My grandparents went to a Church of Christ for decades, and I would stay with them over 2 months every summer growing up, and we'd attend 3 services a week. I guess I attended well over 300 services.
They had no instruments (unless you count the song leader occasionally pulling out a tone device to sound the right key before starting the song).
I wonder if this is why the Church of Christ banned instruments. I always kinda knew it wasn't necessary to ban instruments, but I can understand the fear of any possible avenue of the wrong, and there can be no doubt that sometimes wrong enters churches, and in so many different ways, and musical form could also be a way at times if the words become too far from scripture (no matter the musical form), in addition to the others.
Having very close remembering of the lyrics of our hymns there, such as How Great Thou Art, Amazing Grace, and so many all would recognize as the main mainstream Hymns of most churches, I can testify to you that our contemporary band plays a variety of music forms in our contemporary service (different church, different time, this one Lutheran), but the words are
not shallow. And usually, they are direct phrases from scripture one can recognize if they have read fully through the Bible (though one caught me by surprise, as it was from a psalm I had not read in a very long time). So, I hope that's encouraging on that point.
But in contrast there are indeed some songs where it's not clear at all the words are from scripture, or lined up with scripture, but it's not always easy to tell, because of paraphrasing. King and Country has a great song called "The Proof of Your Love", and unless a person knows 1 Cor 13 well, they might wonder if it's just made up stuff, but also if a person knows 1 Cor 13 well, they will realize it's paraphrase also. It's a good example of contemporary music that is pretty deep, but if you listened also to King and Country on another song like "It's not Over Yet", would it seem deep?
In case someone wants to hear it (or one can just search up the lyrics alone):
lyrics:
If I sing but don't have love
I waste my breath with every song
I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise
If I speak with a silver tongue
Convince a crowd but don't have love
I leave a bitter taste with every word I say
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
If I give
To a needy soul but don't have love then who is poor?
It seems all the poverty is found in me
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
Oh, let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
When it's all said and done
When we sing our final song
Only love remains
Only love remains
Let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love"
Lyrics, Proof of Your Love, King and Country
Compare with
1 Corinthians 13 NIV
In contrast:
This song is like a lot of contemporary music on the radio: encouraging, but not complex, and only partly recognizable as a paraphrase (of Paul saying run till the race is done).