Why the “American Dream” Should STILL Matter to Young Evangelicals

The Early Signs of Drift in 2014 Evangelicalism

Welcome to the Conversations That Matter podcast. My name is John Harris. I wanted to share some more old gold with y 'all, if I may. I remembered, so I read the article from 2017, the blog post that I wrote on the Gospel of Racial Reconciliation, where I didn't really have the terminology to identify critical race theory, or even the term woke wasn't in my vocabulary, but I'm talking about those concepts.

I remembered right after that, that I had written this in 2014. This is September 30th, 2014. And so this was, so I think I incorrectly stated I was at seminary in 2015. It was actually 2014. It was that fall semester.

I wrote this during the fall semester of 2014, and this gives you a window. This is like a historical window into what was going on in 2014 that led to what's happening today. The anti-Christian nationalism stuff, which is, let's just be honest, there's a lot of anti-patriotic stuff, that sentiment.

I was seeing some of that back then, but we didn't have terms. Again, we didn't know exactly what was going on, but there was something in the air. And hardly anyone talked about this. I don't remember anyone.

I felt very alone. Just, I'm like, oh, this is what I'm seeing. I don't know anyone else who says this. There probably were people. But I put it out there, and of course, I didn't have a platform at the time.

No one really read it. But part of why I did this at the time was I wanted to remember. I wanted to go back and be like, what was going on? It was kind of like a journal. And this is interesting to me.

So the title of my blog in September 20th, 2014, was Why the American Dream Should Still Matter to Young Evangelicals. So why am I arguing that? Because I guess it didn't matter. That's the sense I had at the time.

And this is what I wrote. A few months ago, the Gospel Coalition released an editorial that went viral in the evangelical world entitled Five Observations About Younger Southern Baptists. The observations they published were as follows.

Number one, younger Southern Baptists have chastened expectations regarding political engagement. Number two, younger Southern Baptists tend to be reformed-ish. Number three, younger Southern Baptists tend to be theologically conservative without holding to certain cultural distinctives.

Number four, younger Southern Baptists are all over the spectrum when it comes to eschatology. And number five, younger Southern Baptists are focused more on local church ministry and less on convention meetings.

Going to a very large, and this is my words here, going to a very large conservative Southern Baptist seminary, I can testify to the accuracy of these observations. In fact, my suspicion is that these observations may in fact apply to young evangelicals as a whole to an extent.

Some of the qualities mentioned are all good. All can be good if rightly applied, but some I see as dangerous. I need to temper my comments with this before I continue. I do believe personally that the SBC is going in an excellent direction in most areas.

This is John. This is me in 2014. That's what I thought. I thought the SBC, that's why I joined an SBC school for this reason, right? I really thought like Moeller was great. I'm going to an SBC school 2014 before I really, the only exposure I had was I saw Al Moeller speak at the Shepherds conferences and I listened to the briefing, but so this is what I thought about the SBC.

So I said, the SBC is going in an excellent direction in most areas. Okay. That didn't age well. And I would not want to go to any other seminary than the one I'm at. Biblical eldership, a focus on God's sovereignty, a renewed interest in repentance, et cetera, are all amazing steps in the right direction.

It is however, my opinion that as a whole, young evangelicals have been affected by a subversive hyper-Calvinism that threatens to undermine the whole enterprise. What do I mean by this? So I didn't really have terms for it and I, would I call it hyper-Calvinism?

No, I don't think now I would probably call it hyper-Calvinism. I was, look, this is 2014. So you know, we're talking seven years ago, more than seven years ago is when I wrote this and I had, I was new to the SBC.

I was excited. I was pumped. And there was something wrong though. I was like, there's something wrong that could. And I even said at that point, I was like, this could undermine the entire thing. And I think that's what aged well, because I think whatever I was sensing did undermine the whole thing.

So here we go. David Platt, who was just elected to the IMB, International Mission Board, who I love and everyone should read Radical. This is embarrassing. I remember having problems with Radical, which I think I talk about here.

But at the time I was still like, no, like there's some bad stuff, but there's really, it's, you know, there's some good stuff. So anyway, you'll have to forgive me for saying this in 2014. Fortunately, I didn't really influence anyone because no one read it.

But my, my instincts were in the right place. As you'll see from this article, like the things I noticed in Platt and the things I noticed in the SBC, they were, my instincts were correct. I was overly optimistic because of how new I was and how people treated me because I was giving them a bunch of money to go to their seminary.

But I was really optimistic at the time and, but I could see something was going to happen. So here's what, this is, anyway, David Platt made this statement in an interview on Christianpost .com. He said this, I believe that the gospel and the American dream have fundamentally different starting points.

The American dream begins with self, exalts self, says you are inherently good and you have in you what it takes to be successful. So do all you can, work with everything you have to make much of yourself.

Now you may be wondering, what does this have to do with hyper Calvinism? David Platt is a Calvinist, like a lot of the young popular preachers affecting young evangelicals, John Piper, Begg, MacArthur, Chandler, Chan, Paul Washer, et cetera.

I don't believe any of these men are hyper Calvinist, but there does exist an attitude, especially in the younger guys, such as Platt that if wrongly understood can lead to an apathy. And then I put in brackets, that's what hyper Calvinism is, by the way, the idea that God will do his will regardless of our efforts.

Therefore we should not attempt to participate in things like prayer missions, et cetera. It's kind of a fatalism. Typically when this term is being defined, the story of William Carey comes up as he goes before his church to float his idea for missions in India.

An older man tells Carey to sit down because God, when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid. This encounter prompted Carey, a Calvinist, to write an inquiry into the obligations of Christians to use means for the conversion of the heathens.

You almost don't need to read the book with a title that long. In effect, Carey argues that God is in his power and sovereignty ordains people like you and I to carry out his tasks. God isn't just concerned with what happens, but how it happens and with whom it happens.

Missions, the Local Church, and Political Disengagement

Okay, back to the hyper Calvinism of today's young evangelicals. So young evangelicals are pretty pumped about missions. Just recall to your mind how many of your friends who are evangelical have gone on a short-term mission.

I know, it's pretty amazing and cool. Young evangelicals are also pumped about the local church as a whole, praise God. Young evangelicals think God can use them to do just about anything but change America or more specifically, change America's political system.

So I called this, this is interesting, I called this hyper Calvinism at the time. I think part of it was because I didn't want to think that they were hating on America. I probably like avoided that in my mind.

I just thought, well, like, why would they believe that God can work in every other country, but like, you can't work in politics in the United States. Like, that's the one thing you can't seem to do is like get involved on the religious right and try to push Christian values in the public square.

Why can't you do that? And I thought, well, maybe that's just a hyper Calvinism. They just think God will take care of that. So anyway, that's what I was sensing. Moving on here. I had a prominent preacher tell me a few years ago that there was no difference between mopping floors and being elected to public office.

And he wasn't referring to how God sees them both as acts of worship. He was referring to how they were both equally as effective. That wasn't at Southeastern, by the way, that preacher was Jesse Johnson at Master's Seminary.

I remember that. And he had told me that after a lecture and for some college group and I went up to him and I was like, hey, I'm interested in politics. And that's what he said. He's like, there's no, you know, go ahead and do it.

But there's no like eternal significantly different. There's no significance that would differentiate that than from like being a janitor. Anyway, I had a young man tell me this exact statement when I told him I might want to be a lawyer and defend the church.

God will defend his church. Sound familiar? Huh? So that was also at Master's. That wasn't actually at Southeastern. So I'm taking my experience from when I was at Master's and this wasn't like Master's Seminary didn't teach this just so everyone knows.

I know people are like, wait, you're going after Master's. No, I'm not. I'm just saying there were people there's like a few people there who kind of thought this way. And there was this guy was didn't even the guy who told me that anyway, he was about he was like, I think going the legal route, he was going to be a lawyer.

And then he was like, no, it's not like it's not like a Christian thing to do. It's not significant enough. The only significant thing is like being a preacher, I guess. And he said, God will defend his church.

And at the time, I was like, maybe I should be a lawyer. Like it seems like there's a lot of legal battles the church is going to need to navigate. And boy, was I right at that time. This was way this was before Obergefell.

So but the Lord had other plans and I went in a different direction. But I'm really thankful for the lawyers out there who are defending the church. Praise God. So what does the Platt quote have to do with anything?

Am I going after David Platt? No, I'm not going after David Platt. I absolutely love David Platt and his teaching and agree with everything I've heard from him say. Wow, John, that was me in 2014. I've agreed with everything I've heard him say.

In fact, Platt probably got his quote from similar statements made by John Piper and Don't Waste Your Life. One of my favorite books, by the way, neither of those books at this point. I've realized now I've I've I've gotten wise to it.

And I've realized how the seeds for our destruction came from those two guys in some ways. And I've I've looked at I've realized what I was missing, but there was still in me. I wouldn't have written this article unless there was still in me this questioning.

There was something wrong. I sent something in the water. And so I'm trying to defend myself from those who would fanboy over Platt and Piper and saying, like, I'm not going after them. But now I can say this definitively.

I'm reading this because I am going after them in part. There is a general disinterest and disengagement in politics among young evangelicals. There is also a hatred for what's called the American dream.

My opinion is this. The two are related. Let me further explain. The American dream defined the way that Platt and Piper define it is horrible. If it's all about self-power and money, I don't want any part of it.

And neither should you. Casting Crowns had a song a few years back called American Dream that spoke of the futility of living life for stuff. It's hit these days to hate commercialism and by extension, hate the conservative politics, i .e. Republican Party, Tea Party, et cetera, that seek to defend the American dream.

This may be a backlash against the concerns of the parents of young evangelicals. They saw their parents get so involved in trying to be the moral majority and take America back and vote the liberals out that they felt the gospel was lost.

Now, in an overreaction to display the gospel and the gospel alone, those things are becoming devalued. My ethics professor told me that even important issues like abortion are being left behind by young evangelicals in favor of preaching the gospel as if the two were mutually exclusive.

My ethics professor was Mark Lederbach, and he said that to me. Yes, that even he is. This was in 2014. His his students at Southeastern were becoming less pro-life. He said every year this. I remember him saying it to me in class, after class for the.

Let's see here for the simple purpose that they see it as. Let's see. Young evangelicals want to distance themselves from the right wing or those who defend the American dream because they see baggage attached to what they really love, the gospel.

You have to admire the motivation here, but I contend this is a grave error. Esau sold his birthright for at least something he could eat. Some evangelicals are selling their Christian heritage for something they will never get, the approval of the world.

We ought to defend the unborn and get politically involved because of the gospel. Now, I think I would phrase this differently now. It is. Yeah, the gospel motivates us, but it's not it's not a direct relationship in my mind.

It's not a direct, it's an indirect relationship. We defend the unborn and we get politically involved because the gospel has done a work in our hearts. And that work in our hearts makes us grateful to God.

It makes us want to follow his commands because now we have a different relationship with him. So I would phrase it differently just to that's what I meant back then. But I think because of the way since this time gospel issue has been so the gospel has been so devalued and so confused with social justice stuff, I would probably go that extra step today if I was writing something like this.

Capitalism, Stewardship, and the American Dream

Anyway, I said, so where does the American dream fit in and why do evangelicals need it? C .T. Studd, one of the greatest mobilizers for missions in history, was given an inheritance from his father of three million dollars.

One million was given to George Mueller's orphanage. One million was given to For Moody Bible Institute. One million was given to the China Inland Mission. God used capitalism, the means to fund Christian education and missions, the ends.

The American, excuse me, the American dream traditionally defined by political conservatives is not a mode of self-worship. It's a mode of wealth creation based upon the biblical ideas of private property, hard work and wise stewardship.

You cannot understand the parables of Christ without understanding the concept of monetary investment. You cannot read Proverbs without understanding that God cares about how his money is used. You cannot read the Old Testament or the Book of Acts without realizing that private property is a good thing.

All of it, all of overseas missions is funded by capitalism. If we define the American dream a little differently, like I believe it ought to be defined, it would go something like this. The opportunity to pursue God's will and providing for yourself and your family in peace and security.

Suddenly, it's not such a bad thing anymore, is it? Without the American dream, there is no foreign missions feeding the poor, etc. So to conclude, I'm not bashing anyone. I have had numerous conversations with friends about these issues, and it's a concern I've developed.

I'm not saying you're all wrong. I'm saying be very careful. We should hate materialism, but we should love the freedom to have and spend disposable income. That's gospel fuel, folks. Just because our parents decided to spend all their money on mirrors with which to look at themselves doesn't mean money is the problem.

We can spend ours on different things. And I'm speaking macro here. My parents didn't do that. God uses the American dream. The Bible gives us the American dream. Young evangelicals should defend the American dream in the political realm if they still care about missions and poverty, while encouraging individuals to spend their money with a kingdom focus.

For those who are discouraged about the political climate, know this. God is the one who raises up kings and destroys kings, but he's also the one that moves the heart of some and not others. Are you prepared to stop witnessing because God's spirit is not currently working on an individual's heart?

Neither should you stop being involved politically. It is God who ultimately changes anything, not us. I don't even fully understand this mystery, but it's super awesome that God uses us to accomplish his ends.

Wouldn't you agree? Now get out there and share the gospel and vote. So this was John Harris circa 2014 with some naivety in some ways. But, you know, I was in good company. And if anything, I was forward thinking in this article because hardly anyone, if anyone that I knew of, was publicly saying anything about a drift in the SBC along these lines.

So I noticed something, but I still there's it's interesting rereading this. I had a concern at that time that people were going to misunderstand me, that they would think I was attacking Platt, that I didn't want anyone to feel attacked.

I just wanted them to realize the American dream actually is a good thing. Now, hindsight 2020, I realized what was actually going on in more detail than I did then. What I sensed back then, and I was using terms like hyper Calvinism because, well, you don't think God can work in politics?

Like you just give that to him and he doesn't use means like you. Like now I'm realizing, OK, the root of all this, it wasn't a hyper Calvinism. It wasn't a misunderstanding of the American dream or something like that.

It was a purposeful move that was made at that time. This is pre social justice. Well, it's pre the woke movement, right? That term wasn't around. It was before 2020 and all of that. This is this is the soil being tilled.

David Platt, John Piper, all kind of echoing this Ron Sider kind of devaluing wealth and wealth is bad. And America is a bad place because people are wealthy. And we need to be focused on the gospel, not realizing, hey, what funds your books, David Platt?

How are you able to write them and sell them? What funds your ministry? What how do we get the gospel out there? We use God uses means and he uses money to do it. And he uses the conditions that have been set up in the United States to do it.

The greatest mission force in the entire world has come from pretty the United maybe Great Britain would have a contest with us. But the United States, if we're looking at it through metrics of like how many missionaries, how much money it's the United States.

And it's because of our free market economy. So that that was John Harris 2014. I just thought it was interesting to share this. It gives you a window into the past, into the history, what was going on on seminary campuses at that time.

And it sets the stage for what happened next. And maybe this will be in the archives, you know, and years later, this will be one of the things people look back to and they say, oh, that you know, that that was what was going on.

That's what led to all the problems. So I don't know. Hope that was interesting to you, as it was to me. God bless. And I want to let you all know that I'm still offering Christianity or sorry, social justice Pharisees, A .D. Robles' book for free.

If you order Christianity and social justice, religions and conflict. And you also order social justice goes to church. Those are the two books I've written on social justice. You got a worldview conversation forward slash shop.

You can get those two books. I'll just I'll just put in A .D. Robles' book, social justice Pharisees. If you order that for free, it ends, though it's going to end. Well, it's only while supplies last and it ends January 1st.

So you're going to want to go ahead and take advantage of that. God bless and have a good one. And oh, and enjoy your new year. Bye now.