One of Pastor John Piper’s Best Sermons: “DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE!”

Friends:

This is well worth watching.  It is about 45 minutes long.

Questions:

1.  What particularly strikes you in Piper’s message?

2.  List several ways that you see believers — including yourself — wasting their lives.

 

JOHN PIPER SLAMMING PROSPERITY THEOLOGY!

Friends:

I believe one of the greatest challenges to Evangelical orthodoxy and biblical faith is something called PROSPERITY THEOLOGY!

Here’s a short video from Pastor John Piper which you might find interesting:

Questions:

1.  How does a poor theology of suffering support the Prosperity Gospel?

2.  What books or sermons have influenced you in this area of theology?

 

A LITTLE BIT OF SARCASM: PIPER NEEDS NO DEFENDING!

In all the hub-bub about Rob Bell’s book Love Wins, a number of us Bible-thumping, Jesus-story-hijacking, toxic Evangelicals have responded with virtual tomes of refutation.  Bell raises significant questions (350 of them by one person’s count!) and has a clear agenda of trying to prove that the traditional view of eternal conscious punishment should be replaced by a much better story.

Frankly, I think Pastor John Piper might have had the best response when he simply tweeted “Farewell, Rob Bell!”  Piper has been castigated for “dismissing Bell from the Evangelical fold.”  I think Bell did that quite well by himself.  Doug Pagitt criticized Piper for such a dismissive comment.  Some of us were castigated for criticizing Bell’s book before it was

"See ya', Rob."

released (the promo video was quite incendiary).   Pagitt skewers Piper for his tweet, accusing him of threatening all young Evangelicals of the penalty of following Bell!

Frankly, I’m going to side with Piper on this one.  Sarcasm can be either hurtful or therapeutic!  Sarcasm has a long tradition in the Scriptures (see the many OT texts which mock idolatry), and is used by the Lord Jesus on several occasions.

Sarcasm might bring someone to their senses, a verbal cup of cold water

thrown in the face as it were.  It might seem like pepper spray, but “peppered by Piper in the puss” might shock one back into Scriptural reality!

Discussion Questions:  What do you think?  Was Piper’s dismissive comment about Rob Bell well-intentioned sarcasm?  Wouldn’t it be GREAT if Dr. Piper responded to this blog with his explanation and comments?!