Worship Wars Summary

The book ‘Worship Wars – What the Bible says about Worship Music’ gives a balanced look at an issue that many Christians are either far to the left, or far to the right in their stance. Dr. Bakss brings out many Biblical truths that exposes the lack of substance behind some principles of music being widely taught & preached in many Christian circles. Overall this was a very informative and thought provoking book. Dr. Bakss starts by introducing what is the cause of all the ‘worship wars’ we see between churches. “The issue surrounding the worship wars has been over the use of contemporary music, traditional tribal music or any other kind of music that could be distinguished from what is formally known as “sacred music” in the western tradition of church worship. The genres of rock, as well as what is now usually known as “praise and worship” music, have been the main areas of contention. In addition, the choice of instruments, the vocal technique, the volume, the origin of the genre and the
In the 1700s many of our beloved hymns were questioned for being to worldly. These ‘worship wars’ have been fought for centuries. From this foundation, Dr. Bakss uses Scripture and sound reasoning to show how God is to be centre of our worship music. Dr. Bakss explains that worship music should exalt the Lord and glorify Him (Psalm 21:13); worship music should edify one another (Colossians 3:16); worship music should educate our minds (Deuteronomy 31:19); worship music should engage our hearts to hear from God (Psalm 108:1); worship music should exhort us to serve God (Ezekiel 33:32); and worship music can be used to evangelise the lost (Psalm 40:3). Many may criticize changing music styles and accuse it as being ‘seeker sensitive’ but as the book further explains Paul compromised to reach others, without compromising the gospel (1 Corinthians