Music in the Balance by Frank Garlock and Kurt Woetzel

This conservative attempt to draw believers away from the contemporary Christian music (CCM) scene and back to “good” music has its good moments, but largely fails in its objective. The authors are mostly preaching to the choir. Those who agree will be further loaded with evidence that the CCM is evil, while those who love CCM will remain unconvinced. I, for example, who am sympathetic towards many of the authors’ positions, can appreciate their point. At the same time I know enough about evidence and proving of an argument to know that the authors have not won their case. Therefore I could not, with good conscience, attempt to persuade others with this material – it would be a futile effort. The authors simply take too much Scripture out of context; they try to prove too much with their arguments. One of their most obvious errors has to do with the often repeated, impossible to prove, not found in Scripture, idea that melody affects the spirit of a person, harmony the mind and rhythm the body (p.57). Where do people come up with this stuff? Another thing: rock music is bad because it is of the world – makes sense. Classical music is good because it is of – wait a minute; it is of the world too, isn’t it? Most of it is written by unbelievers for unbelievers. On what basis is some of the world’s music condemned as worldly but some is not? I am confused. As much as I despise much of today’s music, and as much as I consider it bad music, I cannot buy into the authors’ line of reasoning. Secretly I wish I could.