Hippo
Puritan Board Junior
The big difference is that if someone is singing why should everyone not join in, I would feel the same way if everyone had a glockenspiel in front of them and music was played during the offering, everyone should join in. It is the communal aspect that is so important for church worship.
Solo's are inherantly offensive in church as there is absolutely no point in them apart from really really bad ones.
But following your thought, playing an instrumental is decidedly non-communal if no one else is singing, right? I promise I'm not merely trying to be difficult here.
If everyone is playing it is communal, I am not suggesting that one person sing and everyone plays but that either all play or no one plays.
The argument would have to be that the music during the offering is not an element of praise, and this is probably not that bad an argument but it does beg the question of why do it if it is not praise.
I guess it is done because it is nice and "feels" spiritual and holy. I have answered my own question here and I agree with you that it is actually really bad to play music during the offering unless everyone joins in.
This is a good discussion, it is really good to knock these points around and challnge your own assumptions.