Post 80 - Bad "Christianity": Part I
- John
- Apr 15
- 4 min read
In last month's blog I listed three anti-Christian quotes from well-known skeptics--quotes that reveal a lack of spiritual understanding by some very intelligent, influential people. Their hostility toward all things religious is really evidence of the spiritual battle we are waging every day in this world.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against... the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12 ESV)
As I opined in the last post, I don't believe that these people represent any real threat to the kingdom. They peddle their hatred openly. Their spiritual ignorance is obvious to all.
(If you missed the last post, here is a link: Post 79 - Dazed and Confused: Quotes from Ignorance)
I believe a more present danger for the Christian community comes from those who teach a subtly corrupt version of true Christian doctrine--a corruption often so slight so as to be easily accepted as biblical, especially if proposed with great sincerity by someone who is respected in Christian circles.
Today, we'll begin to look at some quotes from well-known Christian theologians that, in my opinion, miss the mark and have misled many to believe what A.W. Tozer refers to as "imperfect and ignoble" thoughts of God.
John Piper
Dr. John Piper is a Christian pastor and teacher who was in the pulpit of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota for thirty years, and is still a much sought-after speaker at Christian conferences all across the country.
I am an admirer of Dr. Piper. He is an engaging, dynamic preacher who is passionate about his faith and whose teaching is often insightful. I don't doubt his sincerity or his noble intentions to present the Bible accurately. Yet, sadly, I believe that he has wandered from biblical truth regarding his understanding of God's love for all of his creation.
The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation. (Psalm145:9)
Below is a short excerpt from my book, God's Elect: The Chosen Generation, in which I offer some thoughts on a troubling quote from John Piper who believes that God, for His glory, has unchangeably predetermined eternal damnation for the majority of people.
As I reflected on the depth of the love I have for my own son, I remember being deeply saddened by this statement from John Piper as he contemplated the possibility that his Reformed god may have predestined his children for hell.
"But I am not ignorant that God may not have chosen my sons for his sons. And-, though I think that I would give my life for their salvation, if they should be lost to me, I would not rail against the Almighty. He is God. I am but a man. The potter has absolute rights over the clay. Mine is to bow before his unimpeachable character and believe that the Judge of all earth has ever and always will do right."
--John Piper, article--“How Does a Sovereign God Love”, desiringgod.org, 1983
The Potter
"The potter has absolute rights over the clay" is a true, biblical statement reflecting the sovereignty of God and his right to do what he pleases with his creation. However, what's surprising is Piper's clear misunderstanding of what pleases God.
In every instance where God is the potter and people/nations are the clay, we see the Potter molding the clay into various "vessels" based on the person's/nation's response to His grace (Jer 18:1-11, Rom 9:21-23, 2Tim 2:20-21). In effect, the molding is an act of justice whereby God honors those who do what is right, and he dishonors/punishes those who rebel. Note that the "dishonoring" is often intended as a mercy to induce a correction in their behavior. In other words, justice pleases God.
By contrast, the potter in John Piper's view of God is a whimsical malefactor who seems to pre-mold his clay capriciously, shaping a person's eternal destination, not grounded in justice, but based on some mysterious secret will in which God had predetermined everyone's future before they were even born.
Piper's skewed view of God is rooted in a corruption of the gospel that began with St. Augustine in the early 5th C.--a corruption that was codified by John Calvin in the 16th C. who wrote "all [people] are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation... ."
"All [people] are not created on equal terms." There's no justice in such a deity. Such a hopeless corruption of the character of God goes against every teaching of the nature of God who is "merciful and gracious" (Psalm 103:8), who "takes no pleasure in the death of anyone" (Ezekiel 18:32), who "desires that all be saved" (1 Timothy 2:4), and who even relents from his just wrath in order to show mercy and patience to disobedient "vessels".
Final Thoughts
According to Scripture, the Potter begins with a single lump of clay (Rom 9:21) from which he "fearfully and wonderfully" (Ps 139) creates all people in his own image (Gen 1:27). Then, as a person lives his life, He shapes that person according to his righteous purposes and his merciful grace, desiring that all come to know Him.
Here is a final reflection from my book on John Piper's quote regarding the possibility that his unbiblical god had predetermined eternal hopelessness for his own children:
[Dr. Piper's] statement gives me great sorrow. There is no freedom in those words. They reflect a desperate theology that has lost sight of the fact that, in love, God gave us his Son precisely so that our sons, both John Piper’s and mine, would not be without hope. I’m not talking about the tenuous, cross-your-fingers hope that maybe they’re one of the lucky ones chosen by God--like the hope of winning the lottery. I’m referring to true, biblical hope--the assurance of knowing that with sincere hearts, all of our children could seek God, reach out for him, and find him. It’s the assurance in the promise that God is not far from each one of them (Acts 17:27).
"God's Elect: The Chosen Generation" is available on Amazon. Here's a link:
Next Post: Bad "Christianity" - Part II
Commentaires