Monday, June 30, 2008
One Very Good Reason For The Rising Popularity of John Piper
I am acquainted with numerous non-Calvinists who are baffled by the rising popularity of Calvinism, and almost all of them believe that John Piper is responsible in a large part. Watch this video for a taste of Piper's approach. It may help some to understand the beauty of the Calvinistic worldview, and its holistic, fulfilling, God-centered worldview. Mark Driscoll posted this video on his Resurgence blog, but I liked it so much, I just had to share it here.
I want this for myself, and for those around me.
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I've seen this before, and as an old-school Calvinist it makes me ill-at-ease.
ReplyDeleteI realize it's really fun and all to pick on the easier aspects of "health and wealth." But not only is shooting fish in barrels a bit boring after a while, it might be good to remember that Piper is also a Sanctity-of-Life-Sunday sermonizer (social gospel, anyone?) and holds to an ecclesiology that does not arise naturally from Calvinism.
I contend that those who presume themselves Calvinist, yet take their cues from the pro-life movement, don't realize how much Calvinism they actually have to surrender, and I am hard pressed to let them get away with it just because they can discern the more obvious and crasser manifestations of the spirit of the age. Ultimately, what lies beneath it are many of the same principles of the health and wealth gospel folks like Piper and Driscoll loves to pick on. It them amounts to a certain degree of hyposcrisy.
I'd like to see the degree of scrutiny leveled against "health and wealth" also leveled against the pro-life movement. But we'll never see that, because as we all know, there are indeed certain human beings who are innocent and deserving of being protected against the pains and injuries of fallen human nature in ways the rest of us are not; and we all know that Calvinists can't endure proximate justice in institutional policies. Am I being intelligible, what with my tongue so far lodged in my cheek?
Zrim
I suppose I may not be old-school enough, but it is beyond me why anyone would disagree with someone being a pro-life sunday sermonizer. I suppose it might be different if this was something Piper devoted his ministry to, but pro-life is just a small part of a larger worldview.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as far as the health and wealth issue, I do have one thought. I don't know about you, Steve, but I know many people who are totally into the "name it and claim it" ideology. These are just regular average everyday Joes who think their success in life depends on their level of faith, and they think that material gain is the greatest symbol of divine love. Is it your position that these issues should not be dealt with by pastors (or made fun of, whatever your taste)?
I didn't really understand your third paragraph, sorry. But because I don't understand it, I don't get why you see any shared hypocrisy between Piper/Driscoll and the health and wealth preachers.
I'm just kind of scratching my head a bit.