John Piper says Idolatry is a Good Thing (at Desiring God)

John Piper says that an unbeliever's sinful desires prove the unbeliever is actually seeking God. Apparently, the unbeliever's desire to glorify himself is really a desire for the glory of God. And an unbeliever seeking a righteousness of his own, is in reality, seeking the Righteousness of Christ!

[Piper's sermon was given on Dec-17-2006]

In other words, Piper thinks idolatry is a good thing. Since the unbeliever has truth "deep down inside him", then it's possible for the unbeliever to desire truth -- and the God of truth. This is the foundation of paganism -- the idea that man by nature can sincerely seek God through his sinful desires. Who knows? Maybe someone worshipping a tree or a stone is really worshipping God. According to Piper, unbelievers do have truth in them, so their worship of a tree may well be an expression of "the truth deep down inside them". And this is no exaggeration of Piper's position. He does say that "every longing and desire you ever legitimately had is a longing for God".

http://Godnoliar.com/Piper_says_Believers_Lost.html

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• piper
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[randay047]

Umm... Andrew, I think you really took him out of context here. Stop committing straw man fallacies and start reasoning properly.

[HoosierPastor]

It was kinda good until Bain started talking...

[biarustiguel2]

Dude I took the thing completly out of context. You should be ashamed to do this.

[2772322]

I've listened to John Pipers Videos on Idolatry and it seems to me you have completely missed what he was saying. I found this video very difficult to follow.

[rhbondservant]

False teachers are not always obvious, and yes, they usually do use God's Word to "teach," but Christ graciously warned us of that in Matt 7, as well as many other passages. He said that they are "wolves in sheep's clothing" so of course they seem like they are teaching the Word, but only through a great knowledge of the Word, through Christ alone, comes discernment of who is false and who is true.

[rhbondservant]

"..You believe that God is one, you do well, the demons also believe and they shudder.." And most importantly, pertaining to Piper, James 3 says that only a mature man should be a teacher, and it is very specific in that a teacher must be mature and able to control his tongue. And so, if this teacher says ANYTHING contradictory to the Word, then he cannot control his tongue, and so is not mature and will lead others astray (1Tim 3, "an overseer must be above reproach..")

[rhbondservant]

Continuing on.. And then, in Romans 1:18-30, God makes it clear through Paul that those who do not know God (or those whom He does not know: Matt 7:21-23) "suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them, because He made it evident to them.." So yes, they know that He is God, but they do NOT desire to follow Christ in obedience because they are consumed in their own desires and are slaves to their sin (Rom 6). See also James 2,

[rhbondservant]

Andrew, I agree with you trying to expose Piper, but I think the best way to expose a false teacher out of obedience to the Truth is to show how they are contradicting God's Word itself, so that no one can say that it is your opinion. So for this video:

when Piper says that "we all deep down desire [to be saved]" he is wrong according to Psalm 53:2-3, which says (in short) that there is no one who seeks after God, but all have turned aside...

[hondacow001]

Andrew, you definitely took this out of context. You cannot just take clips from a sermon and paste them together to make a point. This would be like taking 2 random verses from the Bible: one saying Judas hanged himself and another saying "go and do likewise" and saying that the bible is telling us to go kill ourselves. It doesn't work that way. You have to look at the entire thing. I mean this with all the love in the world but please don't misconstrue what the Bible or Christians are saying.

[hondacow001]

Andrew, you definitely took this out of context. You cannot just take clips from a sermon and paste them together to make a point. This would be like taking 2 random verses from the Bible: one saying Judas hanged himself and another saying "go and do likewise" and saying that the bible is telling us to go kill ourselves. It doesn't work that way. You have to look at the entire thing. I mean this with all the love in the world but please don't misconstrue what the Bible or Christians are saying.