dear folks, what are your thoughts on when a church has what i call an open mic time each service for one of the congregation or a group to come up and sing to the LORD in front of everybody.. and they sign up and take turns doing this in the order they sign up in..
now my question is if they dont sing good to most folks should they be not allowed to continue to sing for the LORD when there is open mic and their turn? thanks
dear randy, welcome to the forums. and very nice verses you gave..
one problem though is you made an assumption about how i felt about it.. as i just asked a question and didnt relate my views on the subject.. and then you become condescending in your words.. as in asking what part of the scriptures didnt you understand? you really didnt need to speak that way..
I think a simple answer without sarcasm is sufficient Randy~He is asking for opinions, not judgments on his question.
Okay Cattleman, you pulled me in with your lasso~:laugh: I just want to say~there is room for error in my opinions and I am teachable on all secondary issues but this on one thing I do know FOR SURE~Jesus Christ and Him crucified~and the basic truths of that gospel. Amen
These scriptures above are: Romans 15:9~And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.
Ephesians 5:18-20 "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;"
James 5:13~Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
Some conclusions we can draw from these: the body of Christ is to sing praises through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to each other making MELODY~
King James def. of Melody: An agreeable succession of sounds; a succession of sounds so regulated and modulated as to please the ear. To constitute melody, the sounds must be arranged according to the laws of rhythms, measure, or the due proportion of the movements to each other. Melody differs from harmony, as it consists in the agreeable succession and modulation of sounds by a single voice; whereas harmony consists in the accordance of different voices or sounds. Melody is vocal or instrumental.
There is a whole other study of what spirituall songs are but we do know what psalms and hymns are and quite honestly a lot of music in churches today is entertainment and show and not done in the right spirit.
Romans 8:8~So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Is EVERYONE who gets behind the microphone in the right spirit?~no and I have seen it whether they have the gift or not. Some are just wanting to put on a show and others that are mature can discern that. But they should have the ability to be IN the SPIRIT and in TUNE to bring others into unity with the Holy Spirit and not cause eyes and minds to be on them.
Okay now as a singer/minstrel for most of my life and being involved in many church services/prayer meeting/home gatherings~whew~ I do understand the beauty of New Testament singing as Paul describes, but it is my understanding that there is someone in the crowd with the gift to sing in tune that will be able to make MELODY and sing solo as Cattleman is saying~with a microphone if that be the case.
If someone begins to sing off tune and not make melody~then one who is gifted with that ability will usually join in or the whole group will sing.
Not EVERYONE is gifted to sing SOLO or in MELODY~But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (I Corinthians 12:11)
Everyone should SING but not EVERYONE should sing SOLO into a MICROPHONE unless they can make MELODY. When unity is in it~the spirit will flow otherwise it is a show and God cannot be pleased with acts of the flesh.
I believe it is the same if someone decides to strum a guitar or play piano out of tune into a microphone~it is not pleasant and causes DIS~ harmony. Let all things be done unto edifying.
Singing has always been an important part of the worship of God and He enjoys hearing us sing a new song to Him. Therefore it is important that we as the church, learn to sing and learn to make a beautiful sound that God likes. One of the benefits of four part harmony, in addition to the rich beautiful sound, is that each person is able to sing in their vocal range and make a beautiful harmonious sound.
The dangers of an open mike? I saw a lady get up and sing "The Rose" really off key and caused a very unedifying experience.
Another man off key~hit some high notes way out of his range and started coughing and if he was told to sing in the choir which was more suited for his voice~he stormed out of the church offended several times. Where is the maturity in that?
Another woman caused all the kids to sink down in the pews and laugh while she attempted to sing every month. There was no focus on the flow~it was flesh. Granted kids are kids but I have seen kids sit in awe of the Holy Spirit flowing.
You know, I'm not sure what it is about the "open mic" concept that I have never felt comfortable with. Not with Karaoke, not with AA meetings, not with testimonials. Somehow it always feels like a one up man ship contest, which leaves the door open to embellishments, petty jealousies and all kinds of stuff that has just never felt like a blessing to me, not for anyone in the room.
I think Pastors are given the job of leading a congregation in all manners, and letting people just do their own thing, or to borrow a phrase from the sixties, let it all hang out, that just gets way too close to buffet Christianity for me.
For one thing, how do you know what anyone is going to get up there and say? You don't . What happens when the newest saved member of your congregation gets up there and really connects to the youth group and finishes up with "and you know in your hearts that its okay to give in to sex as long as you love that person, God understands that!" Okay, now how do we back that truck up?
Maybe it is the right church for someone else, but frankly, I don't think that is a place where dissension will remain at bay.
There are many ways to encourage participation in worship, and for those that wish to participate, there is lots of room to get involved, but open mic just does not bring me a feeling of comfort, and I truly fear it is place where people can get hurt quite easily.
As a musician, I really struggle with things like this. Poor singing/playing/whatever really offends my sensitive musical ears! But, hey, if they are worshiping and praising God, who am I to say that they shouldn't do that? They are completely free to worship and praise in whatever way the Spirit leads them. HOWEVER, I do think that public worship (in front of everyone and over a mic) should be of a high quality...otherwise, are we not distracting others from focusing on worship? Those are just my thoughts, and I don't have a Bible in front of me to back them up...I know there are some verses that I've used before on similar topics (not on CDFF forums), but I can't remember them exactly.
"Let all things be done decently and in order" category.
1 Corinthians 14:40.
And the requirement is that it be edifying to the church.
When someone stands in the "God spot" and all eyes are upon them, the people are looking to hear God and be edified by what the person is doing. Sometimes the person will realize that it is not all about them. They may get all choked up or cry and have a moment of clarification and/or purification because they realize they are standing on Holy ground.
We are all called to make melody in our hearts.
But in a corporate worship service while we sing songs of praise the bible says He inhabits the praise of His people and that He rejoices over us with singing. For me that means He sings through me and makes me sound better than normal.
Is the open mike for a song of the Lord to be brought forth or is it a weekly talent contest? How many?
1 Corinthians 14
says two or three at most. I wold position an elder at the mike for discerning spirits and wisdom to maintain the edifying flow to the church
:bow:******************** :waving:
There was a melody in my head a couple days ago. A John Lennon Song "Imagine." But the lyrics needed improvement. Instead of "Imagine there's no heaven,"
I used,
"Imagine your in heaven,
looking down from above,
A great clod of witness
seeing hope faith and love".....
Eventually the lyrics ran out and I began to sing unintelligible words from the heart. It happens all the time whether on guitar or keyboard.
I play rhythm guitar and sing melodies but I need more words. Or someone with good lyrics. :angel:
The whole point is that your answer back to Cattleman was rude, Mr. Randy. He was just starting a discussion as he does quite frequently and does not need his question dissected, just a simple answer will do. We are free to ask questions here as long as they follow the rules of the forum, but we are not free to insult others.
