I don’t get the common evangelical impulse to find whatever good can be salvaged from the wrecks of popular culture. The most recent example I’ve stumbled across is in the September issue of CT [print edition, p. 93].
Craig Finn, lead singer and songwriter for Brooklyn’s the Hold Steady, writes about drug addiction, casual sex, and Jesus. There’s lots of debauchery as well as religious iconography in most of these songs. . . . Stay Positive is a gritty, supremely uncomfortable masterpiece, a Christ-haunted work that finds glimmers of glory even in the gutter.
Of course good can be found in many depraved people and activities. The doctrine of total depravity does not teach that all men are as bad as possible. Thus it seems as though asking "is there anything good that can be found in this?" is the wrong question to ask of popular culture. If that is the question, the answer will always be yes.
Robert says
Brian,
That’s a very good question…I don’t get it either.
It comes down to a mind set that doesn’t “hate the things that God hates” because we are afraid of scaring our “fish” off…which is indicative of a larger problem…the idea that man is the ultimate agent in his own salvation.
Once you start down the path of taking away some of God’s sovereignty…the rest is easy…
When you have a view of God that puts Him in the driver’s seat in all things…you can just be faithful to proclaim evil for what it is…proclaim the gospel honestly, and let the chips fall where they may.
My 02 cents.
bob