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John Piper: 20 Reasons I Don’t Take Potshots at Fundamentalists

Jun 7th, 2008
by Michael Krahn.

john-piper-10-744844.jpgFrom the Desiring God blog:

1. They are humble and respectful and courteous and even funny (the ones I’ve met).

2. They believe in truth.

3. They believe that truth really matters.

4. They believe that the Bible is true, all of it.

5. They know that the Bible calls for some kind of separation from the world.

6. They have backbone and are not prone to compromise principle.

7. They put obedience to Jesus above the approval of man (even though they fall short, like others).

8. They believe in hell and are loving enough to warn people about it.

9. They believe in heaven and sing about how good it will be to go there.

10. Their “social action” is helping the person next door (like Jesus), which doesn’t usually get written up in the newspaper.

11. They tend to raise law-abiding, chaste children, in spite of the fact that Barna says evangelical kids in general don’t have any better track record than non-Christians.

12. They resist trendiness.

13. They don’t think too much is gained by sounding hip.

14. They may not be hip, but they don’t go so far as to drive buggies or insist on typewriters.

15. They still sing hymns.

16. They are not breathless about being accepted in the scholarly guild.

17. They give some contemporary plausibility to New Testament claim that the church is the “pillar and bulwark of the truth.”

18. They are good for the rest of evangelicals because of all this.

19. My dad was one.

20. Everybody to my left thinks I am one. And there are a lot of people to my left.

Yeah, sign me up for #20. ;-)

Posted in: Bible, Books and Authors, Church, John Piper, Quotes and Comments, Theology, Uncategorized.

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  • http://www.worldofbruce.net Bruce Gerencser

    Piper has a naive view of fundamentalism, perhaps because he “may” be one himself (albeit a calvinistic variety)

    Fundamentalism is NOT good for the Church, is NOT good for Christianity, and should be exposed as gross error that generally leads to legalism and narrow sectarianism.

  • http://www.michaelkrahn.com Michael Krahn

    Hi Bruce,

    I think #20 is the key to ‘getting’ this post. There is almost always someone to our ‘left’ and someone to our right. I don’t think Piper is saying “Please become a fundamentalist – it would be good for the body of Christ if we all became fundamentalists.”

    He certainly came from fundamentalist stock, and I think here he’s resisting some who would pressure him to distance himself from his background. Where some might (no – have) over-reacted to their fundamentalist upbringing by riding the pendulum to the opposite extreme, Piper here is making a case that they add balance to Evangelical culture, even though we should be somewhere ‘left’ of them and ‘right’ of others.

    I wonder if he would make the same case for the opposite extreme?

  • http://www.worldofbruce.net Bruce Gerencser

    I think you are probably right.
    I question myself………has my aversion to my fundamentalist upbringing/training/ministry driven me to far the other way?
    I feel like a pendulum sometime :)

    Bruce

  • http://www.michaelkrahn.com Michael Krahn

    I certainly rode the pendulum all the way to the other side and now I think I’m settled somewhere in between… but don’t we all like to think so? :-)

  • http://www.thefundidriveby.blogspot.com R. Hoeppner

    I think another reason not to take potshots at fundamentalists is because Jesus said “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
    A word to the wise: Perhaps we fundamentalists do fall in that ‘least of these’ catagories – but we’re related to Jesus by blood.

  • http://OnBulletsAndButterflies.Blogspot.Com Russell Holloway

    Fundamentalism at its worst is legalistic, however, the danger of other groups as that they tend to drift away from the Gospel over time.

    The real issue for me is separating fundamental belief in the Gospel and political ideology. I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat, but there are large swaths of “fundamentalists” who believe fundamentalism and republicanism are synonymous, which they should not be. Can we serve two masters . . . . .

  • http://www.michaelkrahn.com Michael Krahn

    I heard (sorry, I forget where) that Don Miller has taken to calling himself a fundamentalist in an attempt to redeem the word.

    Re: the Gospel and political ideology… not so much a problem here in Canada, but I see it there in the US for sure.

  • Ken Mueller

    I find myself agreeing with Piper…coming from the “recovering” perspective myself. I think much of our Christian walk is a pendulum swing. As a teen (back in the 70s) I decided to take my faith more seriously, and part of that was trying to be careful of “worldly” influences…and I made the decision to listen only to “Christian” music…(remember, the Christian music industry was far different 30 years ago than it is today)…and over the course of a few years in college, and beyond, I learned a lot about faith and culture…and 30 years later I have a far different perspective (as evidenced by my current music library and job!) But I still think that for me I “needed” to go thru that phase. I think many of us fall into that category. And unfortunately I know far too many people who have swung too far in the other direction, wearing their “Christian liberty” on their shoulders, like a chip to be knocked off by “those fundamentalists.” Way too much swagger (not Swaggart, mind you) on both sides.

    Having said all that, I think I’ve seen a lot more reasonable thinking and outright actions coming out of those who would call themselves fundamentalists lately. Progress is being made, and I see it on a daily basis, both on my local level, and on the more national and international levels.

    Like Michael, I think one of the more dangerous areas is the part of the camp who allows polticis to inform their faith, rather than the other way around…but then again, one could say that about Christians on both the left and the right. In the words of Dick Staub, I end up being “Too Christian, Too Pagan”.

  • http://www.michaelkrahn.com Michael Krahn

    Thanks for the comment Ken. I appreciate that we can have the most ridiculous conversation by instant message and still pull off a serious one here at the ole’ blog.

    I used to think of Piper as a fundamentalist… one of those guys who I respected but didn’t want to take any cues from. Maybe their commentaries could help enlighten certain passages, but as for being relevant in any way they were striking out. I feel this way about John MacArthur… he’s too willing to write off those who lack a bit maturity or think a little differently than he does.

    Piper on the other hand, in standing beside younger men like Mark Driscoll and Matt Chandler – not endorsing everything they say or do – has gained spiritual sons and access to those younger pastors’ demographic of 20 to 35-year-old people. Piper, as I’ve discovered,is no guardian of the status quo, and sees himself in Driscoll.