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Briefly about skits, or the kind of carnivals you're referring to, the Bible does command Christians to teach one another, build up the church, and let their light shine (Col. 3:16, Heb. 5:12; 1 Cor. 4:12; Matt. 5:14-16, Eph. 5:8). Teaching that uses acting out, and allegory or analogy, and visual demonstration is found in both Old and New Testaments (see Jeremiah's role playing in Jer. 27 or Ezekiel's in Ezek. 4 or Paul's teaching in 1 Cor. 9:24-27, or Jesus' actions in John 8:2-11, 20:20-27). However, whether or not skits and carnivals fit into a Biblical frame of reference has nothing to do with whether instruments belong in the church assembly. What is Biblical or what is right is not determined by whether or not a congregation or a person is consistent. What doctor would tell a patient, "look, since you're an alcoholic anyway, don't worry about your cigarette habit"? Please don't overstrain that illustration, but what is right is to be determined from knowledge and standards, from God's revealed will, not from what is already being done, whoever is doing it. The question is not whether the church or any individual is completely consistent (we're not, there is a need for both learning and improvement). The question is what God means for us to do and be. God is consistent whether we are or not. Our aspiration should be His consistency. Rom 3:3-9, 21-26
3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:
"So that you may be proved right when you speak
and prevail when you judge."
5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" 8 Why not say-as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say-"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.
9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
NIV
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