hughbiquitous

Discussion following my last post brought the question of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility to center stage. The vocabulary we’ve been using features words like “force” and “coerce,” “persuasion” and “choice.” In formal terms, the real issue is determinism: does God determine the actions of men?

I submit that, ultimately, everything that transpires is determined. (more…)

How do you reconcile “just pray the prayer” with the commandment to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling?” Continuing the organic little series that’s formed here around the idea of altar calls and such, Doug Greenlee’s comments continue to give me some things to think about.

(No, I don’t have a thinking problem. I can stop whenever I want. Honest.) (more…)

My last post (I Forgot That I Know That I Know) opened the door to some discussion about altar calls.

The Good

Sometimes, they work. A long imbroglio could follow about what the meaning of the word work is, and sometimes could be taken in the same sense as “sometimes, you win the lottery,” or “sometimes, you don’t.” Unfortunately, I don’t know how to be any more precise in this case.

The Bad

It widens the narrow gate. I wrote last year on this (The Wide and Narrow Gates): the benefits are tactical, the liabilities are strategic.

It is impulsive. Altar calls are odd. It’s a call to make a far-reaching, intensely personal commitment right-here-right-now about something that ought to change the rest of your life. Nowhere in life is that sort of impulsive decision commended as a Good Thing™.

It is confusing. Was my conversion the result of repentance for the forgiveness of sins? Or was it merely repentance for the acceptance of my teachers and peers? There’s also the dissonance created by those who come forward, receive the imprimatur of the evangelist, and are subsequently observed in ways of living that are at odds with the gospel they claim to have believed.

The Ugly

Charles Finney. Finney pioneered the idea of a “hot bench” of people ready to jump to answer the call, thereby eliciting the favorable response of everyone in the room who was susceptible to peer pressure. Phil Johnson concludes:

In short, Finney’s chief legacy was confusion and doctrinal compromise. Evangelical Christianity virtually disappeared from western New York in Finney’s own lifetime. Despite Finney’s accounts of glorious “revivals,” most of the vast region of New England where he held his revival campaigns fell into a permanent spiritual coldness during Finney’s lifetime and more than a hundred years later still has not emerged from that malaise. This is directly owing to the influence of Finney and others who were simultaneously promoting similar ideas.

The Western half of New York became known as “the burnt-over district,” because of the negative effects of the revivalist movement that culminated in Finney’s work there. These facts are often obscured in the popular lore about Finney. But even Finney himself spoke of “a burnt district” [Memoirs, 78], and he lamented the absence of any lasting fruit from his evangelistic efforts. He wrote, “I was often instrumental in bringing Christians under great conviction, and into a state of temporary repentance and faith… [But] falling short of urging them up to a point, where they would become so acquainted with Christ as to abide in Him, they would of course soon relapse into their former state.” [cited in B. B. Warfield, Studies in Perfectionism, 2 vols. (New York: Oxford, 1932), 2:24]

One of Finney’s contemporaries registered a similar assessment, but more bluntly: “During ten years, hundreds, and perhaps thousands, were annually reported to be converted on all hands; but now it is admitted, that real converts are comparatively few. It is declared, even by [Finney] himself, that “the great body of them are a disgrace to religion.” [cited in Warfield, 2:23]

B. B. Warfield cited the testimony of Asa Mahan, one of Finney’s close associates, “…who tells us—to put it briefly—that everyone who was concerned in these revivals suffered a sad subsequent lapse: the people were left like a dead coal which could not be reignited; the pastors were shorn of all their spiritual power; and the evangelists— ‘among them all,’ he says, ‘and I was personally acquainted with nearly every one of them—I cannot recall a single man, brother Finney and father Nash excepted, who did not after a few years lose his unction, and become equally disqualified for the office of evangelist and that of pastor.’

“Thus the great ‘Western Revivals’ ran out into disaster… Over and over again, when he proposed to revisit one of the churches, delegations were sent him or other means used, to prevent what was thought of as an affliction… Even after a generation had passed by, these burnt children had no liking for the fire.” [Warfield, 2:26-28]

With some hesitation, we enrolled the girls in vacation Bible school at a local church (not ours).

With that intro, you can guess where this is going. (more…)

Driving in to work this morning, I was listening to 40 Acres (the song) by Caedmon’s Call. I have always had a nasty time picking up the lyrics to the chorus, but this morning it really bugged me.

(Folks who know me are well aware of my condition — lyricus inaudiosis — I just can’t make out song lyrics without liner notes.)

I listened to it over and over. When I got to work, I tried adjusting the EQ different ways — no joy. Through the car speakers. Faded to the front, faded to the rear, 50/50. With headphones. Slowed down to 75% speed. 50% speed. I did everything I could think of except play it backwards. Derek Webb, what are you saying?

It’s like Louie Louie.

So as a cry for help (or sympathy, or understanding, or merely for your amusement), I offer here what I heard:

There’s forty acres

Of redemption to be found

Just along down the way

There is a place where no bloudliness turned to ground

You will turn it over hay

‘Cause out here open mains

– Caedmon’s Call, 40 Acres, 1:42-2:06 (as heard by me)

OK. (Yes, I know bloudliness is not a word. Just repeating what I heard.) Now I’ll Google up the lyrics and see what Derek really said:

There’s forty acres

And redemption to be found

Just along down the way

There is a place where no plow blade has turned the ground

And you will turn it over

‘Cause out here hope remains

–Caedmon’s Call, 40 Acres

So that’s it. Sorry to bother y’all…