Foolishness in the Name of Christ?

Like many of you, I read several blogs. In fact, I read several websites with which I do not totally agree. Three sites that I read and from which I benefit are Slice of Laodicea, Apprising Ministries, and Old Truth. Though I read and benefit from them, I find that they tend to a hyper-critical spirit; therefore I read them with a certain amount of caution. Their strength, however, is that they are alert to the errors and excesses of pragmatic, market-driven churchianity.

In a recent article at Old Truth, Jim Bublitz writes a great article about one of the latest examples of tomfoolery in the name of evangelism. He says:

I have to admit, nothing sets me off quite like this kind of
thing.
I'm talking about the way growth-driven churches irreverently
misrepresent God
as being just another one of the guys (Psalm 50:21). It
doesn't stop there
either; the biblically defined office of pastor usually
gets a downgrade as
well. Any dignity that pastors should have (1 Timothy
3:1-7 and Titus 2:7-8)
becomes expendable for the sake of hip and trendy
relevance.

The "kind of thing" he refers to is this video by Gary Lamb of Ridge Stone Church in Canton, GA. (Let me admit up front that I find rap "music" objectionable on spiritual, aesthetic, and cultural grounds.) The video is foolish and pathetic on at least a couple of levels. First, it trivializes outreach to the lost for church attendance to the level of a Saturday Night Live sketch. No, I'm not humor impaired. I'm fine with jokes, comedy, and generally cutting up in the right context. Second, it sends an unwitting message to the lost that we have a lack of fear, awe, and reverence for God...and it's okay if they do, too.

This is not what Paul had in mind when he said, "it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." (1 Corinthians 1:21) The Spirit's emphasis is always on Christ. And Christ's emphasis is on the Word, even to the extent that He identifies Himself as the Living Word. It is the message of the Cross (His sacrificial, substitutionary death and His resurrection with power and authority) that draws men and women and young people to repentance and faith. A flip approach to advertisement and evangelism cannot produce real conversions because it and those who employ it present an incomplete and misleading gospel.

Music in Worship

Music is the Message , posted at NeoFundamentalist, gives a great, balanced perspective on the issue of music. For those of us who are not legalists concerning music, this article presents much needed food for thought.

One of the reasons that I wandered away from the fundamentalist movement a few years ago was what I saw as an undue emphasis on music standards. Acceptable music was defined by church leaders in ways that were narrow, subjective, and elitist. The pastor and/or music minister was in the position of being the arbiter of what constituted music acceptable to God. Often, leaders would refer to certain experts who shared their tastes and cultural biases. The leaders and their writings were regarded as authoritative. This approach to church music left me cold and frustrated. Having been taught that the Bible is our only authoritative rule for faith and practice, I naturally chafed under artificial rules imposed by leaders in the area of music. I could find no Scriptural corroboration for their standards and therefore felt they were being unjust in forcing their preferences on the churches. Many pastors and leaders passed off their personal tastes as "thus saith the Lord".

My tastes in music have always been generally broad and eclectic. I like some of most genres of music, with two or three notable exceptions. When I broke free of legalism, I also indulged my tastes in church music. Some I like more and some I like less. But I bought into the comteporary church notion that music is amoral (is that like being an amillenialist?)...or at least I bought into it intellectually. But even during that period of my life, there was a troubled voice of objection in the back of my mind regarding music. I still had lines that I would not cross, but I attributed them to my own prejudices and upbringing.

As I've made the course correction back towards nonlegalistic fundamentalism away from the errors of the market driven church, I am once again convinced that music is the message to a certain degree. Music is a communicative tool, an emotional and intellectual expression that both carries and calls forth moral and spiritual values from listeners.

NeoFundy's article brings some clarity to the discussion and evaluation of music that is appropriate for the churchs and for individual Christians.

Future Men

On his blog Irrelevant, Greg Linscott quotes from the book Future Men by Doug Wilson:

Music has been one of the chief culprits in the feminization of the
church. Many of the ‘traditional’ hymns of the nineteenth century are romantic,
flowery, and feminine. (I come, after all, to the garden alone, while the dew is
still on the roses.) But the recent rejection of such hymns in favor of
contemporary worship music has been a step further away from a biblical
masculinity. The current emphasis on “feeling worshipful” is frankly
masturbatory, which in men produces a cowardly and effeminate result.
The
fact that the church has largely abandoned the singing of psalms means that the
church has abandoned a songbook that is thoroughly masculine in its lyrics. The
writer of most of the psalms was a warrior, and he knew how to fight the Lord’s
enemies in song. With regard to the music of our psalms and hymns, we must
return to a world of vigorous singing, vibrant anthems, more songs where the
tenor carries the melody, open fifths, and glory. Our problem is not that such
songs do not exist; our problem is that we have forgotten them. And in
forgetting them, we are forgetting our boys. Men need to model such singing for
their sons.

While we should exercise care not to go to the opposite extreme, we would do well to de-feminize our churches. (God is no more pleased with macho than with wimpy). This feminization has shown itself most prominently in church music ministries. Balancing our approach to music both in style and in lyrical content will allow our men to more easily and enthusiastically enter into corporate worship.

Poem for America

Green Baggins posts a great poem for America by Kipling. Read it here.

May our patriotism always be seasoned by humility and dependence on the Lord.

Worldliness in Contemporary Church

One of the things about which the Lord has changed my thinking over the last 12 to 18 months is regarding the entire market oriented approach to ministry. John MacArthur states here that worldliness is the major problem in evangelical Christianity:

We keep hearing from evangelical strategists and
savvy church leaders that Christians need to be more tuned into contemporary
culture.
You have no doubt heard the arguments: We need to take the message
out of the bottle. We can’t minister effectively if don’t speak the language of
contemporary counterculture. If we don’t vernacularize the gospel, contextualize
the church, and reimagine Christanity for each succeeding generation,
how can we possibly reach young people? Above all else, we have got to stay in
step with the times.
Those arguments have been stressed to the point that
many evangelicals now seem to think unstylishness is just about the worst
imaginable threat to the expansion of the gospel and the influence of the
church. They don’t really care if they are worldly. They just don’t want to be
thought uncool.

This very mindset of supposed relevance has led many down the path to triviality. Imagine! We trivialize the Almighty Creator of the universe in our zeal to increasingly swell attendance and call it success. May He forgive us and grant us repentance from our headlong rush into "relevant" irreverence.

Books, etc.

When I previously said that the postings to the blog would come unevenly, I had no idea that it would be almost two months in between entries! But, summertime is a busy time in ministry. So, I'm glad to be back online.

Here is a list of the books I've read over the last three months. I'm providing links so that you can read what others have to say about them. I'll attempt to review some of them over the coming weeks.

Books I've recently read:

Not Like Any Other Book by Peter Masters.
Changed Into His Image by Jim Berg. This is probably the best book I've read in two years. Very helpful in one's personal walk and in discipling others.
Why Men Hate Going To Church by David Murrow.
Healing The Masculine Soul by Gordon Dalbey.
Crushed: The Perilous Journey Called Ministry by Gary Pinion.
Raising A Modern-Day Knight by Robert Lewis.
Unveiling Islam by Ergun Caner and Emir Caner.
Chosen But Free by Norman Geisler.
The Creative Leader by Ed Young.
Only God by David Ralston. Most inspiring missionary book I've read recently. Bro. Ralston was our pastor at Southside in the late '80s/early '90s.

Books I'm in the process of reading:
Lectures To My Students by Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Come Let Us Reason by Norman Geisler and Ronald Brooks.
Set Apart by R. Kent Hughes.

Books on my shelf that are "on deck":
The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman.
The Powell Principles by Oren Harari.
Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences by Norman L. Geisler.
The Way of the Master by Ray Comfort.

Have fun in your reading. I welcome your comments and insight.

A Place to Start

A place to start

So begins my modest foray into the world of blogging. If this goes like the rest of my life, these ponderings and perusings will come in spurts and floods. Of course it's my intention that they be regular. But more than likely the inspiration will come unevenly and so will the posts.

If I were to describe myself on the theological spectrum, I would choose the label "progressive fundamentalist". I'm a recovering legalist, purpose driven, do-it-the-hard-way Baptist. Now I'm just a progressive fundamental baptist seeking to be balanced and faithful in my understanding and preaching of the Word. If that makes perfect sense to you, you're better at peeling onion layers and reading tea leaves than I am!

If I were to describe myself politically, I would choose the label "conservative". I'm a limited-government, traditional family values, America first conservative. And that frankly means that I'm uncomfortable in the GOP right now because the Beltway Republicans are completely out of touch with me and my values. There are a few, like Sen. Tom Coburn, who still get it. But they are by far the minority.

Well, so goes the introductions. Welcome aboard. I look forward to our virtual walks together as we ponder and peruse faith and values as they relate to church and political life...and whatever other things come up on the radar.