles they used or didn’t, or even if they were singing a song attempting to give (false) worship to the Lord.
I’ll give you a much more modern (but still old to us) example. In one of Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda films (I believe it was “Victory of Faith”) there is a point during one of the meetings of the National Socialist Party, the entire assembly breaks out into “We Gather Together to Ask the Lord’s Blessing,” and sang it in a style and with reverence that would not be considered out of place in any of the churches represented here. The lyrics were in German, of course, but as far as I could tell (my German is good but not perfect), they were not changed from the hymn text you know. And yet, given what they were asking blessing upon, and the people using that hymn, I would still consider it an abomination.
After the obvious, like lyrics or situations or instruments directly dedicated to the occult or worship of other gods, or giving God’s glory to evil purposes, we mostly use things like association or appropriateness to determine much of what music we will use. If we are going to judge music as biblically wrong other than for the obvious, there has to be some some clear lines drawn from scripture and logic, as has been pointed out many times on this thread.
If the idea of “skull drums” is being used to show that not everything that is not mentioned in scripture is necessarily good, well then OK, but I don’t think anyone here disagrees with that. A lot more work will have to be done to show that an electric guitar or synthesizer, or certain rhythms and singing styles are in that category. We can easily make judgements for our own use, but that has no scriptural warrant for everyone else. And unfortunately, simply saying that “we just don’t understand all scripture says on the matter” and using that as a major argument is insufficient, and ultimately self-defeating, as we can never claim we understand everything about the scriptures. At some point, we have to draw the best conclusion we can and move on with that, until such time as the Holy Spirit together with scripture and plain reason can convince us otherwise, just as Martin Luther said.
Dave Barnhart
Taking what Scripture reveals to us in this passage and applying it to our understanding of the distinctively occult percussive activities of skull drummers...
It is not at all clear why we should take what Scripture says about 2 silver trumpets the Israelites were to make and use under the Mosaic code and apply it to whatever is going on when occultists engage in some kind of pagan practices. These two things could hardly be further apart!
I thought that I made the point of comparison between the two very plain. Let me try again.
Numbers 10 reveals that both the making of and the distinctive soundings of two specific musical instruments was entirely determined and directed by a supernatural entity (God) and was not at all human cultural activity.
In the same way, demons are supernatural beings. They have interacted directly with humans and imparted information to them that directed the humans both to make certain occult percussive instruments and the occult soundings of them. Those occult instruments and their distinctive soundings, therefore, are not musical activities and products merely or even at all of cultural activity by sinful humans--they are directly from demons.
In this manner, we know with certainty, therefore, that evil humans involved in demonic musical activities have originated demonic musical instruments and demonic ways of sounding them. All such musical instruments and ways of sounding them are categorically forever off-limits to righteous people and cannot ever be used acceptably for any righteous uses.
Um, Rajesh, Daniel 3:10 notes that the trumpet (along with the "sackbut") was used in Nebuchadnezzar's homage to himself. So is the trumpet established by God, or flat out prohibited? Also worth noting is that the trumpet has been used by Chicago and various "ska" bands in popular music, not to mention a lot of jazz artists. So there's another few sets of bad associations.
This is the trouble you get into with guilt by association fallacies. Everything out there, pretty much, has been used wrongly by somebody. So when you start using guilt by association, you either quickly find out that you can't use anything because everything has a guilty association, or you will end up rather selectively deciding what guilty associations are really guilty. In other words, you pick and choose based on your own biases.
And it's worth noting as well that the modern trumpet is greatly different from the ancient, so even there, we're in trouble.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Rajesh,
You keep saying that there are distinctly demonic ways of sounding instruments, but this is precisely the point that does not follow from the existence of things like skull drums. In fact, the two seem quite unrelated. If someone played a sacred song on an instrument made from a human skull, it isn't the way the instrument is sounded that is the problem. This is why skull drums are not relevant to the discussion of what musical styles or instruments are acceptable in Christian worship.
You keep saying that there are distinctly demonic ways of sounding instruments, but this is precisely the point that does not follow from the existence of things like skull drums. In fact, the two seem quite unrelated. If someone played a sacred song on an instrument made from a human skull, it isn't the way the instrument is sounded that is the problem. This is why skull drums are not relevant to the discussion of what musical styles or instruments are acceptable in Christian worship.
Actually, your claim is irrelevant that "if someone played a sacred song on an instrument made from a human skull, it isn't the way the instrument is sounded that is the problem." So what?
If someone were going to make the claim that all ways of playing all instruments are inherently acceptable to God, that person would have to prove that claim is true--he could not just assert it and do so legitimately (I'm not saying that you are making this claim).
He could not prove it by claiming that the Bible never says that there are ways of playing musical instruments that God rejects so there are not any. That would be a faulty argument from silence.
The existence of things like skull drums proves that sinful humans have engaged in creative activity that has produced musical instruments that are categorically unacceptable to God. (It does not matter whether you or anyone else is denying that this is true.)
Because it is true that sinful humans have engaged in creative activity to produce instruments that are not acceptable to God, there is no legitimate basis to hold that the same is not true or could not be true for the "styles" or "genres" that sinful humans have originated.
When the reality of demonic direction of humans concerning how the humans are to play those totally unacceptable instruments is taken into consideration, the question has to be answered about whether God accepts those demonically directed ways of playing those instruments.
It appears that you deny that there any such demonically directed ways of playing musical instruments. If that is your position, you have to provide some valid basis for asserting that such demonically directed ways of playing skull drums do not exist, cannot exist, etc.
If the idea of “skull drums” is being used to show that not everything that is not mentioned in scripture is necessarily good, well then OK, but I don’t think anyone here disagrees with that.
On the contrary, there are those who have made statements that in effect have asserted that the Bible does not say that there any unacceptable or prohibited instruments or "genres," so therefore there are not any.
Skull drums prove that such reasoning with the Bible is faulty. I appreciate that you are at least willing to admit that point.
Rajesh,
For some reason I cannot fathom, you continue to ignore the giant leap between the existence of certain unclean musical instruments made from human cadavers and some kind of biblical principle that applies to the use of otherwise clean musical instruments. I really have tried to give you an opportunity in good faith to show your work, but it just doesn't seem to be happening.
FWIW, I remain totally unconvinced of whatever your position is on whatever Christian worship music genres/instruments/styles are really some form of demon worship and therefore off-limits to believers.
For some reason I cannot fathom, you continue to ignore the giant leap between the existence of certain unclean musical instruments made from human cadavers and some kind of biblical principle that applies to the use of otherwise clean musical instruments. I really have tried to give you an opportunity in good faith to show your work, but it just doesn't seem to be happening.
FWIW, I remain totally unconvinced of whatever your position is on whatever Christian worship music genres/instruments/styles are really some form of demon worship and therefore off-limits to believers.
I cannot fathom why you continue to ignore the role of demons in originating musical practices that they know are unacceptable to God.
In any case, I appreciate your interaction.
You say that my position is that there are "genres," etc. that "are really some form of demon worship and therefore off-limits to believers" [bold, underlining added to the original]. This is a gross misunderstanding of my position.
We ourselves do not have any objective way of knowing what those unacceptable "genres" of demonic origin communicate or signify to demons (except when occultists have beforehand communicated such information to us).
Musical "genres," etc. can be utterly unacceptable to God and not involve any kind of worship of demons. The Bible explicitly speaks of demonic occult practices in distinction from the worship of demons:
Revelation 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
It is a very serious theological error to conflate such demonic activities with demonic worship.
On the other hand, there is no reason that I know of to exclude the possibility that some "genres" of demonic origin may indeed express humanly unknowable worship to demons. My position is that we cannot know whether such is the case or not unless the occultists testify that it is.
Either way, the bottom line for me is that there are musical "genres" or "styles" that are unacceptable to God because they are of demonic origin.
Discussion