Theoretical
Puritan Board Professor
This thread is not about EP vs. non-EP, and I do not want it to serve as such.
My own stance is as one who leans EP, in part because of this issue, but others as well; however I am NOT firm on this stance at this point.
My question for those who believe that non-inspired hymns and songs may be sung in church is whether it is acceptable to sing songs by Issac Watts (Anti-Trinitarian), Charles Wesley (Wesleyan Arminian), or Fanny Crosby (a woman).
Assume the content of the individual hymn/song in question is free of unorthodox content. Is the authorship a problem?
I doubt any in sound confessionally Reformed churches would permit a heretic, Arminian, or woman into the pulpits, but how does that mean that the words they've written are acceptable for congregationally singing in worship?
Is it a situation where the text stands apart from its author's orthodoxy or gender, and if the text conveys an appropriate orthodoxy that it is ok? What am I missing?
My own stance is as one who leans EP, in part because of this issue, but others as well; however I am NOT firm on this stance at this point.
My question for those who believe that non-inspired hymns and songs may be sung in church is whether it is acceptable to sing songs by Issac Watts (Anti-Trinitarian), Charles Wesley (Wesleyan Arminian), or Fanny Crosby (a woman).
Assume the content of the individual hymn/song in question is free of unorthodox content. Is the authorship a problem?
I doubt any in sound confessionally Reformed churches would permit a heretic, Arminian, or woman into the pulpits, but how does that mean that the words they've written are acceptable for congregationally singing in worship?
Is it a situation where the text stands apart from its author's orthodoxy or gender, and if the text conveys an appropriate orthodoxy that it is ok? What am I missing?
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