Advice for My Angst-Ridden, Non-Calvinistic Friends

A couple thoughts from a guy on the inside of fundamentalism, intended to help my compatriots (no one in particular) who are troubled by the growth of Calvinstic thought among younger men, including younger fundamentalists:

• What young guys appreciate about guys like Piper is not his coolness (he’s not cool—not even a little bit), his sense of humor (he’s not funny), his physical appearance (he’s smallish, and his suits and ties leave much to be desired), or his manner of speaking (his voice sometimes squeaks, and he doesn’t even have a European brogue, which he should). It’s the fact that what he writes and preaches is relentlessly saturated with Scripture and passionately God-focused. Trying to counteract this with messages which are noticeably not saturated with Scripture nor God-focused won’t work. Trust me.
• Young guys aren’t Calvinists because it’s hip, but because it’s biblical. Here’s the thing: Teaching young men that the Scripture is our only rule of faith and practice may very well be the first step toward making them Calvinists. Be careful. They may actually end up believing that point, then be led by the Scriptures toward a Calvinistic soteriology. The Scriptures can be dangerous that way.
• The notion that Calvinists are unevangelistic is very wrong. You want to be accurate, but just as importantly, you want to be convincing. And everybody knows that the missionary leaders of previous generations were Calvinists; that Spurgeon (whose evangelistic passions are legendary) was a Calvinist; that Piper (despite slander to the contrary) is doing a great deal for the cause of world evangelization, even as a Calvinist. In fact,  most young missionaries we’ve had present their work at TCBC are decidedly Calvinistic (or at least Calvinistic-ish). They don’t seem to realize that going to the ends of the earth with the gospel contradicts their soteriology, and I haven’t had the heart to tell them.
• On that evangelism thing, when it’s all said and done, we may find that there are more souls in heaven as a result of doctrinally-grounded, God-dependent Calvinist types than there are from Arminian-leaning revivalists. Getting someone down an aisle and getting him into the Kingdom of God aren’t identical, after all.
• The notion that Calvinists redefine words won’t stand. Some certainly twist the Scriptures to fit their system, and that should be condemned. But Calvinists don’t have a corner on the “interpret-words-so-they-mean-something-else” market. Once again, arguing in this way is inaccurate and (worse!) ineffective. Frankly, I wouldn’t even bring up the redefining of words if I were you. I’ve heard many a message in which pretty straightforward words like “elect” and “chosen” are said to mean something other than “elect” and “chosen.” At any rate, that sword cuts both ways and should probably stay in its sheath.
• If you’re going to argue against God’s sovereignty in salvation, stop praying for people to be saved and stop saying that it’s really up to God to bring a harvest. I mean, when you pray for God to save somebody, you’re really asking him to intervene in a way that would violate the guy’s free will…and you don’t believe in that. So leave the poor guy alone! At any rate, what do you expect God to do to answer the prayer? You can’t leave salvation decisions up to men and pray for God to bring them about. So pick one.
• In trying to absolve God of responsibility for sin and calamity, be careful not to paint yourself into the corner of Open Theism. That’s bad. And again, young guys don’t like it.
• Protect the Truth, not turf. Young guys can tell when somebody’s message boils down to a frustrated defense of old paths, whether they were biblically sound paths or not. They’ll tune that sort of thing out. It won’t necessarily anger them; it’ll just make them shrug, which is worse. They’re passionate about biblical principles, but they really couldn’t care less about organizations and such. That may or may not be a good thing, but it’s reality.
• Speaking of protecting Truth, though young guys don’t usually line up with conservative evangelicals in their associations (like the BGC, SBC, PCA, etc.) or all of their doctrinal positions (like non-cessationism), they do recognize that while the Pipers of the world are fighting apostasy (like Open Theism and denials of penal substitution), many fundamentalists are fighting…well, the Pipers of the world; and all in the name of earnestly contending for the faith. It doesn’t make sense to them. I’m just telling you.
• Bottom line: If you want to influence young men, stop criticizing those who, though imperfect, are feeding their souls. Drop the ad hominem arguments. Stop erecting straw men. Don’t misrepresent people and positions. It’s embarrassing. Try giving them meaty, exegetically-sound, gospel-filled messages, instead. Feed them. Teach them the Scriptures, sans personal anecdotes, opinions, and the like. Make much of Christ. Preach holiness as something for which to worship God, not something with which to skewer evangelicals. Preach big ideas, not petty issues. Young bucks will listen to sound teaching even from fundamentalists. They’re not picky that way.
• On the other hand, if you’re not going to offer biblically-sound, well-reasoned messages, especially at your conferences, don’t complain when young guys choose to attend T4G-type conferences instead.

No charge for that. Just trying to help. We’re all in this together. Keep your stick on the ice.