Calvinism and Evangelism

A very common objection to the doctrines of Grace is "What's the point of evangelism?"
It seems like a valid argument. If God irresistibly saves sinners without the need for human effort, and if Salvation is all up to Him, then why do we need to spread the Gospel? God does all the work anyway, so what are we here for?

There are several things I want to look at in regards to this objection.

First of all, even if there was no point in evangelism, we should do it anyway, just because God tells us to. I've actually met Calvinists who believe that evangelism has no real purpose or use except as a means for believers to show obedience to God's command to spread the Gospel. I do not share this view, but if there was no point to evangelism, we should do it anyway, for the simple reason that God commands it. "And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 15:16)

Secondly, I believe that God commands us to spread the Gospel because we are the tools that uses to do so. Yes, God does all the work in salvation, and He does it irresistibly, but He does it through the Gospel, which He spreads via the mouths of believers.

The only thing that galls me more than a believer taking credit for their salvation is when they take credit for the salvation of others. Paul tells us very clearly that when it comes to spreading the Gospel, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase." (1 Corinthians 3:6-7)

Paul and Apollos both worked hard to spread the Gospel, but in the end, it was God who brought about the increase. "Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain." (Psalm 127:1) In the same way, I would say that unless God is at work through evangelism, it is pointless. No amount of human wisdom and eloquence could ever convert an unbeliever. It takes the power of Christ working within their heart to make that person a "New Creation."

Thirdly, the idea that Calvinism smothers evangelism is simply absurd, and defies history. Many historians and Pastors would agree that Calvinism has done more for evangelism than any other "branch" of Christianity! But don't take my word for it, take a look at this amazing list of great missionaries and evangelists who were Calvinists. You might be surprised at how many names you know and love, but never knew were Reformed!

I want to end with a quote from Pastor David Shrock:

"For Paul, election and evangelism are not at odds. For Paul, election is the motivation that drives him to go share the gospel in all places, the hardest places, because he believes that when the gospel is shared, the voice of Christ will be spoken, the sheep [elect] will hear the voice, and they will follow after Him. He's not saying that they are saved before the foundation of the world. He's not saying that salvation will come without the preaching of the gospel. He is saying that when the gospel is preached, he has absolute confidence that it will be effective, because he knows that there are elect ones out there... in this understanding, election does not hinder evangelism. It energizes it."

 I highly recommend that you listen to the full sermon this quote is from.

In Defense of Christian Rap

I've been thinking about this subject for some time now. There are people out there, some of them perhaps reading this, that believe Christin rap is sinful.

Christian rap and it's fanbase is growing and gaining popularity. So if Christian rap is sinful, then we should be doing something to stop it. So today I'd like to present some of the main arguments against Christian rap, and we'll weigh each one. And these aren't just arguments made by crazy old grannies: many come from well-established pastors and well-meaning friends of mine. So don't think I'm misrepresenting the anti-rap side.

But before I begin, I want to just share a little bit about my personal experience... When I first heard about the existence of "Christian Rappers," I thought the term was an oxymoron. I scoffed at the idea, and rolled my eyes whenever I heard my friends talking about them. That is, until some friends had me actually listen to some Christian Rap. I loved the lyrics, since they were so full of good theology, and in time, I've grown to love the music style as well. So while reading this, if you are like I was before I heard Christian rap, then keep in mind: I was just like you.

So I did some research, and these were the four main, recurring arguments that I found in support of the idea that Christian Rap is sinful:

It's the Beat
Many argue that Rap (as well as rock, metal, Dubstep, even jazz, and essentially any "beaty" music) is inherently evil. Why? Because of the often fast-paced beat and the drums. The main claim is that the accelerated beat makes people violent, or that it has some sort of sexual element to it. Now, there is a grain of truth to this claim: A fast-paced beat will up your heart-rate, and can make you want to move around to use up that energy. Sex and violence are two ways to expel that energy (it should be noted that sex and violence aren't inherently sinful). And, admittedly, sex and violence are things we see promoted in secular rap. But when we look at Christian rap... Where's the sensuality? Where's the violence? It's not there. Why? Because, as the proponents of this argument seem to miss, there are thousands of completely innocent ways one can move around and expel energy without being sensual or violent.
Four other things must be noted under this argument: First, that not all Christian Rap songs are "beaty". Second, that Christian rappers preach against (sinful forms of) sex and violence in their songs. Third, that the desire to move around and expel energy can be resisted, and quite easily. Fourth, that "more acceptable" forms of music (such as hymns, worship, and classical music-- which I love, by the way) can, even without a fast-paced beat, have the same energizing effect and make you want to move. Are those forms of music inherently sinful as well?

Rap's Origins
Like the last argument, this one claims that rap music is inherently sinful, godly lyrics or not. The reason why is different, though. In this argument, Rap music is evil because of its sinful origins and history. Now, I won't contest the fact that rap's origins are sinful. But to say that its origin makes it evil... well, that I have to disagree with. Mainly, because that is what's known as a genetic fallacy: "The genetic fallacy, also known as fallacy of origins, fallacy of virtue, is a fallacy of irrelevance where a conclusion is suggested based solely on something or someone's origin rather than its current meaning or context."
The second reason I reject this argument is because of the Cross. Do you know why and how the cross originated? Pretty evil, huh? And yet, what does the cross mean to us now? One of mankind's vilest inventions was used for God's greatest purpose. Can the same not be done with rap? I don't know about you, but I find that to be pretty profound.

Look at the Rappers
The anti-rap crowd will sometimes point to the rappers themselves to prove that Christian Rap is worldly and sinful. They point to the hoodies, the cocked-back hats, the bling, and the baggy pants worn by some Christian rappers. They point to the attitudes, mannerisms, accents, and vocabulary used by some Christian rappers. "See?" they say. "They look JUST like the worldly, sinful, secular rappers!" However, this is also a fallacy: the ad Hominem or Personal Attack fallacy. Instead of judging Christian rap based on its merits, they judge it based on the merits of the rappers.
Wait, did I say merits? I should've said appearances, because this is really what's going on, and it's very unbiblical. Do some Christian rappers dress just like they do in the hood? Yes. See for yourself:

From left to right: Christian Rappers Trip Lee, Lecrae, Shai Linne, and This'l.

"Eww! Yucky!" You might say. But I bet that's what people said about John the Baptist, in his long beard and camel hide. Long story short, Man looks on the outside, but God looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
As for the mannerisms and vocabulary used by Christian Rappers... well, that's just how most African Americans living in the hood talk. It just makes sense that if that's where you came from, and that's who you're witnessing to, then that's how you should talk. Saying that's sinful could be considered racist, besides being unbiblical and completely unhelpful.
The one thing I do like about this argument is that it can be turned around so easily. If you're going to judge Christan rap based on the merits of the rappers, then look at their fruits (Matthew 7:20), not their appearances. And what are their fruits? Well, most Christian rappers lead missions efforts in urban areas, preaching on the streets, feeding the poor, planting, pastoring, and supporting churches... the list goes on. Through these men, God has saved many people from lives of addiction, abuse, drugs, alcoholism, gang violence, prostitution, and more. I honestly have a really hard time arguing with those kinds of fruits. What about you?

Giving in to the Culture?
This argument makes me kind of sad. Like the last argument, it's not really an argument against rap, but against the rappers themselves: another personal attack fallacy. Those who oppose Christian rap accuse Christian rappers of cowardice, caving in to the culture, and compromising with the world. Wow. If only these people actually knew a thing or two about the people they're making these accusations about. It puts their ignorance on display, in a way. Though --and I will touch on this later-- this is the case with most arguments against Christian rap.
Christian rappers are not caving to the culture. Most of them were raised in the culture of drugs, rape, murder, and gangs. Now that they've been saved by Christ, they're on an all-out war to fundamentally change that culture for Christ, using Christian rap as part of their ministry.
Christian rappers are not cowards. Many of these brave men and women are spearheading missions to the deepest, darkest and most violent hoods, where other Christians --the REAL cowards-- dare not go.
Christian Rappers are not compromising with the world. Instead, they've taken something from the world and have turned it to good use, like the cross mentioned earlier. They have, essentially, plundered the Egyptians. Besides: if these rappers DID compromise with the world, then the world would love them. But that's not the case: the world hates them (John 15:9). As a recent example, Christian Rapper Bizzle made a song that preached against homosexuality. As a result, he has received loads of criticism, hatred, and even many death threats. Doesn't sound like a compromiser or a coward to me.

Now, there are a few common factors visible in each of these arguments, and I'd like to talk about them.

The first is cultural elitism of sorts.
If you're going to make a case that something is sinful, then you should bring up Bible verses, or at least biblical principles, and apply them to the subject. Instead, we talk about music styles, sideways hats, and the use of ebonics to praise God. In other words, the best people can come up with is that Christian rap is evil because it's different. Different from the white, western, civilized, classical culture that we've been raised in. Different from what we're used to. I'm sorry, but if you go around the world and visit Christians in other cultures, guess what? You're going to find a LOT of differences, cultural differences. The Christians you meet will eat differently, speak differently, and have different artistic and musical tastes. Being different doesn't automatically make them all evil.

The second common thread is ignorance.
Many of the people making these arguments have never listened to Christian rap, and (as shown by some of their arguments) know next to nothing about the rappers themselves. Now, that doesn't make them wrong, and I'm not saying they have to meet the rappers and listen to their music before they can make any arguments against them. I mean, I don't need to engage in cannibalism to know that it's wrong. But I should at least know a thing or two about cannibalism (like that it involves the murder and consumption of human beings), so that I can use biblical principles to refute it (like the commandment not to murder). Most people opposing Christian rap do neither of these things, as is clear by their most popular arguments.

The third common factor is a lack of scripture. I've touched on this a little bit already, but the common arguments against Christian rap contain little to no scriptural support. In light of this, I suppose it makes sense that they have to fall back on ignorance and cultural elitism to condemn Christian rap.
"Now now" you say "just because there's no verse against rap doesn't mean rap is okay! The Bible doesn't specifically mention abortion, and yet, you yourself oppose abortion." and you're right, totally. The Bible doesn't specifically address some of these issues. BUT, we should be able to apply basic biblical principles to these things. The Bible doesn't say abortion is wrong, but it does say that murder is wrong, and abortion involves murder, so I can logically conclude that abortion is sinful. No such Biblical principles can be put in a similar logical progression to show that Christian rap is sinful. I challenge you to prove otherwise.

As this long post comes to a close, I want to make a few things clear.
Rap, Christian or otherwise, is not inherently sinful. That should be clear already. However, we should also be careful about making blanket statements. You can't say that ALL rap is sinful, but in the same way, I can't say that ALL Christian rap is gold. I'm sure you could find some that isn't all that great.
But my purpose in this post is not to say that all Christian Rap is great. Nor am I saying that you should all become fans of Christian rap, or that you're a sinner for not doing so. My goal is to show that the arguments against Christian rap fall apart, and like the cross, rap --though created for evil-- can be effectively used for God's Glory.

I'd like to close with a quote from an article by Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:

"...I have made many of the same arguments [against Christian Rap] myself. In my head. Thankfully not in public. Am I holding back?
No, I allow myself those arguments in my head when I want to absolutize my preferences and satisfy myself in the righteousness and superiority of my own musical taste and theology. The problem for me is that my theology of music will not allow me to stay self-satisfied on the matter, and by God’s grace I have not made arguments out loud that would violate that theology.
Rap music is not my music. I do not come from a culture in which rap music is the medium of communication and I do not have the ear for it that I have for other forms of music. But I do admire its virtuosity and the hold that is has on so many, for whom it is a first and dominant musical language. I want that language taken for the cause of the Gospel and I pray to see a generation of young Gospel-driven rappers take dominion of that music for the glory of God. I see that happening now, and I rejoice in it. I want to see them grow even more in influence, reaching people I cannot reach with music that will reach millions who desperately need the Gospel."

Repost: Plundering the Egyptians

Sorry I haven't been posting regularly.  I could make numerous excuses about being busy with other stuff such as school, but I won't.  However, I do want to mention one of the things I've been working on lately which you may have already noticed.  It's a new blog focused on helping other Christians utilize their talents for God's Glory.  I thought I'd share one of the posts here, because it's relevant to this blog's purpose and content.
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Plundering the Egyptians

Last month I read a very good book by Nancy Pearcey entitled Saving Leonardo: a Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning (I highly recommend the book... if you're a Christian, you should probably read it!).  One of the cool things that the book talked about is what's known as "plundering the Egyptians," something I had never heard of before.  The term refers to Exodus 3:19-22, which says:

"But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians."

So what does it mean to "Plunder the Egyptians?" Basically, it means to take anything non-Christian and convert it for Christian purposes.  But that's kind of oversimplifying it, so I'll let Saint Augustine explain it to you.  He says this:

"For, as the Egyptians had not only the idols and heavy burdens which the people of Israel hated and fled from, but also vessels and ornaments of gold and silver, and garments, which the same people when going out of Egypt appropriated to themselves, designing them for a better use, not doing this on their own authority, but by the command of God, the Egyptians themselves, in their ignorance, providing them with things which they themselves, were not making a good use of; in the same way all branches of heathen learning have not only false and superstitious fancies and heavy burdens of unnecessary toil, which every one of us, when going out under the leadership of Christ from the fellowship of the heathen, ought to abhor and avoid; but they contain also liberal instruction which is better adapted to the use of the truth, and some most excellent precepts of morality; and some truths in regard even to the worship of the One God are found among them. Now these are, so to speak, their gold and silver, which they did not create themselves, but dug out of the mines of God’s providence which are everywhere scattered abroad, and are perversely and unlawfully prostituting to the worship of devils. These, therefore, the Christian, when he separates himself in spirit from the miserable fellowship of these men, ought to take away from them, and to devote to their proper use in preaching the gospel. Their garments, also,—that is, human institutions such as are adapted to that intercourse with men which is indispensable in this life,—we must take and turn to a Christian use."

Hopefully that made sense.  So even though the Egyptian culture was bad and the Egyptians worshiped false Gods, there was still some good stuff in Egypt -- namely, gold and silver.  At God's command, the Israelites "plundered" the Egyptians of some of this Gold and Silver, and used it for better purposes (some of it may have even ended up on the Ark of the Covenant!).  In the same way, we Christians should realize that there are little grains of truth, good things, gold, scattered within secular and non-Christian teachings, art, and media.  We need to see the value of this gold, and then use it for the advancement of Christ's kingdom.

Let me give a few examples.

Lecrae is a Christian Rapper.  When  first heard that, I rolled my eyes too.  However, Lecrae has done a good job of plundering the Egyptians.  He has taken the rap/hip-hop medium, refined it to take out the worldly dross, and is now using the gold for Christ's glory.  When my friends first introduced me to Lecrae's music, I silently scoffed at the idea of a 'Christian rapper' ("isn't that an oxymoron?" I thought) and was expecting the worst from his music.  But when I heard the lyrics, I was pleasantly surprised.  They're really good!  I especially like his song Truth.  Lecrae has done a good job of using the rap/hip-hop platform to spread the truth of the gospel.

 

Another example would be C.S. Lewis.
C.S. Lewis read a lot of mythology in his younger years, and displayed an interest in folklore and the like.  Though most myths and folklore, such as that of the Greeks and Norse, often promote false gods, C.S. Lewis still saw the power that these stories had.  He wrote his own series of fantasy books known as the Chronicles of Narnia.  His books are not only inspiring and entertaining to read, but they also communicate biblical truths.  For example, the book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe presents a wonderful allegory of the way Christ conquered sin through death.  C.S. Lewis plundered the fantasy genre from the Egyptians and used it to promote biblical truths.

 

And then there's me!  Just kidding.  Kind of.  Now I like C.S. Lewis, because I'm trying to do something similar to what he did.  You see, I really like science fiction.  Sadly though, the messages behind most science fiction books aren't very Christian, and are often very anti-Christian.  Most either promote man or nature.  If it's not man triumphing over nature with his amazing technological advancements (think Star Trek and almost anything writen by H.G. Wells) it's nature turning the tables on that technology and triumphing over man (think Jurassic Park and Jame's Cameron's Avatar).  However, I think there are some good elements in science fiction.  The amazing locations, the cool technology... I think it can be plundered from the Egyptians and used for Christ's glory.  Which is why I'm writing a Christian sci-fi series of novels.

I think this is important to us Christians today.  We need to be plundering the Egyptians. If we don't, we not only miss out on some good gold and wonderful Gospel-sharing opportunities, but we end up like the Amish.  And we all know how good they are at evangelizing.

 

However, it is very very VERY important not to go off the other end and absorb every worldly thing out there.  We are to be in the world, and not of the world.  Not every non-Christian thing out there has gold in it.  Some of the stuff out there has too little gold in it to be worth refining.  We don't want to plunder the Egyptians of their garbage!  And when we do plunder them, we need to make sure that we're taking just the gold, and not all of the worldly dross with it.  To sum up, we need to be careful of how we plunder the Egyptians and what we plunder from them.  What should we plunder from them?

"whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable..."-- Philippians 4:8

You'll know the gold when you see it.

Are you plundering the Egyptians?  Let me know how in the comments! :)

Sharing Christ's Love: Why Should We?

I said in my last post that I would make a post about sharing Christ's love.  Well, here it is!

A picture pulled off of some random blog which I don't read

Sorry for the wait, this took a little longer than I expected.  When I first went to write this post, I completely missed the point and fell pray to that which I myself warned against: I focused on things like how to share Christ's love, when I should've been thinking about why to share Christ's love. 

There are several major reasons why I think that it is vital that we, as Christians, show love to others.

Another Development Update

Things have been going slow lately because I'm currently on a trip in Florida.  The Statement of Faith page is going to have to wait a little longer.

In the meantime, I've pretty much finished the forums.  I'd say it's fully up and running, but it could still use some streamlining.  Go check out the forum and tell me what you think!

I've also completed the 'About' section of the About/Contact page, so you can read a little bit about myself and why I made this blog.  Maybe I should just split that into two separate pages...

I got to visit an abortion clinic today, and I tried to help minister to the people there and stop them from murdering their children.  I think I'll make a post about it when I get back from the trip.