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to blaspheme God and using it instead as a medium to praise and exalt God’s holy name, proclaim His glorious gospel, speak biblical truth and magnify the infinite worth of the Lord Jesus Christ?” Arguments against “depraved genres” are ultimately arguments against redemption itself, because depraved genres are the products of depraved human beings, who need redemption. (In fact, “depraved genre” is a misnomer because it’s ascribing moral value to a medium, which by definition is morally neutral until informed by content.) Once God has redeemed a person, it’s fitting for the Christian to take the “genres” or vehicles (such as books, cameras, canvasses, the internet, language, musical forms, etc.) that he or she once used for evil and now use them to promote the glory of God. Those who make the objection (especially as they use the internet to do so) are often unaware that they themselves use “depraved genres” all the time.
You might be the first I have ever seen write a song on limited atonement. How has Reformed theology impacted your lyrics? Reformed Theology has greatly impacted my understanding of Scripture, which obviously trickles down into my lyrics. It affects the themes that I tend to emphasize and it also impacts the way I word things. For instance, I have a song called “Penelope Judd”, which is an allegorical children’s song that never explicitly mentions Jesus or reformed theology. Yet, classical reformed emphases like imputed righteousness, the sufficiency of Scripture, radical corruption, etc. are found throughout if you dig beneath the surface a little. Though I rarely use “reformed” terminology in my songs, it permeates everything I do.
Without a question, it’s the holiness of God. Our culture assumes the love, mercy and grace of God. But none of those glorious truths make sense apart from understanding that God is infinitely holy. Christians and the Arts. Why is it so important for Christians to produce high quality artistic material?
Excellent art by Christians commends the gospel in a compelling way. It is attractive because it doesn’t stop at the creature, but points beyond itself to the ultimate Artist. It says, “This is what it looks like to not only be made in the image of God, but to be ‘created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness’” (Eph. 4:23) In our world, which is characterized by rebellion against Your new album is on the God, there are many obstacles attributes of God. What attribute to belief in Jesus. But very few of God do you think your provoke the kind visceral, immediate generation needs to hear about the response of displeasure that bad most? Christian art does. www.credomag.com | 9