Innocent Idols?

Some of the greatest revelations from God, about Himself, are often forgotten. I think there are a lot of things that can be pointed to as reasons for forgetting what God has revealed. Insecurity and laziness are some specific reasons. These can become idols that enslave. For example, we feel insecure about studying doctrines that are deep and difficult. So we excuse ourselves from this task by reserving this task strictly to our Pastors' (after all, they have degrees in theology). Insecurities help us become lazy by relying too much on our Pastors' sermons instead of studying for ourselves. These idols of insecurity and laziness begin to shape how we view God. They control us, even to the point that they motivate us to keep control over our lives from God. They can lead to God being ignored from the Bible. Such that, we become more susceptible to throwing out Biblical exegesis and systematic theology. In turn, our idols "tell us" God has become untrustworthy and/or distant.

The solution is to: (1) identify any given idol of our hearts, and (2) regard it for what it is in light of God's revelation, namely an idol; finally, (3) turn from any given idol to the only true God, whom paid the penalty for sins at Calvary, so that in Him and through Him God can conform us to His image. By the eyes of faith , we can repent, believe, and rejoice in what Christ has done on our behalf. He died in our place to rescue us from sin--from idolatry-- that in Him we would become the children of God. The rags to riches story come true. So we are to no longer live ruled by idols for meaning, purpose or value. Idols cannot give any of these things. All they can do is enslave us on an endless search for meaning, purpose and value where it cannot be found. Meaning, purpose and value can only be found in Christ. Only in Him do we see God's goodness, love and grace poured out for us on the cross. He who is beautiful become ugly for us that we might be beautiful in God's sight. He who was invulnerable become vulnerable that we might find safety and security in Him.  Despair and defeat is conquered, by hope and victory in, and through, Christ's death, burial and resurrection.    

Evangelism Explosion, and Calvinism

Mark Dever writes,

"And then came Evangelism Explosion. D. James Kennedy, a native of Augusta, Georgia, became the pastor of a little PCUS church in Ft. Lauderdale in 1959.  He began training his people to do evangelism.   And by 1962, he had organized this as a program called Evangelism Explosion.  The book continues on, in its 4th edition.  It has been used literally around the world.  It is the subject of much debate and criticism among evangelicals.  Missional types dismiss it as a modernistic sales job, assuming too much to be of any use today.  Reformed types dismiss it as one-sided, coercive, or decisionistic.  Nevertheless, neither of those sets of discussions need to detain us as a matter of history.

My suggestion is that Evangelism Explosion (and the subsequent dramatic growth of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, especially in the 1960's) became a quiet, but telling piece of counter-evidence against the stereotype of Calvinism killing evangelism.  Kennedy was unashamedly Calvinistic in the soteriology he presented in his sermons.  He later joined the PCA, with the Westminster Confession as its doctrinal standard.  Regardless of how consistent or inconsistent one takes aspects of EE to be with Reformed theology, a church that clearly meant to be Calvinistic pumping out evangelism, and evangelism training throughout the 1960s and 1970s was a telling argument in pragmatic America.  I'm not sure anyone thought of it at the time.  But I think that it substantially weakened the ground of the opponents of Reformed theology.  A pastor born in the 1920s, coming to maturity in the 1940s may have assumed that Calvinism was as gone as the horse and buggy, and partly he may have assumed that because of the "evangelism-killing" argument.  But a pastor born in the 1960s, maturing in the 1980s, would have a hard time taking it for granted that a Calvinistic theology always (slippery slope) leads to killing missions and evangelism.  There would be too many churches around him using Evangelism Explosion."(1)

I have come across, quite recently, criticisms of evangelism explosion (EE) questioning James D. Kennedy's Calvinism, and method. (2)

Anyone familiar with EE can understand why fellow Calvinists would be suspicious of it. EE is not a detailed gospel presentation that emphasizes the wonderful truths of limited atonement, unconditional election or irresistible grace. Primarily because James D. Kennedy took the Scriptures seriously that milk comes before meat. Deep, wonderful, magnificent, beautiful, doctrinal truths that glorify God cannot be received before the doctrinal basics. However, James D. Kennedy did stick to his calvinist convictions, like limited atonement, by outlining EE closely to scripture (e.g. Romans 5:8). Where EE gets off track, in the eyes of some calvinists, is its insistence upon, misquoting texts as exegesis instead of application, and what appears to be decisional regeneration. The former criticism is simple to correct. The latter criticism is serious if in fact true. Does EE reduce the gospel to easy believeism? I think not. Look at what the presenter asks the presentee. First, he explains that eternal life is a gift offered from God to all in Jesus Christ. Second, he proclaims this gift is received by saving faith. Saving faith is defined as (continually) trusting in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life. Third, he instructs the gift is received through faith in Christ with evidence of, transferring trust from self to Christ alone, acknowledging Christ as personal Lord and Savior over all, and repentance. After this, a person is told to pray to God to acknowledge the gospel, trust Christ for salvation and ask for help in repentance. Clear necessary characteristics of the gospel are preached. The EE emphasis is salvation is justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone--not a mere prayer. Although at times it may seem like it, since EE gets lumped in with the Four Spiritual Flaws of Campus Crusade for Christ.      

EE is great because it is flexible, can be personalized, and yet there is still room for improvement. As Calvinists we can make EE more doctrinally precise without sacrificing its simplicity. But we must stray away from, being too afraid to use the plain language of Scripture or, belaboring doctrinal truths to the expense of presenting meat before milk (e.g. Emphasizing unconditional election, or limited atonement). We should be open, if conscience permits, to use analogies (e.g. A gift for all who receive it) and terminology (e.g. offer, accept, receive, embrace ) that even Arminians use with the understanding that Calvinism lies at the foundation for both.  















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(1) Mark Dever. Where'd All These Calvinists Come From? http://www.9marks.org/blog/whered-all-these-calvinists-come-part-4-10
(2)  George R. Jaffray Jr. Explosive Evangelism. http://www.the-highway.com/explosive_evangelism1.html