I am not a fan of calling people out. However, after having read John Piper's blog post on the Minnesota bridge collapse, I was very frustrated. Piper, expectedly, says in a bedtime conversation with His daughter:
"'God always does what is wise. And you and I know that God could have held up that bridge with one hand.' Talitha said, 'With his pinky.' 'Yes,' I said, 'with his pinky. Which means that God had a purpose for not holding up that bridge, knowing all that would happen, and he is infinitely wise in all that he wills.' Talitha said, 'Maybe he let it fall because he wanted all the people of Minneapolis to fear him.' 'Yes, Talitha,' I said, 'I am sure that is one of the reasons God let the bridge fall.'"
Wow!!! Mr. Piper is "sure" concerning God's actions making the bridge fall. Are you kidding me? Is this guy serious? No, it didn't have anything to do with bad bolts or cracked cement or eroding wire, etc. Piper is "sure" as to God's hand (or removal of His hand, particularly the pinky) in all of this. I just can't get over this!
I pose a question that I ran across recently, "Why is your God of meticulous providence not responsible for evil when He specifically intends for each and every evil thing to happen exactly as it does and does not want the world to be any different than it actually is?"
Good question.
ReplyDeleteahhh...
ReplyDeletedan,
good to see you round the neighborhood again!
i am not big fan of piper either...too calvinistic for my taste. the comment appears to lack humility, that is, as i see it. When it comes to his books, it is as if you read one book you've read them all - they all come back to the supremecy of God in everything. Not that this is wrong or anything, it is just gets redundant if you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteon a side note, I read through mark the other day and found it interesting how often Jesus was called "teacher."
jacob,
ReplyDeletethanks for the link; i love BW, i've had a bunch of courses w/him. you are right, piper always comes to the text w/his theology as king and all-determining; it is frustrating.
brian,
the humility point is a great one, thanks for bringing that to the fore.
as for mk and JC being called "teacher" why does that surprise you so much? i'm really interested in hearing some thoughts on this. thanks for stopping by.