Questions and Comments about Westside’s Instrumental Music in Worship Mailing and Related Study Materials

On January 14, 2008 the Westside church mailed out invitations for members of the Richland Hills church of Christ to consider, study and investigate the instrumental music in worship issue more thoroughly. Here is some important information to answer your questions about responding to that mailing and/or the material on our site about instrumental music in worship.

Will I receive further mailings from Westside?

Absolutely not. If you are emailing to ask that we not mail you any further material please be advised that this was a one time mailing. You will not receive further mail from us. You do not need to take further action. We will not contact you again.

It is not our intent to irritate or bother folks who are not interested in studying this issue. We simply want to help those who do have an interest in studying the Bible for themselves (Acts 17:11).

I still want to send an email comment.

Still interested in contacting us? Please read the following very carefully as it will determine whether we are able to respond to you.

We receive a great deal of email from our website. Most of that email falls into one of three categories:

Abusive and ugly - Yes, we do get some mail that says nice things like “you bunch of jerks!” and “you’ll answer to God for this!” Of course, we cannot respond to any email that is insulting and derogatory. If you wish to simply let us know how angry you are with us for mailing you the invitation to study the instrumental music issue please remember: we mailed that out at considerable effort and expense because we love your soul and genuinely believe this is a matter of importance before the Lord. You may disagree with us but does that mean you should be ugly to us? We hope not.

Request to respond to lengthy statements, engage in email debate - sometimes we receive emails asking us to study, and/or respond to huge amounts of material, published articles, or that we engage in other lengthy exchanges about religious topics. However, while we have no desire to be unkind to anyone, quite frankly we generally do not have time to respond or to engage in such long discussions or debates.

The purpose of our web site is to provide Bible students with quality materials to help them study the word of God for themselves. It is not our purpose to provide a place for argumentative people to quarrel endlessly or engage in endless email debate. We have literally thousands of visitors to this site every year. Our website is maintained and serviced by volunteer workers with many other important responsibilities, and who do this work in their spare time. Thus, the time to respond to online questions is necessarily limited, and endless debate does not seem to be the best use of time.

We believe the case for what the Bible teaches on a number on instrumental music in worship is amply made in the material online. What we have on our special music study page is well researched, backed thoroughly from Scripture, thorough, and completely documented. We encourage you to read through that material. Further questions or challenges to our teaching will probably only result in us sending you the link to that page and saying “Your objections are completely answered here.”

Genuine requests for a response or a sincere question - Some emails just seek further information or ask an important question, and are written in a good spirit that indicates sincerity and integrity. We do our best to answer such emails, though the volume of mail we receive can make that difficult. It is important that if you want a response you follow these guidelines:

1. If you are responding to something you read in one of our online articles, please read and study the online material carefully and look up the pertinent passages cited before you send us your question or comment. Often the material we have published will answer the questions people have – that is why we published it! If your question or comment indicates to us that you have not seen our published materials or have not read them carefully, we will simply respond by referring you to our published material and urging you to read and study more carefully.
2. Please send just one or two brief questions and/or comments, and be specific. If you disagree with what we teach about instrumental music, give specific evidence (especially Bible evidence) to demonstrate where you believe we are mistaken. Don’t just tell us how wrong we are with unsubstantiated assertions and charges. Show us! Demonstrate from the Scriptures where and how we missed it. Again, be reminded that broad, general accusations, such as "You don't know what you're talking about," "Pianos sound good to me" or "You're an idiot," are not helpful and will not receive a response.
3. Since the purpose of our sites is to examine the text of the Bible itself, please restrict questions and comments to the Bible text, rather than to religious history, quotations from theologians, etc. Sending quotations from Martin Luther or Billy Graham may impress some people, but it doesn't do much for those who are seeking to see what the Bible says, does it?
4. Please focus on studying our online materials, rather than on lengthy, ongoing correspondence with us. We try to do a service to our visitors by publishing materials for your benefit. We regret that we simply do not have time for lengthy exchanges and communications and thank you for being understanding.

Thank you for your understanding. We appreciate your visit to our website and hope the material here has drawn you closer to the Lord. Proceed to the contact form...