I just ran across an old blog from John Piper entitled, 20 Reasons I Don't Take Potshots at Fundamentalists. I was, of course, interested to see his perspective on Fundamentalism. I was also interested to read anything that would give Fundamentalism a positive spin especially in light of the negative spin of the recent 20/20 program and especially because I an aware that many of the IFBxers are avid followers of Piper.
The twenty reasons given range from the benign
"19. My dad was one." to the relatively sophisticated
"7. They put obedience to Jesus above the approval of man (even though they fall short, like others)."
But here is the one that struck my attention;
"20. Everybody to my left thinks I am one. And there are a lot of people to my left."
I am pretty sure Piper would consider me to be to his right, but I have felt that same sensation of having men on either side of me. Over the years I have had one or two who have left our services because they did not see us as:
• Separated enough
• Conservative enough or
• Politically right enough
But by far what I have witnessed most is that I am too fundamental for a whole lot of people, even Fundamentalists. There are a whole lot of people to my left.
This is not meant to be an excuse to yolk up with people further left of me just because there are people further left of them. But I do think that the point ought to be made that there are a whole lot of people who are so far left of us that we would be just as well off if we stopped worrying about where we are on that line and just went after (attempting to reach and win) the unconverted.
The twenty reasons given range from the benign
"19. My dad was one." to the relatively sophisticated
"7. They put obedience to Jesus above the approval of man (even though they fall short, like others)."
But here is the one that struck my attention;
"20. Everybody to my left thinks I am one. And there are a lot of people to my left."
I am pretty sure Piper would consider me to be to his right, but I have felt that same sensation of having men on either side of me. Over the years I have had one or two who have left our services because they did not see us as:
• Separated enough
• Conservative enough or
• Politically right enough
This is not meant to be an excuse to yolk up with people further left of me just because there are people further left of them. But I do think that the point ought to be made that there are a whole lot of people who are so far left of us that we would be just as well off if we stopped worrying about where we are on that line and just went after (attempting to reach and win) the unconverted.
To my readers:
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For more than 3800 Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.
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