AUTHORITY OF SILENCE
By W. CARL KETCHERSIDE

The first serious rift in the restoration movement of which most of us are heirs was blamed on the introduction of instrumental music. I say it was blamed on it because I am not certain that was the basis of it. I have lived long enough to be a little skeptical of the rationalizations of some of my brethren. And I have learned that attitudes, temperaments and dispositions have a lot to do with family problems. When men have the will to divide they will find something to justify their doing so.

In any event, here we are, shamefully strife-torn and factional, going our separate ways and seeking to perpetuate our parties both pro and con, and quoting scripture to prove we are loyal to Christ while disregarding his prayer for our oneness. The brethren who make use of the instrument a test of union and communion, have apparently resolved upon an adamant stance based upon what they are pleased to call “the authority of silence.”

This is the chosen battleground. Here the civil war must continue until one side or the other surrenders or both are hammered into oblivion. This is the cutting edge of the current debate and the family tie will again be whacked in two every time it appears that the breach is being healed. Brother Reuel Lemmons writes in Firm Foundation, “We believe a valid argument can be made on the authority of God in areas of silence. And the Holy Spirit thought so, too.”

Our brother contends that we should maintain the wall and perpetuate the barrier between those saints who use the instrument and those whose consciences will not allow them to do it. With him there can be no overt demonstration of the fellowship which we share in Jesus until all of the brethren see the matter of the instrument as he does. This is the position generally of a great host of brethren in the anti-instrument segment of the brotherhood.

I deny this. It is unscriptural and divisive. It will never produce unity in Christ Jesus but will foment hate and hostility. It is a fruit of legalism and results from a warped view of priorities and a mixed-up sense of values. It exalts opinion above the cross and makes our reconciliation less important than our personal, and often faulty judgment about things.

I have examined the validity of the argument related to “areas of silence” and I do not think that it can ever be made weighty enough to justify hacking the family of God to bloody bits and practicing the spiritual cannibalism involved in biting and devouring one another. The Holy Spirit said nothing about the authority of God in areas of silence, although our brother says the Spirit thought it. It is a sectarian game to think a thing and then try to make it appear that the Spirit thinks the same way.

The “valid argument” is quite simple. The Holy Spirit said sing. He did not say to play. Therefore, the latter is forbidden. It is immediately assumed that anyone who employs an instrument in conjunction with praise rendered to God thereby despises the authority of that same God. He is a rebel, a deliberate violator of heaven’s will. Granting the premises of the brethren who project the argument one might come up with such a simplistic conclusion. But other brethren insist on doing their own thinking. And that is the real root of the difficulty. All would be well if everyone would agree that there are infallible interpreters and allow them to call all of the shots.

Some brethren feel there are extenuating circumstances. It is neither as black in one area nor as white in another as some would make it appear. They think Brother Lemmons overlooks some factors while looking over some scriptures to make his case. And they think that case is not as air-tight as Brother Lemmons tries to make it appear. I shall not recount their arguments. We have been exposed to the see-sawing back and forth for almost a century of sometimes ruthless debate, and nothing new has been added in these latter days.

I think that all of the brethren respect the authority of Christ. I do not know any who are deliberately flaunting heaven’s decrees or spitting in God’s face. Many of them do not accept the authority of Firm Foundation as equal with that of the Bible. They are anxious to recognize God’s revelation but are not so overwhelmed by Brother Lemmons’ explanation. I mention our brother in this connection because he has been in the fore-front of arranging confrontations which so far have been spent in reviewing and rehearsing the hoary debaters’ arguments based on “hamburger on the Lord’s table,” and the strange fire of Nadab and Abihu. Neither of these has any logical connection with the point at issue, but they are someone’s brain children and everyone is proud of his intellectual progeny.

What about the “last ditch stand” on the authority of silence? Is it as devastating as we have always implied? Is it an atomic bomb that just must be dropped in the family circle to break up a happy home and blow us into gory bits? I doubt it! I once used it with all of the oratorical force at my command. I inveighed against brethren who were too imbecilic to acknowledge the force of my superior reasoning, branding them as traitors and apostates, men who would rather have their own stubborn way than to show deference for and honor to the King of kings.

I think that, with most of us, the authority is not in the area of silence at all, but in what we read into it. God may have been silent but we have not been. We fill in the blanks for heaven and then assume that what we have filled in is as important as what God said on either side of the blank. God did not tell me to break up the family because some of the children did not come up with the same answer for the blank spaces as we did. We assumed that frightful prerogative for ourselves. When we did we started playing God.

I haven’t the slightest idea what God will say at the judgment to my brethren who conscientiously think they can employ an instrument as an aid to their praise. I do not know if he will damn them all, or save them “without the loss of one.” If he loves his sons and daughters more than he dislikes a piano he may forgive them. Of course, there is a possibility that he will not make a big ruckus about it one way or another. He may just remain silent about it.

I will be surprised, when we are “judged out of the things that are written in the books,” if God quotes some of the scriptures we have quoted, and uses some of the syllogisms we have drummed up. That is the trouble with “areas of silence.” There is too much silence in them. And we have to do too much deducing and speculating. Our brethren really need to do a thesis on “The Authority of God in Areas of Speculation,” for that is exactly what they mean, although they will vociferously deny it!

Who really knows that the silence of God in a given area denotes condemnation? If a father says to his children, “Eat with your fork,” does that necessarily imply that it would disregard his authority to also use a spoon? Should such a family divide into a spoon and anti-spoon faction and refuse to eat at the same table, or join in painting the house until the spoon-users confessed their wrong and got rid of their spoons?

Did it ever occur to anyone that God might not have mentioned instrumental music because it just isn’t that important to heaven? And that goes for a lot of other things which some of us do and others conscientiously oppose. A lot of things may not carry the weight in heaven among the angels that they do on earth. We do not know why God was silent about a lot of things. Until we do know we simply cannot predicate authority on his silence as if we did know.

All any of us can do in areas of silence is to be honest in our own personal convictions and scruples. We cannot bind our deductions and opinions upon others. We must be as true as possible to our consciences and we must allow others the same rights and liberties. God will fill in the blanks some day and then we will all know.

One thing that always comes up at this juncture is the question of safety. Some good brother will ask, “But isn’t it safer not to use instrumental music since God was silent about it?” That argument sounds good but I never knew any person who made it to be consistent. He is anxious to be safe only when someone else has something that he opposes. One thing I do know and that is this. It is not as “unsafe” to take a chance on something God has not mentioned as to “set at nought a brother.” He has mentioned that, you know.

I am going to receive my brethren, whether they use instrumental music or do not use it. I am not going to speak where God is silent. You cannot obey silence, you can only respect it. When you talk about obeying silence you have reference to what you have read into it. You cannot bind upon others what you think that God meant in areas where he did not speak. I do not know what the Father will do to those who use instrumental music. He did not say. But I know what he will do with me if I do not welcome and love the brethren. I do not have to depend upon the silence of the scriptures for that. The Book is full of it!

We should never have divided over instrumental music in the first place. It was a sin to do so. And we should not remain divided over it, or our other silly hangups now! I refuse to help perpetuate a senseless feud. I am non-instrumental by persuasion, conviction and choice, but I am not anti-brotherhood by any means.

Let us heal the wounds in the body. Let us repair the breaches. Let us answer the prayer of Jesus in our generation! Let us be one in Christ now! It is time to stop arguing with one another and start living in him. Put up the hatchet! Take the axe back to the woodshed! Get rid of the tomahawk. We are not alien tribes. We are the family of God. Let’s substitute the open hand for the clenched fist. We have no right to expect our children to accomplish what we are unwilling to undertake. Let us dare to be one in spite of our differences! That is the real challenge! —139 Signal Hill Dr., St. Louis 63121

No one’s life can be happy unless beyond the superficial attainments of the external life the deeper springs of character are touched and find a normal outlet.—Lin Yutang