The Basement Second Edition

You may recall that a while back I wrote a blog on The Basement, a local church-like function that attracts hundreds of people across the Birmingham area each week. At that time I had never been, but wrote on the standpoint of my opinion based off what I have gathered. Many people call it a cult while many others claim the real presence of God there. Well guess what! I finally decided to go for myself, to see what it was like.
Before going into great detail as to my opinions once visiting, I will sum up my opinions I expressed in the last blog about The Basement. The following is a brief outline of my opinions on such a place in general:
Guard what you hear with the Word of God, and use discernment in what you hear. It is essential that whatever anyone tells you, you should only believe it if it is Biblically consistent. When a Minister of the Word of God preaches about the Word of God, they should be able to back up their beliefs with Scripture. However, even as true as this is, this general "method," if you will, can be oversimplified. You may quote Scripture, but the second step is to interpret Scripture. Just because someone quotes Scripture does not make them right- they must interpret it right. If someone quotes Scripture and interprets it differently than you do, your church does, or your denomination does, consider the text in the context it is written, and make a reasonable opinionated conclusion as to if you need to be corrected, if the speaker needs to be corrected, or if it is somewhat of both. Remember, that there are some people who are called to preach The Gospel. Therefore, it is possible to learn from an ordained Minister of whom you may disagree with. Sometimes because they have training and the gift from God, you may indeed learn from them. However they must meet the qualifications and calling in order to claim any duty of a Minister, Elder, or preacher of the Word of God. Because they are preachers of the Word, they are held to a higher standard. They can still always be wrong. [See II Timothy 3:16-17, Acts 14:23, and Titus 1:5, James 1:19, James 3:1].
The style of worship does matter. In today’s world of Christianity, we live in an individualist standpoint that says that it does not matter at all how you worship God- as long as you "feel" it. But I ask one thing: what is more important, your personal emotions, or the Word of God? It would take a separate blog- or maybe even book- to write an in-depth opinion of corporate worship. But even yet, the way you worship does matter. Granted, one aspect of this should be praising God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Therefore, to disregard the "personal emotions" would be inconsistent within the Bible itself. We should just remember that worship is not based off of these emotions in and of themselves. [See Psalm 147:1, Luke 24:53, Psalm 145:3].
The music, preaching, and atmosphere should resemble the church universal. What people need more than anything is not deep theology (although this is important and should come), nor a place that harshly condemns their sins. What people need is acceptance, community, and love. The church should offer this universally. Therefore, in every aspect, a Christian gathering place should live as a living sacrifice attesting to the grace of God. Therefore, the church universally, and locally both, should be apart and distinct from the world. They should try to help the sinner, and be "in" the world, but not "of" the world. It is hard on a personal standpoint to know how to use the "hate the sin, love the sinner" approach, and the "in but not of the world" approach, while still using the "all things to all people" approach that Paul talks about. But any place of corporate Christian gathering should be sensitive to how they meet this basic criteria. Therefore, they should accept people; they should teach people; they should forgive people; and they should be different- from the music to the way of life. [John 3:16, Romans 12:2, II Timothy 3:10].
This can not and should not be attempted to replace weekly Sunday morning worship. Sunday morning worship is very essential to Christian living. We are told not to forsake the assembly. Some may say that The Basement is assembly. It is, but I believe that there is something special about the weekly worship with God, where God renews His covenant with His people (not to mention the special kind of community one gathers from consistently attending a church). The Basement, if done right, may offer a community to the struggling Christian or to the non-Christian. However it is essential for the personal growth of the Christian to attend a weekly Christian church service. There are those who believe that the only assembly should be of the weekly worship, or that any other assembly should be done with all members of a particular church body. I would disagree. I think that a place such as The Basement can be a really good place for teenagers of different churches to gather amongst themselves. It just should not take the place of the weekly corporate worship. [Hebrews 10:24-25, Joel 1:14].
The above basically sums up my views with how we should approach something as The Basement. The following is how I feel The Basement falls into those basic guidelines. I write this in terms of unity within the church, so that I praise where praise should be given, and humbly offer my opinion where it may be faulted. If you see me in error, please correct me.
As I went into The Basement, I must say, it felt more like a pep rally or something to that effect. From one aspect that can be good because Christians want to "rally" other Christians. However as I went in, I did not feel as if I was going to church. I heard the "Christian" rap, and did not feel "at home." I must say that most of the people there were generous to me. They would introduce themselves, and so forth, trying to make me feel comfortable. I appreciated that. But by hearing the rap, I did not feel like this was God’s house. We should not say to the non-Christian, "Come here and be a Christian- we play rap, you like that, right?" We should offer an alternative to a worldly lifestyle. There is nothing wrong with offering a friendly atmosphere for people to come worship God, but it should be done in a way that is distinct and faithful. Changing "Party like a rock star" to "Jesus is my rock star" does not reflect what Christianity is all about. If anything, this seems to show people that Christians have to borrow from the worlds handbook in order to be who they are. In all reality, it is the world that borrows from the Christian’s handbook, essentially the Bible, to be consistent with their beliefs. We should show them that. We should show them God’s grace and love and forgiveness. It may not attract many people at first, but I would much rather hear "Jesus, What a Friend of Sinners" or "We are God’s people" or "Amazing Grace" or "Holy, Holy, Holy." The music should show the non-Christian that Jesus is a friend of sinners, and remind the Christian to "Lift High the Cross."
After the rap, we all took a seat, and listened to the message from evangelist and speaker, Matt Pitt. His basic message was that God has a plan, and we should submit to His plan. This is very true. He often reminded us that it is God who is in control. Many mainstream Protestant Christians today seem to hold the view that Satan is in control, and God pulls out a miracle finish in the end. The point of Matt Pitt is what I believe: that it is God, not Satan, who is in control.
But there are some concerns as to how much Matt Pitt bases his messages off of the Bible. There is further concern that Matt Pitt uses nice rhetoric to defend and convince you of something that may not be true. I did see some reason for some of this concern in his message. Although I agreed with the general message, the way he expounded on his views was not always in line with my views. Perhaps the biggest thing that caught my ear was his seemingly ignorance of the Old Testament. He pretty much said that in the Old Testament "God’s plan was not working. It was getting about halftime, and God knew He needed to try something different. Moses didn’t work- nor David, Jonah, or Abraham. God sent in a new quarterback, Jesus, to save the way. Now it is a sure win." In some regards this sounds good. However we should remember that Moses, David, Jonah, and Abraham were not merely attempts by God to save a fallen people. These prepared the way for Christ. They were Biblical and providentially planned typologies pointing to Jesus Christ. It was not as if "God’s plan was not working." Nothing catches God off guard, nor does He have to ponder on a new "plan." Furthermore, I think it is fair to say that Jesus is much greater than a quarterback. He is our Savior, perhaps you could say, "coach." [A good book to read on the typologies of the prophets and Old Testament stories would be "A House For My Name" written by Dr. Peter Leithart].
As far as Matt Pitt quoting from Scripture, he did a little bit, but not much. He seemed to do something along the lines of "Hebrews 8 tells us that…" When he would read directly from Scripture, he seemed to use a translation I was not aware of. It may have been a good translation, but I am somewhat skeptical of some newer translations.
There were a few things in the message that I did not feel really "belonged." He seemed somewhat mildly silly at times. I don’t have anything wrong with somewhat being funny in a sermon occasionally, but he seemed to try being funny a pretty good bit (maybe it’s me, but not much of it was funny to me anyway). He would say some edgy things, and then use the phrase, "I’m sorry God forgive me" almost in the same way that comedian Larry the Cable Guy would use it. He also seemed to bring people to the idea that if someone criticizes The Basement for anything, whether the rap, or whatever, that we should "rejoice because we are being persecuted for righteousness sake." We should rejoice for righteousness sake when our common faith in Jesus Christ is being attacked, but any church or corporate gathering of Saints should be open to reform. It is by reform that has given the church many victories of the past (Nicene Creed, Protestant Reformation to name a couple).
Still, the bulk of his message was good: we should be on God’s team, because He is the mastermind with the master plan. I was also glad to hear that Matt Pitt, as well as others, encouraged people to attend a church elsewhere. This, I believe, is essential to Christian living. However to know where we are at today (he repeatedly mentioned that he wanted to give a message relative to our time, which is good), and how we should live, we need both a vision and a retrospect. Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it, and those without a vision do not know what to live for.
After the message, people would come down and give more praise to God, but this time not through rap, but more contemporary Christian soft rock. Personally, I still think that hymns are better for corporate worship, but I do believe that there is a place for this. I think that the lifting of hands here was more genuine than the dancing on the rap that says "We’re getting crunk at The Basement" and "Jesus is my rock star." Of course, only God can be the absolute judge of this.
In closing, there were some good things about The Basement, but I still have my general concerns. I do not know Matt Pitt personally, so I cannot claim to be a good witness to his personal life. However continue to guard whatever he says with the Word of God. In doing this, though, do not assume that if he quotes Scripture, he is definitely right. Consider the verse in the context in which it is written, and whether or not his interpretation seems consistent and truthful. I also encourage you to not let The Basement be your only source of Christian knowledge and wisdom and worship. Attend a church elsewhere, if at all possible. Read your Bible personally. Do not forsake the assembly of Christian saints. I do not think it would be right for me to tell you not to attend The Basement just because I don’t like the rap that is there. There are many people who give true praise to God, and if they do that, then I’m sure that God is pleased for that. Even if The Basement has faults in it, I believe that God can use anything to give glory to His name, and to complete His plan- His plan that is working, and as we all know through faith, will work.
What do you think?
Ryan