On December 31, 2001, I withdrew fellowship from the Minot Church of Christ because of hand-clapping. A few weeks prior to withdrawing, I had spoken to the elders about it and told them what I thought of it. I assured them that if this congregation was going to practice something non-Scriptural and without Biblical authority, I would withdraw fellowship. I did not ask them to forbid hand-clapping, but simply to advise the song leaders not to lead songs that encourage it. Despite knowing my feelings, the elders allowed hand-clapping songs to continue. After the service that day, I informed them that I was withdrawing fellowship for that reason. I sent this letter to the elders as well, clearly outlining why I oppose hand-clapping in the worship service.
Why I Oppose Hand-Clapping
God commanded Noah to build an ark. He told Noah specifically to use gopher wood and gave him the exact dimensions to build the ark. If Noah had, in full faith and sincerity, used a wood other than gopher wood, would he have been obeying God? If he had built the ark to different specifications than God gave, would he have been obeying God? If God specified gopher wood, did Noah know that no other wood was allowed, or did God have to list all the trees of the forest not to use? Do we want
to be guilty today of building the church with a worship God did not prescribe?
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, offered "strange fire" before the Lord which He had not authorized. If they were fully sincere and honest in their offering, would that have been enough to make it acceptable to God? If God had specified where to get the fire from (Leviticus 6:12, 13; 16:12; Numbers 16:46), did His specification necessarily exclude all other sources of fire? Do we want to be guilty today of offering "strange worship" to God that He has not authorized?
Zacharias, in Luke 1:13, was commanded to name his son "John." Did the angel have to tell him all the names NOT to name the child for him to know it must be "John"? In fact, for doubting the angel, he was punished with muteness until the correct name was given. Mary was commanded to name her son "Jesus." Did the angel have to list all the other names for her to know that no other name was acceptable?
The New Testament clearly authorizes us to sing. If God had simply said to "make music," but not specified how to make music, we would be free to make music any way we chose, just as Noah would have been free to build the ark of any wood he chose if God had not specified gopher wood, and as Nadab & Abihu could have offered any fire they chose if God had not said from where to get the fire, and as Zacharias and Mary could have named their boys any name they chose. But the fact is that God has specified HOW to make music in the church. We sing with the instrument God designed: the heart and voice. I know you are
familiar with the Scriptures that teach this. Since God specified HOW to make music, it necessarily implies that we are not to make music any other way, just as it was necessarily implied that Noah was not to build the ark with any other wood. God did not need to make a list of all the trees in the world of which Noah was not to build the ark. He did not need to make a list of all the kinds of fire in the world from which the priests were not to make offerings. He didn't need to list all the names not to give to John and Jesus. His specification of exactly what He wanted, and silence on everything else, necessarily implied that anything other than what He specified was NOT acceptable. Likewise, God does not need to make a list of all the ways in the world not to make music for us to understand that the church is to make music by singing without adding to, subtracting from, or changing it. God has specified singing for the church, and clapping is not singing.
Singing is an acceptable form of worship to God in the church. Clapping is not singing any more than sprinkling is baptizing. The person clapping might be sincere and honestly trying to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, but clapping is not singing. The clapper might be adding a nice sound to the song, but clapping is not singing. If clapping is acceptable, then why don't we have a song of "only clapping" without singing? Because the New Testament authorizes singing, not clapping, and
clapping is not singing!
You are right that the New Testament does not specifically say we cannot clap or use instrumental music. But let us say, for example, you give $20 to your teenage son/grandson. You tell him to go to the grocery store and buy milk, eggs, and bread. So he takes the money and goes. While he is at the grocery store, he certainly buys milk, eggs, and bread. Then he also buys candy, some sodas, and a box of cookies. On the way home, he stops at McDonalds and buys himself dinner with the change.
Finally he proudly comes home and presents the milk, eggs, and bread to you. You ask where your change is, and he says that he spent it. After all, you didn't say NOT to buy candy, sodas, cookies, or dinner at McDonalds. So, did he obey you? (No, not exactly.) Was it necessary for you to make a list of all the things in the grocery store he was not allowed to buy for him to understand that we was only supposed to buy the 3 things you specified? (No.) Did you need to list every restaurant in town for him to know not to stop and buy himself dinner with your change? Of course not! Likewise, God does not have to specify every thing the Church is NOT supposed to do when He has specified what the Church IS supposed to do. God did
not need to say "thou shalt not use guitars, drums, pianos, organs, tambourines..." for us to know not to use them. He did not need to say "thou shalt not clap thy hands while singing" for us to know not to do it. He said to SING, necessarily implying that anything different from singing was excluded. And clapping is not singing!
But let us assume for a moment that hand-clapping is acceptable because we are using our human body to praise God, not a mechanical instrument. If we can clap, then can we whistle? If we can whistle, can we stamp our feet? Can we click with our tongue? Can we twang on our mustaches? Can we thump our tummies? Can we put our hands under our armpits and make squelching sounds? After all, we are still using the human body to make music, aren't we? Where will we draw the line? How far can we go before we realize that those things are not ways of singing? Obviously, when we open the door to clapping, we have to let in a lot of other things too. Clapping is not the safest, surest way to worship God because the Scripture is silent on it. Are we going to practice what we can prove with book, chapter, and verse, or will we practice what we cannot safely and surely prove with Scriptures? I have always said we should do that which is safest and surest, staying away from questionable practices that take us closer to the edge of sin rather than keeping us straight down the middle of the path that leads to
salvation.
Where does hand-clapping lead? Someone is going to say the same thing someone said in the denominations so many years ago when they went to instruments: "I want to praise God with the talents God gave me, and the talent He gave me is to play the piano" (or guitar, or tambourine, or drums, et al.) What will we do then? Will we tell a person that their way of praising God is unacceptable, while we allow the rest of the congregation to clap, whistle, stamp, click, twang, thump, and squelch?
[name removed] told me he would not allow a person to use mechanical instruments in the congregation because it would offend some people and could cause division. I made it clear that hand-clapping is offensive to me and that I would leave if it occurred, yet nothing was done to protect me from being offended. I'm not interesting in splitting the church, I'm interested in keeping the church on the right path, modeled after the pattern in the New Testament. The New Testament pattern of making music is singing, and clapping is not singing.
If you have ever read or watched a debate or trial, you know that the burden of proof lies with the person affirming it. In other words, the person who claims something to be true or acceptable must prove it; the person denying it can win the debate or trial without even saying a word if the person affirming fails to prove it conclusively. I can affirm and prove that singing is authorized in the church, and I'm sure you would not disagree with me. But if you want to affirm that clapping is authorized in the church, you have the burden of proof. You must produce evidence from the Scriptures that the New Testament churches did it. You must prove it true and acceptable to God. If your only justification and proof is that the Scripture does not say "not" to do it, your case is lost. The Scripture does not say "not" to eat meat with the Lord's Supper, but don't we know not to do that? The Scripture does not say "not" to put a pool table in the church building, but does that make it ok to do it today? The Scripture does not say "not" to baptize infants, but does its silence give us liberty to do that? The Scripture does not say "not" to look at pornography, but we know from common sense that it is wrong. The Scripture does not say "not" to dance ludely in public, but who would say that the Bible's silence gives us liberty to do that? So trying
to prove something true that the Bible has said nothing about does not win the case. Let us speak and act where the Bible speaks and acts, and let us be silent and still where the Bible is silent and still. Restoration-era preacher J.W. McGarvey said, "We cannot, therefore, by any possibility, know that a certain element of worship is acceptable to God in the Christian dispensation, when the Scriptures which speak of that dispensation are silent in reference to it. To introduce any such element is unscriptural and presumptuous. It is will worship, if any such thing as will worship can exist. On this ground we condemn...instrumental music" (Millenial Harbinger, 1864, pp. 511-513). Moses Lard said, "In all acts of worship we must do
only what is prescribed in the New Testament, or was done with divine sanction by the primitive Christians. Not the semblance of innovation must be allowed on this sacred principle" (Lard's Quarterly, Vol. 4, p. 395).
I hope and pray that you, the elders, will carefully consider all of this. Clapping is "strange fire" the Lord has not authorized. Clapping is a wood other than the gopher wood Noah used. Clapping is not singing. Clapping is no different from
using mechanical instruments, and I will have nothing to do with either!
I am sad that it has come this. I never thought I would have to leave a church because of hand-clapping. But I have no choice...the Bible does not give me the choice to tolerate a non-Biblical practice. I must withdraw and disfellowship from
sinful practices. Singing is authorized, and clapping is not singing.
I prayerfully look forward to hearing from you on this.
In His Service,
-David F. Sims-
Written by David F. Sims, doing my part to "turn the world upside down" (Acts 17:6)
All quotes taken from the New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise stated.
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