All scripture aside … all hermeneutics aside … all logic aside … all passion aside.
With all that put aside, let me tell you why at the core I cannot agree with the proposition that God would condemn to eternal hell a soul who praised Him with a musical instrument.
Because I would not want for God to take me into a private closet at judgment and ask me: “Keith, I gave you a beautiful little daughter, didn’t I? A joy to your life and the delight of your eye? With a sweet voice that goes straight to your heart?
“Keith, If she had ever bounced into the room where you were sitting and said, ‘Daddy, I’m so happy I just don’t know what to do!’ and you answered, ‘Well, I’d love it if you sang me a song,’ and she ran and got her little blue electronic keyboard that you bought her for Christmas and sang to you with it … Keith, would you have flown into a rage and cursed her and screamed, ‘I said SING! I never said ANYTHING about PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT!’ and bound her up and threw her into a burning city dump to die?
“Is that the kind of Father you think I AM?”
Blog In My Own Eye 
Amen. Keith, I love this. Thank you so much for that perspective.
Keith, all of us who have kids can relate to this. I have used similar analogies in this discussion. NONE of us parents would do this to our children, yet some teach God will do it to his. Aren’t we made in the image of God?Great follow up, brother!DU
Keith, A great post! I completley agree. Unfortunately in my view, most of those who hold the opposite position already have their minds set and do not want to be confused by facts or logic.Grace to you,Royce Ogle
Interesting analogy–I think you are right on!
I don’t know, but it seems to me that your God is more concerned with your ability to “get it right” than he is concerned about you. If you can’t believe correctly in all things, you <>deserve<> to be thrown into endless hell. Know what I mean?Really, it’s not him doing it to you, but you doing it to yourself because you can’t, or won’t, get it “right”.
KeithInteresting and deep thoughts on your blog. Do you really think that is how God feels about souls being sent to hell for eternity? We must be very careful about not trivializing the gospel by drawing our conclusions based on our emotions. The question is not and never should be, “Are you saying I will burn in hell if I do this?” I imagine that most who have taught bible classes have had individuals use that sort of reasoning to justify doing whatever the teacher is teaching against. Truthfully, It usually makes me take a few steps backward because it is an extremely emotionally charged statement. The better and more appropriate question is simply, “What does the Bible say?”Westley HazelMain Street Church of ChristManchester TN
Simply excellent! Nuff said.
bd – I think there are a lot of Christians who are more concerned about being right than doing good, if that’s what you mean.Wes, it <>is<> an emotionally-charged statement. I fully admit that. If you’ve hung around my blog before, you know that I believe in a God who is both just and loving … that there are some sins worse than others (< HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=11&version=31&context=verse" REL="nofollow">John 19:11<>) … and that the Bible says nothing approving or disapproving about instrumental praise between Matthew and III John. So I take your question very seriously. What the entirety of scripture tells me about the nature of God is that He is not willing that anyone should perish … and that it would make no sense to the brain and heart He gave me to think that He would be just as willing to condemn anyone for violating an unspoken infraction of His will as He was to give His own Son to save as many possible.
Keith, your post & then this last comment to Wes is so thoughtfully well said.
Keith,Thank you for your scholarship, but most especially for attempting to show us the heart of God in this post. From Genesis to Revelation we read the Story of God and of His wondrous pursuit of us—from His gracious act of creation to His sacrificial feat of dying for us to His munificent gift of His very Self inside of us. Astonishingly, He wants to be with us. It is beyond my comprehension! And He has already done what must be done in order for us to be together. Now we must trust in Him, we must name Him as Lord and follow Him. He has saved us and one day He will live among us completely. The big IF is not “if we follow a set of unspoken commands that we ought to be able to figure out.” No, I believe the big IF is that we follow Christ and thus are willing to empty ourselves of our pride and fear and selfish ways and then lay down our lives for Him and for each other, accepting His grace with humility. Kathy