Do Any of You Still Sing Out Of The Songbook

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by CC1

Oh! Our church has a very young demographic but we do still sing old hymn. For a long time you could pretty much count on one of the four praise and worship songs being an old hymn but it is more sporadic now. What is cool is that the response to the old hymns is great from our younger crowd. Of course we only sing the really good old hymns so that helps!

I remember many times that whenever an old hymn was finally sung after the life had been wrung out of all the newer 711 choruses, that is really when the spirit of the Lord would move.

[Jason B]

Originally Posted by FlamingZword

I think it is time to rewrite all the songs that were written by the Trinitarians.
Just as I am sick and tired of having to use Trinitarian bibles, commentaries and books.
I think over half of the songs in our song books come from the Trinitarians.
why should we continue to sing Trinitarian created songs?

Better yet, why not simply dump all the Trinitarians songs

we just keep on following the Trinitarian's lead, they are the head and we are the tail and I am for one sick of that.

Actually its a lot more than half and the fact is that without the contributions of trinitarians Christianity isn't what it is. It is trinitarians who stood for the faith, who gave us the reformation, who wrote the large majority of beloved hymns, who spilled their blood to translate the scriptures into the vernacular, who wrote 99% of the commentaries, who founded hospitals, orphanages, and homeless shelters. It was those trinitarians who because of their faith in Christ, conviction about His authority an Word who were stretched on the rack, burned alive by the dozens, drowned, beheaded and the like for the sake of Jesus Christ and the furtherance of His gospel. It was those trinitarians who overthrew the yoke of the Roman Catholic Church, guided the church out of the Dark Ages, and reestablished congregational singing/worship, evangelical and expository preaching, taught people to pray biblically instead of the empty prayers they repeated after the catholic priest in a language they didn't understand, and reinstituted the Lords supper (both the bread and the wine) for all believers. It was also trinitarians who gave us the holiness movement and even the Pentecostal movement.

So I'm not sure why we'd be so eager to throw out everything they gave us. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

[CC1]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

I remember many times that whenever an old hymn was finally sung after the life had been wrung out of all the newer 711 choruses, that is really when the spirit of the Lord would move.

Yup. In all fairness though most churches only sing the cream of the crop of the old hymns. I am sure the percentage of mediocre old hymns is the same or almost the same as new songs! LOL The bad ones just went away and aren't sung any more.

My biggest gripe with contemporary praise and worship songs is that most don't have much of a melody and they try to cram way too many words in the song.

Every once in awhile there is a new song that rivals the best of the old standards. I think that Revelation Song is one of those.

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by CC1

Yup. In all fairness though most churches only sing the cream of the crop of the old hymns. I am sure the percentage of mediocre old hymns is the same or almost the same as new songs! LOL The bad ones just went away and aren't sung any more.

My biggest gripe with contemporary praise and worship songs is that most don't have much of a melody and they try to cram way too many words in the song.

Every once in awhile there is a new song that rivals the best of the old standards. I think that Revelation Song is one of those.

I LOVE the Revelation song!

I am not against new songs either... I am just against songs that are the 711 variety that have neither meaning, nor tune to them, and just become as sounding brass in your ears after one or two go-rounds.

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Jason Badejo

Actually its a lot more than half and the fact is that without the contributions of trinitarians Christianity isn't what it is. It is trinitarians who stood for the faith, who gave us the reformation, who wrote the large majority of beloved hymns, who spilled their blood to translate the scriptures into the vernacular, who wrote 99% of the commentaries, who founded hospitals, orphanages, and homeless shelters. It was those trinitarians who because of their faith in Christ, conviction about His authority an Word who were stretched on the rack, burned alive by the dozens, drowned, beheaded and the like for the sake of Jesus Christ and the furtherance of His gospel. It was those trinitarians who overthrew the yoke of the Roman Catholic Church, guided the church out of the Dark Ages, and reestablished congregational singing/worship, evangelical and expository preaching, taught people to pray biblically instead of the empty prayers they repeated after the catholic priest in a language they didn't understand, and reinstituted the Lords supper (both the bread and the wine) for all believers. It was also trinitarians who gave us the holiness movement and even the Pentecostal movement.

So I'm not sure why we'd be so eager to throw out everything they gave us. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Very, very true.

Short of turning this into a oneness versus trin bash session, I would venture to say most church going triniatarians really believe Jesus is God. There are very few triunists sitting on a church pew, from my observations. I don't mind trinitarians, because I see that they have a different way of explaining the godhead, but when it comes down to it, they do believe Jesus is God. It is the triunists that really pose the problem, and who really believe in three distinct, and completely separate beings, or gods, and from that understanding I must distance myself.

Suffice it to say that while some of the trinitarian theology is used in the old hymns, they still are powerful and wonderful old songs.

[Praxeas]

We use the song books to prop up the dilapidated pews

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

Oh, I have nothing against a screen, especially in large buildings, as it is hard to accommodate everyone. But there is a special kind of reverence that comes from singing old hymns out of an old hymn book. I guess it just seems to mean more to us, and perhaps that is just tradition too. But having the words to the newer songs on the screen does help when the words to the song that are being sung are hard to understand.

Okaaaay.

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by jfrog

I didn't see that at all here.

What else was the question asked for, then?

[Jason B]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

Very, very true.

Short of turning this into a oneness versus trin bash session, I would venture to say most church going triniatarians really believe Jesus is God. There are very few triunists sitting on a church pew, from my observations. I don't mind trinitarians, because I see that they have a different way of explaining the godhead, but when it comes down to it, they do believe Jesus is God. It is the triunists that really pose the problem, and who really believe in three distinct, and completely separate beings, or gods, and from that understanding I must distance myself.

Suffice it to say that while some of the trinitarian theology is used in the old hymns, they still are powerful and wonderful old songs.

The large majority of trinitarian Christians absolutely affirm that Jesus is God.

For your reference, (just a couple that come to mind) :

"It is no doubt true, that God alone has the power and authority to forgive sins: but they are wrong in concluding that it does not belong to Christ, for He is God manifest in the flesh 1 Timothy 3:16)" ~John Calvin NT Commentary on Mark 2:1-12

"Thus we have all our good by Christ, who is God." ~Jonathan Edwards, God Glorified in Man's Dependence (sermon)

"He is not an 'under God' as Arian's suppose, but to all intents and purposes, supreme God."~ Jonathan Edwards, The Excellency of Christ (sermon)

"Although the word theos, God, is usually reserved in the New Testament for God the Father, nonetheless, there are several passages where it is also used to refer to Jesus Christ. In all of these passages 'God' is used in the strong sense to refer to the one who is the creator of heaven and earth, ruler over all. These passages include John 1:1,18 and 20:28, Romans 9:5, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:8 and 2 Peter 1:1.....It is enough to note that there are at least seven clear passages in the New Testament that explicitly refer to Jesus as God."~ Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine, pg. 236-237.

Trinitarian books are literally filled with strong declarations of Jesus' deity.

[votivesoul]

When my wife and I lead our children in family devotions, we sing from a hymnal. These can be very special times, as for one, I know the presence and majesty of God I've felt when we are studying the Word and worshipping this way.

In the local assembly, we do not sing from a hymnal, but have a praise team and words on the wall from a projector. Admittedly, this form of worship has felt less impactful to me over the years, to the point, I'd rather not have music at all (notice I didn't say no singing).