Author: David W. Cloud
Title: John Piper And Christian Hedonism
Publisher / Editor: Way Of Life Literature
Format: PDF
Size Of File: 791 KB
Pages: 75.
Description:
John Piper (b. 1946) has a rapidly-growing influence among fundamentalists in general and Independent
Baptists in particular.
A 2005 survey of roughly 1, 100 “ young fundamentalists,” found that John Piper has a significant influence.Almost 50% agreed with the statement, “John Piper’s ministry has been a help to me.”
The survey largely represented graduates of Bob Jones University (29% of those surveyed), Maranatha Baptist Bible College (22%), and Northland Baptist Bible College (21%). (For more on this see the report “A Survey of Young Fundamentalists” at the Way of Life web site.)
Kevin Bauder of Central Baptist Seminary has used his blog to praise “conservative evangelicals” such as Piper.
John Piper is the senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is so wishywashy that the board of elders proposed in 2002 that the constitution be amended to allow a candidate to reject believer’s baptism by immersion if he “sincerely and humbly believes that it would be contrary to Scripture and conscience--and not just contrary to family tradition or desires--to be baptized by immersion and thus to count his infant baptism or his adult sprinkling as improper or invalid.” The proposal did not pass, but the fact remains that Piper and the elders were willing to entertain infant baptism in some instances, which is a heretical position for a so-called Baptist church to take.The Greek word “baptizo” means immersion and baptism is called a burial in Scripture (Rom. 6:3-4; Col. 2:12).Immersion is not just a mode of baptism; it is baptism; and there is not one example in Scripture of an infant being baptized.To the contrary, the requirement for baptism is faith in Christ and an infant is clearly incapable of that (Mk. 16:16; Acts 8:36-39; 16:30-33).Though many sincerely believe that their infant baptism or adult sprinkling is a genuine baptism, they are sincerely misled and should in no wise be encouraged in their error by Baptist preachers.
Because of John Piper’s rapidly growing influence in fundamentalist circles, I have studied two of his major
books to understand his teaching, an old one and a new one: Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (2011 edition) and Don’t Waste Your Life (2009 edition).I have also spent time reading his blog.
My conclusion is that Piper’s teaching is a web of truth and error. It appears to me that he is a very sincere man who is the product of corrupt contemporary evangelicalism (Fuller Theological Seminary) and major
personalities within this movement (e.g., Harold Ockenga, Francis Schaeffer, C.S. Lewis, and Daniel
Fuller).
Piper’s writings contain many golden nuggets, but there is death in the pot and I could not quote him in my
writings in good conscience, just as I cannot quote C.S. Lewis.
Piper has a commendable passion for world evangelism.He doesn’t beat around the bush about some very
fundamental truths, such as the lostness of man, the narrowness of the Gospel, the blood atonement, and the
reality of hell.
But as we will see, even his gospel is terribly confused by his hyper-Calvinistic “you must be born again before you believe” heresy.
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