If there is one thing that blesses my heart outside of seeing my own African-American brothers and sisters come to a knowledge and love of the Reformed faith, it is seeing this same knowledge and love through young people.
I have many friends who are either young adults themselves or older adults with young children, who passionately expresses their joy in the Reformed faith in various ways. And the diversity is amazing in and of itself: On one hand, I know young people who express their Reformed beliefs in listening to LeCrae and Paul Washer and others who express their beliefs in singing hymns and listening to Lloyd-Jones.
But in both cases, they have one major objective: to exalt Christ, promote God's Sovereignty, and uphold the glorious Doctrines of Grace. And while this "youth movement" has caused many older Reformers to become uneasy, I personally believe some good can come from this. Because the LeCraes, the Flames, the Washers are allowing youngsters to enjoy their Reformed beliefs in many nontraditional ways. And let us not forget that there was a time when the Luthers, Calvins, and Spurgeons were once scorned and seen as "over the top" in their society.
So, instead of criticizing this movement, let us build upon it. Because truly, there are a lot of things these young Reformers can learn from older Reformers and there are many things that the older Reformers can learn from younger Reformers as well.
2 comments:
It seems that these so-called reformed rappers have put some theologically accurate messages into a style of entertainment that originated to promote a sinful lifestyle. Are they “reformed rappers” because they rap about reformed theology? Or have they reformed rap music itself? Most of the inner city kids I witness to think of rap as promoting violence, drugs, and self-aggrandizement.
First of all, thank you for your comment.
To start off, I would have to disagree that rap music was originated to promote sin. If you listen to some early rap songs (and when I say early, I am talking about Sugar Hill Gang, Curtis Blow, etc.), you will quickly realize that the things they spoke of were not close to what you hear today.
Unfortunately, the kids of today only know of today's rap music so their response--while accurate for today--is also incomplete as a whole.
In regards to the basis of Reformed rappers, I would say that they are reformed rappers do to their theological content in their songs. Now, when I say this, I am not saying that this is the silly case of "turning what the devil did into what God does" (although there are some who I believe do this). But these rappers, if you listen to them, are very original in their content and music structure.
So, while I wouldn't go as far as saying they are "reforming rap", I would say they are using their God-given talents to exalt His greatness. And, when it boils down to it all, this is the essence of our worship (1 Cor. 10:31).
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