A Commitment to Conservative Principles for Worship

The final priority of Religious Affections Ministries is a commitment to conservative principles, especially when it comes to congregational worship. Such principles include the following:

• Belief in absolute standards of truth, goodness, and beauty. Relativism in these three areas is rejected since they are transcendental principles flowing from the very nature of God. The fact that something is true, good, or beautiful depends on its relationship to the Ultimate True, Good, and Beautiful. Therefore, the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, and beautiful and ugly may be determined by observable standards and are not merely subjective. Furthermore, these transcendental principles are revealed in the written Word of God and natural revelation (creation and conscience). While natural revelation is certainly a lesser authority than the Bible, it is a real authority nonetheless.
• Priority of the affections over the passions. True conservatism favors modest, well-crafted art with depth that targets the intellect and affections over shallow, immediately-gratifying art that merely stimulates the physical passions.
• Rejection of the novel and commercial. Pop culture, by its very nature, is transient. It is novel for novelty’s sake. It is not substantive, because substance doesn’t sell. Conservatism rejects such culture because it does not have the capacity to support deep content.
• Commitment to that which is timeless and demonstrably good. All of these principle lead to this final one. Those cultural elements (including that included in worship) that are substantive, timeless, and demonstrably good (based on absolute standards revealed in Scripture and nature) have more capacity to support biblical truth and reverent worship.

Religious Affections Ministries is committed to advocating these principles of conservatism, among others.

In summary, Religious Affections Ministries exists to promote worship that is biblical and encompasses all of life, and congregational worship that is deliberate and conservative.

© 2008, Scott Aniol. All rights reserved.

Scott Aniol

Scott Aniol holds a bachelor's degree in church music from Bob Jones University (Greenville, SC), a master's degree in musicology from Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL), and has studied theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN) and Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained to to the gospel ministry by First Baptist Church (Rockford, IL) in April of 2004. As the executive director of Religious Affections Ministries, Scott speaks on the subjects of music and worship at various churches and conferences. His most recent speaking engagements include the Preserving the Truth Conference, Central Seminary’s Foundations Conference, International Baptist College, and Bob Jones Seminary. Click here to read and/or listen to important talks from Scott Aniol. Curriculum vitae

Related posts:

1. A Commitment to Lifestyle Worship
2. A Commitment to Deliberate Worship
3. A Commitment to Biblical Worship