Now that I've let loose with the below post (it didn't turn out nearly as bad as I thought it might), I need Thomas because a few more indulgences are in order...

I have been thinking about the whole Contemporary Christian Music debate that continues to fester within the synod. There is one lesson from the past that the defenders of CCM continue to either be ignorant of or don't really want pointed out: the Church, very early on within its history, banned instruments as part of the divine service. Now, why would the Church put such a restriction upon its people? It's because the instruments had very specific religious functions in the pagan rituals of the Greeks and Romans. The Early Christians understood that to bring instruments into the church was also to bring the pagan gods into the church, which was an obvious violation of the First Commandment. It was understood that the culture would invade the Church. The Church had enough problems with its members falling back into their old habits without having music tempting them. So now, the defenders of CCM need to explain themselves and tell us why we need to begin using "modern" music in our worship. How is it that by using the badly misnamed "contemporary" styles we don't import pagan culture into our churches? The burden of proof is on them, and I haven't heard one good explanation of how that isn't happening yet.