It’s when you smash your car
And your little girl goes flying through the windshield and lands dead on the street
And you say, through the deepest possible pain…
God is enough
God is enough
He is good
He will take care of us
He will satisfy us
He will get us through this
He is our Treasure
Whom have I in heaven but you and on earth there is nothing I desire besides you
My flesh and my heart and my little girl may fail but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever
Although I believe all will eventually be saved I think Piper makes a good point here. He’s just rehashing what Job did when God took his children and Job glorified Him by worshiping and praising Him:
Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you. Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. - Job 1:18-22
Yeah right. You’ve got to love a guy who shrugs his shoulders when his kid dies and consoles himself with the fact that he’s one of the chosen few so everything’s really tickety boo.
You’ve got to love a guy who shrugs his shoulders at the prospect of one of his own own children being burnt forever in hell because the capricious tyrant of a god he ‘worships’ didn’t choose to save him, and the poor sap can’t save himself.
You’ve got to love a guy who says that, “It’s right for God to slaughter women and children anytime he pleases" - yes, you read that right. By their words shall ye know them.
Well, Piper’s not the enemy. Even if he was Jesus told us to love our enemies. Moreover, I said I loved what he said. It came from the lips of a righteous man - Job.
Now, in what way did the little girl fail? To any sane, caring human being she did NOT fail. So what is Piper talking about?
Think about it. What Piper has done is to completely objectify his little girl. In his mind, she is not a human being in her own right. She exists only for the gratification she can provide him. She is a toy and the toy is broken. **[size=150]It[/size] ** (the toy) has failed Piper.
That is the only way I can interpret Piper’s statement that “my little girl may fail”.
And now I ask myself is it any surprise that a Calvinist sees other people as nothing more than objects, pawns? I think not.
Well said Johnny.
P.S. Yes Dick. Thanks. A welcome reminder that God manifest in flesh knew there was a time to weep.
I think we must be online ‘live’ together Dick. I know you are a carer. I hope that you are fairing well and that you too feel God’s care in the ministry that you provide. God bless you.
We all fail. We’re human. Only God satisfies the desires of my heart like no human. It’s not a sin to be happy in loving others. In fact the Bible commands it. In fact, it was by the joy that was set before Him that Christ endured the cross. Yes we suffer but there is joy to sustain us through it. We are sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Yes we weep. But the sustaining joy of Christ keeps it from becoming our undoing. To say Piper views humans as toys is just plain nonsense.
"It’s right for God to slaughter women and children anytime he pleases. God gives life and he takes life. Everybody who dies, dies because God wills that they die. God is taking life every day. He will take 50,000 lives today. Life is in God’s hand. God decides when your last heartbeat will be, and whether it ends through cancer or a bullet wound. God governs. So God is God! He rules and governs everything. And everything he does is just and right and good. God owes us nothing.”
John Piper, Calvinist
You’re right, Cole. Both Piper and the god he believes in don’t see some human beings as toys. Because many kids love their toys - cuddle their teddy bears and look after them. Piper’s god doesn’t love countless billions of human beings. In fact he hates them. He hates them, he gives them cancer, or blows them to shreds in a terrorist bombing - and then he damns them to eternal torture. Even the worst kid who’s ever lived never did anything remotely as cruel, vicious and unjust to any of his toys.
No matter what I’m going through I can always rely on God’s love. God brings beauty out of ashes. My faith is in Him even though I may not understand what He is doing at the time. God isn’t displeased with me just because suffering falls on me. Rather, He is tenderly present in it carrying me through it. By opening myself up to God’s love and compassion I can gain a deeper experience of His love in my life. By letting His love flow from me to others I double my joy in Him. It is this joy that carries me through the hard times. I don’t believe that God directly causes the suffering in the world. He permits it (for morally justifiable reasons) even if I don’t know what those reasons are. He sees all of reality (I do not) and He knows what is best in each circumstance even if I’m in the dark because of my finite and limited understanding of reality and His ways. God’s sovereign will is His business alone. My job is to carry His mercy to the hurting. As I am motivated by God’s love to trust in Him, I will clean house and help others.
I don’t think Piper intended an “objectification” of the little girl. The word choice is not inappropriate – see the first definition:
I don’t have the whole context of Piper’s words to judge, but I’d guess he’s just talking about being able to trust God and have hope even in the midst of grief.
It does bother me a bit that the thing is about what “makes Jesus look beautiful” and what “makes God look glorious” – it seems like putting pressure on people to act a certain way just to make God “look” good.
If we are convinced that God really is good, then we will trust Him and have hope in the midst of grief and loss. I’d rather see a case make for what we can trust Him for when life seems to have gone bad, how we can know He is good, how we can get through the hard times, how he will take care of us and satisfy us, than just an encouragement to say those things to make God look good.
But as this is pulled out of a larger context, maybe he did do that.
Just realised my earlier joking comment may have had the potential to be offensive to Michael. My apologies to Michael it was not my intention it was Piper’s perspective I was having a shot at!
Cheers S
