I was driving home from work one night and I turned on the radio just in time to catch the start of a song. While I normally do not listen to Christian radio stations, I was content to leave it there for a bit. Soon, Britt Nicole’s “All This Time” began to play (at the time I didn’t know the name of the song). I’ll admit, it wasn’t my cup of tea, but when the bridge came and went…well, let’s just say that I was reminded why I am so opposed to the current state of the Christian musician community.
Before I begin this post, it’s only fair that you listen to the song and read the lyrics as a whole before continuing on. So here are both, in one package (beware the occasional typo)!
The point of this post is not to evaluate the merits of the song itself (although I will say as a general statement, it’s not a good song). In fact, I would have outright ignored this song had there not been the bridge. The bridge is the whole reason why this post is being written. For any of you readers who are apologists, you probably cringed at the line where Britt sings:
“I hear these people asking me
How do I know what I believe?
Well I’m not the same me
And that’s all the proof I need.”
Now, in the song’s defense, the context of the song describes the transformation the Britt went through as a work of the Holy Spirit. I have absolutely no qualms with that. I also have no qualms with saying that personal transformation is a perfectly valid (and effective) means of demonstrating the power of the Gospel. But in light of today’s pluralistic and relativistic society, this approach cannot be used alone. Countless cults, New Age practices, and even New Atheism could answer the question “How do I know what I believe?” with “I’m not the same me” and they know that what they believe is, unfortunately, true. Needless to say, the bridge to this song has some dire consequences for the truth of Christianity.
For example, say a man who is a drunkard, drug abuser, and adulterer comes to believe in Mormonism. As his worldview begins to change to adopt the Mormon worldview, he gets rid of the alcohol and drugs and stays faithful to his wife. He certainly isn’t the same anymore. According to this song, that would be good enough for him to know that Mormonism is true. But that is ridiculous! Christian apologists have long labored against Mormonism by showing it’s flaws and falsehoods. But if all we need to know that what we believe is true is the fact that we aren’t the same person anymore, then what this Mormon believes is actually the truth.
Hopefully one can see that this portion of the song has dangerous consequences, and I don’t want to further criticize the song without offering something encouraging or helpful. For Christians, we can know that Christianity is true through several means. When it comes to demonstrating the existence of a theistic God, we can look to the various cosmological, teleological, axiological (or moral), and ontological arguments. From there, we can know that Christianity is true through the abundant historical evidence of the Scriptures and the reliability of both the Old and New Testaments as historical documents. Even better: if Jesus rose from the dead, then Christianity is true and everything else is necessarily false. It doesn’t matter how much one has changed as a result of believing something – if Christianity is true, any belief that is non-Christianity is immediately false. Taken together with our transformed lives, we can know Christianity is true through many means – and then use those means to proclaim that transforming truths of the Gospel for others to believe in as well.(This post originally appeared on 1/21/13 on Another Ascending Lark)