RAP on The limited atonement rap
I love Shai Linne — Christian rapper extraordinaire. His rap is my kind of rap.
I love that he raps solidly theological stuff — no fluffy stuff here! And I love that he pulls no punches. I also love that his rap is rap offered in worship, not simply as intellectual data.
Sadly, he is a hardline Calvinist. This comes acrosss in lots of his songs, but perhaps nowhere clearer than in this one:
I actually agree with a lot of the theology in this. All it needs is to be mixed with the theology that "God is love" (see my previous post) and SHAZAM! — a case for universalism! Alas, Shai Linne does not consider this possibility (presumably because he considers it so far off the radar that it is not even worth consideration), and so ends up teaching the view that Christ only died for some people. He describes this view as controversial. That's an understatement!
The view certainly faces tricky challenges. For instance, it is inconsistent with the prima facie teaching of Scripture. Now that does not, of itself, make the view unbiblical. Defenders of the doctrine would argue that when the problem texts are read in the context of the canon they can be interpreted in ways that are compatible with limited atonement. I don't think that they can, but I can respect those who make the attempt to do so. There is nothing wrong with trying if one things that there are good biblical reasons for affirming the doctrine. Nevertheless, it is a problem, and it is a key reason why many Calvinists are four-point Calvinists.
It also faces the challenge that it is inconsistent with the claim that "God is love" (see my previous post). This is an even harder challenge for the defenders of limited atonement. There are attempts to reply to it, but none that I have seen come close to being adequate, and it is hard to imagine how they could do. The problem is that God's sovereignty and glory is made to look like God's sovereign right to fall short of being God. You'll have to excuse me for not finding this a theologically tempting avenue to explore.
I love that he raps solidly theological stuff — no fluffy stuff here! And I love that he pulls no punches. I also love that his rap is rap offered in worship, not simply as intellectual data.
Sadly, he is a hardline Calvinist. This comes acrosss in lots of his songs, but perhaps nowhere clearer than in this one:
I actually agree with a lot of the theology in this. All it needs is to be mixed with the theology that "God is love" (see my previous post) and SHAZAM! — a case for universalism! Alas, Shai Linne does not consider this possibility (presumably because he considers it so far off the radar that it is not even worth consideration), and so ends up teaching the view that Christ only died for some people. He describes this view as controversial. That's an understatement!
The view certainly faces tricky challenges. For instance, it is inconsistent with the prima facie teaching of Scripture. Now that does not, of itself, make the view unbiblical. Defenders of the doctrine would argue that when the problem texts are read in the context of the canon they can be interpreted in ways that are compatible with limited atonement. I don't think that they can, but I can respect those who make the attempt to do so. There is nothing wrong with trying if one things that there are good biblical reasons for affirming the doctrine. Nevertheless, it is a problem, and it is a key reason why many Calvinists are four-point Calvinists.
It also faces the challenge that it is inconsistent with the claim that "God is love" (see my previous post). This is an even harder challenge for the defenders of limited atonement. There are attempts to reply to it, but none that I have seen come close to being adequate, and it is hard to imagine how they could do. The problem is that God's sovereignty and glory is made to look like God's sovereign right to fall short of being God. You'll have to excuse me for not finding this a theologically tempting avenue to explore.
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