Debate with Richard Carrier

Secularist readers of this blog have probably read some of the writings of philosopher/historian Richard Carrier. Carrier is a prolific Internet writer and has also been published in books and respected academic journals. He his currently earning his doctorate at Columbia.

I'll be participating in an online debate with Carrier at the Internet Infidels website beginning at the beginning of December. The topic is "Theism vs. Naturalism" and I'll be defending the theism side.

The event will have four judges, two being atheists and two being theists. Victor Reppert and Richard Schoenig are both university philosophy professors and Glenn Miller and Jeff Lowder are lay writers and researchers in philosophy of religion. They are all qualified and familiar with the areas pertinent to the debate.

I'll be giving more details on the start date and the statement postings as the debate progresses. This should be interesting and competitive; I fully expect a victory. Please tune in and feel free to send any comments you wish to convey.

Traditional Hymns: Why Prefer Them?

Every time I tell someone that my favorite Christian songs are traditional hymns, I get either a look of confusion or disgust. How can a guy who is fairly young (26) enjoy music that is so old? Isn't this music for the elderly among us? After all, I'm told, the music of Third Day, Jars of Clay, and Chris Tomlin (to name a few) are cooler, "edgier", and just better sounding to modern ears.

But my reasons for this preference are in fact fairly well-defined. Reflection on the motivations behind both classic hymns and contemporary Christian music reveals that the former comes from a far deeper source. That is, the original authors of these hymns found their inspiration not in the promise of money and fame, but in the very experience of Christ working in their lives. One reads "Come Thou Fount" or "O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing" and one recognizes that the writers, who never had recording contracts or concert tours, penned these words as a sort of testimony of the power and richness of Christ. Christ made all things new for them and they subsequently wrote of their experience and appreciation.

Today's songs and artists seem to have little in common with those of old. On today's Christian radio we hear all kinds of songs that seemingly blend together into one "pop rock wannabe" sort of sound. They try their best to sound like the secular rock stars, but they never quite pull it off. Oddly, the songs typically consist of perhaps one Bible verse and go on repetitively for six stanzas. Often, people tell me that these contemporary works are quite good because they consistently quote Scripture (over and over and over and over) in their lines. But that seems to be a certain part of the problem: they simply quote words, but never reflect on their power or meaning for their lives or for the world. Today's Christian music appears to be a quick fix: songwriters take Scripture and set to secular sounding music and anxiously await their payday.

I've heard a fine pastor (Alistair Begg) once say that there exists a direct correlation between Christian suffering and depth of faith. The more one suffers for Christ, the more powerful his faith often becomes. This is vividly seen in the hymns up through the nineteenth century. The songwriters of that era reflect a faith that was, by necessity, deep and profound; they had no big contracts or big money and their faith showed that in the great classics they produced. The spoils of today's artists apparently prevents them from producing the greatness of generations past.