Of those churches which trace their origin to nineteenth century celebrity preacher Alexander Campbell's teaching, some are liberal Protestant churches like any other of that tribe. Some are another story.

Make a Joyful Noise

"Speak, if you are old — it is your privilege — but come to the point and do not interrupt the music." (Wisdom of ben Sirach, 32:3).

Many of the churches in the tradition of Alexander Campbell will not allow instrumental music, even though there is a long Biblical tradition of use of music in worship. The prophets often recited their revelations to musical accompaniment:

King David performed his psalms to harp accompaniment, and musical instruments resounded in the temple:

"It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your loving-kindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night, on an instrument on ten strings, on the lyre, and on the harp, with harmonious sound." (Psalm 92:1-3).

"They have seen Your procession, O God, the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the maidens playing timbrels. Bless God in the congregations, the Lord, from the fountain of Israel." (Psalm 68:24-26).

"Sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a psalm, with trumpets and the sound of a horn; shout joyfully before the Lord, the King." (Psalm 98:5).

"Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise His name with the dance; let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp." (Psalm 149:2-3).

"Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; praise Him with clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!" (Psalm 150:3-6)

Oft-times what God says is good, man says is bad, and vice versa: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20). His own like God's ways best: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:..." (John 10:27).

In the Old Testament, God not only allowed instrumental music, He commanded it:

"Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation." (Leviticus 23:24).

"Sing aloud to God our strength; make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob. Raise a song and strike the timbrel, The pleasant harp with the lute. Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, a law of the God of Jacob." (Psalm 81:1-4).

Instrumental music was part of temple worship:

"And it came to pass when the priests came out of the Most Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without keeping to their divisions), and the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets - indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying: 'For He is good, for His mercy endures forever,' that the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God." (2 Chronicles 5:11-14).

They had a worship band! This musical tradition was well-established and long-lasting. Jerusalem in the temple era used to resound with music: "The rabbis taught: The orchestra of the thanks-offering consisted of violins, fifes, trumpets on every corner as well as on every elevated stone in Jerusalem and used to play [Psalm xxx. 2]: 'I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast lifted me,' etc., and also [ibid., 91]." (The Babylonian Talmud, edited by Michael L. Rodkinson, Volume 17,Tract Shebuoth, Chapter II, Kindle location 68481).

The 'Church of Christ' relies upon the early church writers to justify their ban on instrumental music, but most of these writers say nothing about music, instrumental or otherwise. Some say nice things about David and his harp, "Moreover, King David the harpist, whom we mentioned just above, urged us toward the truth and away from idols. So far was he from singing the praises of daemons that they were put to flight by him with the true music; and when Saul was possessed, David healed him merely by playing the harp." (Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks, Chapter 1).

Those few church writers who do insist on the stripped-down musical minimalism that would come to be known as Gregorian chant may be reflecting existing cultural biases against music. Plato banned most forms of music, and most musical instruments, from his Republic:

"Our songs and airs, then, will not need instruments of large compass capable of modulation into all the modes, and we shall not maintain craftsmen to make them, in particular the flute, which has the largest compass of all. That leaves the lyre and the cithara for use in the town; and in the country the herdsmen may have some sort of pipe." (Plato's Republic, III 399 Cornford).

"We might, in fact, see an analogy between this luxurious living and that style of music which uses every variation of mode and rhythm. Variety there engendered license in the soul, and simplicity temperance. So in the body, variety breeds maladies and simplicity health." (Plato's Republic, III 404 Cornford).

Plato would only allow musical modes suited for patriotic ditties and the like into his Republic. Some church writers inherited this cultural bias; it certainly doesn't come from the Bible: "And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." (Exodus 15:20). Saints in the Old Testament praised God with musical instruments like Miriam's timbrel. Saints in heaven praise God with musical instruments, "And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints." (Revelation 5:8).

The saints of the Jewish church hung out in the temple, where God was praised with musical instruments: "And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people." (Acts 2:46-47). Did the saints cover their ears when the musicians started up?

Some modern-day followers of Alexander Campbell retort that God did not command playing musical instruments in the New Testament...and therefore it is forbidden. Following this principle consistently: that whatever is not commanded is forbidden,— will lead to unhappy results. Here's one to keep the saints crossing and uncrossing their legs: the Bible does not command that you go to the bathroom before leaving the house for church, nor does the Bible command that you go to the bathroom upon arriving at church. Therefore, it is forbidden to go the bathroom, either before leaving for church or upon arrival.

Error Begets Error

One of the founders of the 'Restoration Movement,' Barton Stone, was an anti-trinitarian of the Jehovah's Witness stripe, denying the Deity of Jesus Christ:

Where do they stand today on this question? It would be safe to say they do not stress the trinity. Some, it would seem, still actively deny this doctrine, the keystone of Christian orthodoxy. Gail Shamblin Lara, for example, a popular diet guru who recently perished in a plane crash, comes from this tradition. She denied the Nicene Creed (which incidentally does not incorporate the word 'trinity'), saying instead:

Is this a fair assessment? Is the doctrine Biblical or not?:

Her history is not any more exact than her Biblical exegesis. Words like 'trinity' and 'triune' had been used in the Christian centuries leading up to Nicaea, for instance in Tertullian's debates with the Monarchians like Praxeas. These folks taught what she believes the trinity doctrine to teach: that Jesus is the Father. Words like "trinity" are a shorthand to express Biblical teachings which would otherwise require a complex and wordy recitation. I do not know how common or uncommon her views are in this denomination today; but whether common or uncommon, what they never will be is Biblical. Her view makes Jesus into a godlet, a trainee, a lesser but still kind of sort of quasi-divine being.

Arianism and semi-Arianism stage a revival from time to time, which, however, is not any proof of the robustness or desirability of these ideas.

Divide and Conquer

To 'denominate' means to give a name to: "To give a name or epithet to; to name, call, style, or designate." (Webster's International). A 'denomination' is a body of believers thus awarded an epithet. Strangely, this denomination denies being a denomination, as if merely by avoiding so denominating themselves, they could avoid falling under the Lord's condemnation:

Thomas Jefferson

One recent, and, one must surmise, unwilling convert to the Restorationist viewpoint is the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Popular author David Barton has reassigned this important historical figure away from his natural affinities with the Unitarians, to the Christian roots movement led by the Campbells:

"Perhaps it was because Jefferson was so drawn to the cooperation and acceptance of early Restoration and Primitivism that he also accepted so many of their other Unitarian beliefs. Nevertheless, he found early Unitarianism to be personally satisfying and hoped it would sweep the country, optimistically declaring, 'I confidently expect that the present generation will see Unitarianism become the general religion of the United States.'" (David Barton, The Jefferson Lies, p. 188).

This is a bum rap. The Restorationists sowed more than their fair share of doctrinal confusion, but they were not responsible for Unitarianism, a viewpoint with its own history stretching back to Faustus Socinus of the radical Reformation, and before him to Theodotus the tanner:

Thomas Jefferson was a Socinian type of Unitarian, not an Arian. Arianism is not Biblical. Organizations which teach it in the present day incude the Jehovah's Witnesses Over the years, in church history, this deviation from orthodoxy has cropped up from time to time. No less a luminary than Sir Isaac Newton, discoverer of gravity, would seem to have been an Arian: