Think Wink.

Thursday a twister hit downtown Minneapolis, MN at the time the Evangelical Luther Church of Amarica (ELCA) was holding a vote on whether they would allow homosexuals as pastors in their denomination. In light of several passages, John Piper concluded the following from this twister,

The tornado in Minneapolis was a gentle but firm warning to the ELCA and all of us: Turn from the approval of sin. Turn from the promotion of behaviors that lead to destruction. Reaffirm the great Lutheran heritage of allegiance to the truth and authority of Scripture. Turn back from distorting the grace of God into sensuality. Rejoice in the pardon of the cross of Christ and its power to transform left and right wing sinners.

I just finished reading Denny Burk’s blog this afternoon where he noted something that is quite sad,

What concerns me most about Piper’s “evangelical” critics is that the direction of their outrage indicates that something is askew in their priorities. There appears to be little concern about the fact that an entire denomination has just taken a public stand against the Bible and 2,000 years of unanimous Christian teaching. There is scarcely a cross word about the fact that the Lutherans are walking away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead, the critics are offended by Piper. Moreover, the offended have responded with what amounts to a lot of ugly mud-slinging—the very kind of stumbling-block to unbelievers that Emergents say they wish to avoid.

I thought Piper lovingly and humbly called sin for what it was: sin. I thought Piper’s words were wise and pleaded with everyone to stop approving of sin. But Burk is right. I read Tony Jones’ response and Greg Boyd’s response as well (Here is the Heidelblog’s similar response). They are more concerned about attacking Piper (Boyd was more polite about it than Jones) and not once did they call the ELCA to vote for homosexuality to disqualify a person from being a pastor. Not once, and that was Piper’s point! They did not engage Piper and what his post was about. They were more interested in putting Piper down than engaging him in a meaningful way. Most of the counter-exegesis offered by Boyd, as Jones did not offer any, was unconvincing and did not get the whole point of what Jesus was doing and what was being said.

For example, Mark 4:41 the disciples said after Jesus rebuked a storm, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Boyd says of this text, “What’s interesting to me is that the disciples make this remark in response to Jesus having just rebuked a threatening storm. If Jesus was already controlling all storms, as John claims, why on earth would he need to rebuke this one?” The answer is that Jesus was demonstrating this control to his disciples. They did not know that he had authority over the storms. The gap between how Boyd and Piper conceptualize the Triune God’s authority and sovereignty is so vast that only an open-theist like Boyd would (or a Piper hater) buy it. No one who shares Piper’s belief in a sovereign God and Christ could buy into what he says without first having it out on the sovereignty issue.

I have no problems with people thinking Piper should not read into storms like he did, which was very humble and did not single out the ELCA but anyone and everyone who would read that post. I do have a problem when fellow Christians will not call the ELCA to repent of the sin they were considering adopting and to return to the Gospel and to the Scripture. I do have a problem when people are so bent on disproving anything Piper says that they will fail to actually read what he says and try to get his point, instead of just reading to find something to refute.

I really appreciated what Piper said in a rejoinder. He said the same thing about his cancer that he had three years ago as he said about the ELCA Tornado, the calamity and blessings are God’s warnings to sinners, even sanctified sinners, to repent of their sin. Piper concludes,

My tornado was a call to repentance. Yours will be too. But that is not Satan’s design. Only God’s. Satan’s design is that you approve your sin. God’s is that you let him forgive it and overcome it.

Related posts:

Don’t Waste Your Pulpit

John Piper on Justification and “Don’t Waste Your Life”

Why I Don’t Watch The NBA

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