The reason I bring up Christmas/Easter is because there is no Divine authorization for them as there is none for IM.
So my argument is not solely about IM but more so about where does man get his authorization from to worship God. From himself? From God?
Col 3:17 "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." ("in the name of the Lord" means by the Lord's authority)
I and others have already given the scriptures where God wants us to worship and praise Him and scripture says nothing about forbidding musical instruments in the sanctuary.
I will use the word Passover as Easter, even found in the English Bible and never should have been added, is a pagan festival, Just as Christmas being on the 25th of Dec. You can look this up as it is a fascinating study.
Paul gives directions regarding the Lord’s Supper in 1Corinthians 11:23-29. Some have misunderstood verse 26, which says: "As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup," and interpret it to say "take it as often as you please" But it does not say that! It says "as often" as we observe it, "ye do show the Lord’s death till He come." And Jesus commanded, "This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me." We do it in remembrance of the Lord’s death as a memorial of His death. And memorials of momentous occasions always are observed annually, once a year, on the anniversary of the event they commemorate.
Jesus instituted this New Testament ordinance on the eve of His death. It was the 14th Abib/Nisan, March/April Hebrew Lunar calendar. He was our Passover, sacrificed for us and He was sacrificed on the same exact day of the year that the Passover lambs always had been slain, Exodus 12:1-6. As the Old Testament Passover commemorated Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, a type of sin, so the New Testament Lord’s Supper is a continuation of the Passover with different emblems commemorates Jesus' death, and our deliverance from sin. Immediately after the last Supper, Jesus and His disciples went out to Gethsemane, where later that night, Judas Iscariot led the bloodthirsty mob who seized Jesus, and led him away to be crucified during the morning of the 14th day of the month of Abib. Matthew 26:1-5.
The Passover is described in Exodus 12 being the 14th of the first month of the new year being Nisan (March April) according to the Jewish Lunar Solar Calendar. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is the 15th day of Nisan/April, Exodus 12:6, which begins Thursday after sundown and ends Friday at sundown. Nisan 15 being a Sabbath never changes even if current dates do not match up year after year.
As far as Christmas, Jesus was not born on the 25th of Dec and the roots for that day goes back to pagan festivals. When you study the scriptures, history of the Temple Priest and dates using the Lunar Solar Calendar Jesus was conceived during Chisleu/Chislev/Kislev (Nov/Dec) and born sometime between Ethanim/Tishhri (Sept/Oct).
King David on God's instructions (1 Chr 28:11-13) had divided the sons of Aaron into 24 groups (1 Chr 24:1-4), to setup a schedule by which the Temple of the Lord could be staffed with priests all year round in an orderly manner. After the 24 groups of priests were established, lots were drawn to determine the sequence in which each group would serve in the Temple. (1 Chr 24: 7-19).
John the Baptist was born six months before Jesus.
Beginning with the first month, Nisan, in the spring (March-April), the schedule of the priest's courses would result with Zachariah serving during the 10th week of the year. This is because he was a member of the course of Abia (Abijah), the 8th course, and both the Feast of Unleavened Bread (15-21 Nisan) and Pentecost (6 Sivan) would have occurred before his scheduled duty. This places Zachariah administration in the Temple as beginning on the second Sabbath of the third month, Sivan (May-June).
Having completed his Temple service on the third Sabbath of Sivan, Zachariah returned home and soon conceived his son John. So John the Baptist was probably conceived shortly after the third Sabbath of the month of Sivan.
Acts 20:7 "
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."
The verb 'come together' is passive voice meaning it was not the disciples idea to come together, they were brought together by a source outside themselves, that source being God. For disciples today to come together on the first day of the week requires a place to come together. Whether that place is in a building, a tent, in someone's home or outside under a shade tree does not matter as long as the disciples come together as God would have them. The meeting place is only a matter of expediency. Therefore a meeting place is necessary to carry out God's will therefore having a building to come together in does not violate God's will but the building is necessary to carryout God's will.
There are places in the Bible where Psalms is referred to as "law". Rom 3 where Paul proves the Jew is a sinner as the Gentile therefore no better than the Gentile. In proving so Paul quotes from several OT verses including Psalms in
Rom 3:10-18. Then in
Rom 3:19 Paul refers to all those verses he cites, including Psalms as "law". And Christ did take the OT law out of the way, all of it including Psalms.
Lastly, a thing does NOT have to be specifically forbidden for it to be wrong. For example the Jew was commanded to keep the Sabbath day and make it holy. By saying "Sabbath day" that automatically eliminated the other 6 days without have to specifically eliminate them. When God commands singing that also automatically eliminates playing, humming, whistling, etc without having to specifically forbid them.
Acts 20:7, the names of those disciples are found in Vs. 4. After the riot in Ephesus, Acts 19:21-41, these disciples laid wait in Asia for Paul to come to preach to them. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
I agree that the assembling can be anywhere, even in this forum, where two or more are gathered in the name of Jesus as He is there in the midst of us as we are not to forsake the assembling. What I was referring to is about the lavishness and traditional rituals of whatever denomination/non-denomination imagines in their mind as it becomes pleasing to man, but not pleasing to the Lord as what they do is not found in the NT Church.
Romans 3:10-19, vs. 10 is a referenced to Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3 and vs. 14 a reference to Psalms 10:7 which is about none being righteous as they do not seek God. I don't see how this relates to the Leviticus law.
The book of Psalms was gradually collected and originally in the Hebrew was never named, perhaps due to the great variety of material. It came to be known as Sepher Tehillim (Book of Praises) because most every psalm contains some note of praise to God. The Septuagint uses the Greek word "Psalmoi" as its title for this book. meaning poems sung to the accompaniment of musical instruments. It's also calls it the "Psalterium" (a collection of songs) and this is the basis for the term "Psalter". The Latin title is "Liber Psalmorum" (Book of Psalms)
