salt the planet

During one of the breakout sessions, I went with some of our students to hear John Piper talk about "Teaching the Whole Counsel of God on Campus: A Call for a New Generation of Bold and Brokenhearted Theologians." How could I not go to a breakout session with that title? I mean, come on!

I want to begin by saying that I am trying to work from my notes which are not as complete as I would like them to be. So, I'm trying to be as accurate as possible, but I may get something not exactly dead-on. Don't misread Piper just because you misread me.

Piper began by listing some elements that sociologists are describing about this generation (of which I am a part), which is typified by post-modernism. He prefaced it by saying that he believes many of us rise above these things. He also believes that these things change so fast, that once social scientists publish them, they are already different.

We are not drawn to propositional truth.
We are style conscious.
We choose church by its feel, not its doctrine.
We don't see people as sinners, we see them as people with psychological needs who have need for Jesus in a therapeutic way.

He listed several others, but I couldn't write that fast.

He then proceeded to say that teaching the whole counsel of God has been a struggle for centuries, saying that this message would be partially a biography of the life of Athanasius and partially an elucidation of applications from the church father's life to current theological struggles.

Piper's summary of the life of Athanasius contained two primary points: he defended the deity of Christ against the Arians and, because he was banished at least 5 times (due to the raging theological conflict), his struggle was marked with the phrase "Athanasius contra mundum," which means Athanasius against the world.

Athanasius' struggle eventually led to the first Nicene Creed, which clarified that Jesus was the very substance of God. Though this seems like a minute issue now, it was the raging theological debate of Athanasius' time, leading to the punishment, exile, persecution, and killing of many individuals.

These are the seven lessons Piper pulled from the life of this early church father:

1. Defending and explaining doctrine is for Christ's glory. We must battle for the gospel.
   
2. We must have joyful courage in the defense of the gospel. We must always outrejoice our adversaries. We don't win an argument, we win a person. Our hearts should be filled with joy over the truth.
3. Loving Christ includes loving true propositions about Christ. This stands in contrast to people who may say, we love Christ, not statements about Christ. The question is what type of Christ? Describe your Christ.
4. The truth of Biblical language must be vigorously protected with non-biblical language. Some may say "The Bible is our only creed." This cloaks or conceals falsehood with Biblical language. The Alexandrians (those who followed Athanasius) confronted the Arians with traditional scriptural phrases which appeared to leave no doubt to the Son's Godhead. Yet the Arians accepted the biblical phrases by admitting evasions beneath it. I.e. the Bible's truth can be used to cloak biblical error.
5. A widespread, long held difference by the church does not mean that it is insignificant or that we should cease to assuade others of the truth. Just because the church has been arguing about it for thousands of years, doesn't mean it shouldn't be discussed.
6. Don't aim to teach/witness only in categories of thought that can be readily understood by this generation. Acts 20:27. (Here he acknowledged the necessity to hold in tension the indigenous principle, referencing 1 Cor. 9:22, and the pilgrim principle, referencing Rom. 12:2.)
   
7. We must not assume that old books which say startling things are wrong, but that they actually have some glorious truths.

Piper specifically referenced these points in comparison to the struggle that is arising between post-modernity and the church. While he used the words emerging and emergent interchangeably at times, it was clear his concern was centered around this movement in the church. As he discussed the need for propositional truth, it sounded like he was open to propositions as a great starting place, but not the end goal. This seems to be a thought prevalent in many emerging churches.

He also mentioned emerging issues by giving an autobiographical insight. After college, before he got married and went to seminary (mid to late 60's), many people were questioning the validity of the local church. They claimed that it was on its way out and quickly losing its effectiveness. He said he even felt sympathetic if not drawn to this idea for several months. However, after getting married, he began to think that he and his new bride should go to church. He said that many people are now saying that church is on the way out, specifically referring to the local body of believers. People are drawn to the "universal body," but not the local body. He found it interesting that 40 years ago, people were making the same claim they are today.

These two thoughts about propositional truth and local church along with his comments on emerging churches have caused me further pause in my journey to reflect on the tension between the traditional (evangelical) viewpoint I have been raised in and the emerging conversations that I am so drawn to. I believe that emerging churches are making a stand for the local church. In fact, that is their primary focus as they seek missional living in their context. This is one of the things that draws me to them.

Listening to Piper made me wish I had a little Chris Seay in my pocket to pull out and set on the stage with him so they could have a discussion. I think this would be great, seeing as they both come from some common roots.

I am very interested in hearing what you think of these ideas.