Announcement – Regarding My Views on Repetition

Fellow Bereans,

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about repetition.  Particularly, what the Bible says about it.  Many commenters have attempted to convince me that my views are at best, preferential, and at worst, unbiblical.  I received a comment recently from Mark Shane on my review of Elevation Worship’s The Blessing.  Here’s what he wrote:

“Sad that we are grading music written to worship our creator and Lord based on our personal preference. Do you think your preference is going to matter in Heaven? “Hey, God, can we do a different song? This one isn’t my fav.”
Sad that there are websites, blogs, and YouTube channels devoted to being critical of others for their expression of worship.

Our humanness is so fickle and petty.”

Ouch.

This comment made me realize that I needed to take a second look at God’s Word to see what it says on the topic.

Psalm 136 is the most repetitious portion of Scripture that I discovered.  The same phrase, “His love endures forever”, appears 26 times, alternating between a different point and this phrase.  It’s not my place to judge songs that use a similar structure in their music, where they make the same point and build upon it.

Matthew 6:7 is perhaps the most cited passage of Scripture as a prooftext against repetition in music.  It’s about repeating the same phrase over and over again to increase our chances that God will hear us.  Such people honor God with their lips, but not their hearts (Isaiah 29:13).  In terms of Berean Test reviews, I cannot judge the heart of artists based solely on lyrical examination.  Neither can I judge lyrics based on misuse (e.g.; recruitment, hypnosis, mantras, etc).  Who am I to say that one person is experiencing the Holy Spirit while another is mindlessly singing?  After all, only God can judge our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Kings 8:39, Psalm 44:21, Psalm 139:1, Proverbs 16:2, Jeremiah 17:10, and Luke 16:15).

There’s also Revelation 4:8, where four living beings say “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come!” all day and night.  Though they aren’t singing, they are repeating the same phrase over and over.

Of all my research, I found this article by Brendan Prout the most convicting.  He states, 

“So if we’re really being honest, it’s really just a matter of style, not substance. To those who pull the “vain repetition” card on modern music in their preaching: You don’t really have a problem with repetition. You have a problem with style and have a poor or inconsistent understanding of music, and the sooner you admit that, the better off the Church will be for it – as you are persons of influence. Your words before the Church matter. Your words fuel fights and in this case, a bad philosophy of worship based on poor hermeneutics. That horrifies me, and it should horrify you as well.”

Ouch again.

After much prayer and study, I’ve concluded that my commentary on repetition is preferential.  Mark Shane is right.  Brendan Prout is correct.  I judged lyrics based on taste and not the Word of God.  Romans 14 tells us not to argue over matters of opinion.

My fellow Bereans, I’m sorry.  Please forgive me.  I was wrong. 

While I still don’t prefer massive repetition in song lyrics, my opinion on the matter should not downgrade my score.  Instead, I’ll talk about it as a side note to those whose preference aligns with mine.  Please be patient with me as I go through 400+ reviews to adjust my comments and score, as well as my evaluation criteria.