Phillip, Phillip, Phillip…..I must instruct you in the fine art of slander, liberal SBC style. You may not be in a position to understand just what is going on here. Believe me- I am.

1) The article associates this form of aggressive Calvinism with John Piper. This is blatant lying. I can assure you, that Dr. Piper has nothing to do with the kind of obnoxious, strict RPW, mean-spirited Calvinism the article describes. Dr. Piper’s church is a healthy and diverse church that many non-Calvinists attend. None of his books or tapes advocate this. He has many statements about worship on the web. He fellowships and worships with Charismatics and non-Calvinists more than any Calvinist leader. Knox is puposely slandering Piper by association and it is indefensible.
2) Not a single Reformed distinctive or part of TULIP speaks in any way to the use of instruments in worship or the PRW or Psalm singing or the rejection of Arminian worship. In fact, those who restrict instruments or use Psalms only are a minority of a minority of a fraction among Calvinists and are almost all Presby in background. But Mr. Knox won’t let anyone know that. It doesn’t fit his purposes.
3) Knox makes it appear that Southern Baptist Calvinism is the source of these youth group raiding Calvinist Taliban. In fact, the Southern Baptist Founders movement is about as generically SBC as they come. Men like Dever, Ascol, Malone, Nettles, Ware, Shreiner and Mohler have absolutely nothing to do with the strict RPW and they frequently say that Armnians are zealous and missionary minded Christians. It is completly slanderous and purposely malicious to even imply that young Calvinistic fanatics are being fed this from the Founder’s movement in the SBC or any SBC Calvinists. Knox is not being ignorant. He is being malicious.
4) I cannot name a mainstream Calvinistic teacher of any kind- including those who teach frequently on worship- who question anyone’s Christianity based on worship. This is more garbage written to incite liberals against Al Mohler and SBTS.
5) Half of Knox’s panel are liberals who know as much about Calvinism as I do about fusion. This is a familiar tactic with these guys. They have done past articles on conservatives quoting their liberal opponents as experts. I would be utterly surprised if they have ever attended a Founder’s Conference or interviewed Ascol or Dever.
6) Knox and Wingfield previously tried to paint SBC Calvinism as anti-missionary. Now they are painting it as radical RPW, Psalm singers and rejecting Arminian worship. This is completly ridiculous. If there are college Calvinistic fanantics picking this up, they are not getting it from Piper, Macarthur, Sproul, the Founder’s Movement, Modern Reformation, New Covenant theology, ACE, James White, Al Mohler/SBTS, Ernie Resinger or even Al Martin’s Reformed Baptists. It is a typical Marv Knox and Mark Wingfield assault on a group they fear and loathe using manipulative misrepresentation to try and ignite moderate SBCers to get mad.
7) Know is painting Calvinists as Cultists and it is a shameful tactic.
8) Antecdotal stories about Calvinists harassing youth groups, discussed by a panel convened by a journalist. Anyone see something rather odd about this kind of journalism?

Phillip- I know all the people involved here. If some college kids have gone over the deep end, it has nothing to do with Calvinism or Calvinism in the SBC. Frankly, I am a very well read Calvinist and I wouldn’t know where to go to find the sort of people Knox is writing about. Some people like to argue about the RPW. This tends to make pragmatists feel they are being challenged. They are. There ought to be a scriptural defense of all that is done in worship. But such a discussion is not a rejection of Arminians or their worship as non-Christian. (For example, is the “God is my girlfriend” discussion of CCM lyrics a rejection of Arminian worship, or a real issue of Biblical principle?)