The Supremacy of God in Spelling
Last Sunday night (10/2) we considered what it means that God is primary. In the course of our teaching time, we listened to a quote from John Piper about the supremacy of God in spelling. Is there a God-centered answer when your third-grader asks, "Why should I care about spelling?" Piper suggests yes: spelling matters because we are made in the image of God, and God is a communicative God, and we have the most important message in the universe to deliver to people, and we shouldn't put "spelling stumbling blocks" in the way of that message. To suggest that your kid should learn to spell so he can be successful in life and make more money is, to use Piper's words, "Godless" and "blasphemous."
In light of the supremacy of God in spelling, does anyone find it interesting that Arabic names have no correct spelling? Mohammed, Muhammad... it doesn't matter. There is no right way to spell it. That may or may not mean anything... my linguist friends will have to render their judgment. But it's at least "anecdotally interesting" that an idolatrous religion has no correct way to spell the name of its Prophet.
Does anyone have trouble with the fact that I just called Islam idolatrous? I flinched even as I wrote it. Just goes to show how much our pluralistic culture has pushed us toward a false definition of "tolerance." There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved - Acts 4:12.
In light of the supremacy of God in spelling, does anyone find it interesting that Arabic names have no correct spelling? Mohammed, Muhammad... it doesn't matter. There is no right way to spell it. That may or may not mean anything... my linguist friends will have to render their judgment. But it's at least "anecdotally interesting" that an idolatrous religion has no correct way to spell the name of its Prophet.
Does anyone have trouble with the fact that I just called Islam idolatrous? I flinched even as I wrote it. Just goes to show how much our pluralistic culture has pushed us toward a false definition of "tolerance." There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved - Acts 4:12.
posted by Bob | 8:01 AM
7 Comments:
Bob, I was right there with you for most of the night, especially when you said that all sin starts with idolatry- wow, that really places sin in the proper perspective, as fundamentally an act of rebellion against God. Right on.
But when you played the John Piper quote, I was thinking why doesn't this guy lighten up a bit? I'm all for living all of life before God, but I feel a disconnect between that concept and what sounded to me like a perfectionist message in the Piper recording. I'm glad he's not my dad.
Maybe I'm missing the point, or maybe I'm focusing on a single aspect of the message at the expense of the rest, but there it is. It sounded legalistic and works-oriented, as opposed to relational, which is interesting in light of the other recent, Miller-related posts...
What I think Piper is trying to say Lane...is that God DOES demand our perfection. Since we have the righteousness of Christ in us and His sanctifying grace available to us...then we ought to open ourselves wide enough to allow Him to perfect us with that grace.
Disclaimer: We have to face the fact that since we are sinners we will never be perfect.
But, to be slightly relaxed with the knowledge (that we are sinners and that we will never be perfect)...will cause us to be comfortable where we are at.
This goes against the "perseverance of the saints" mentality.
Johnny P's exhortation to strive for perfection is not works-orientated because we are neither a) looking to be perfected by our own strength - but by His and b) we are not looking at this "striving for perfection" to obtain salvation...because we already have it. What we are doing is clinging to our salvation and obeying His perfect commands out of love and freedom.
Point well taken, Tyler. I suppose the fact that Piper's point makes me frustrated is good, because I have to wrestle a bit with it before finally giving in and accepting the fact I can't make it right on my own. It's only then one can understand grace, or at least the necessity of it.
Maybe I've known too many Christians who've grasped the perfection requirement quite well, but managed somehow to stop short of the grace concept. You get legalists and hypocrits.
Even so, I submit that meditating on one's inability to obey what amounts to an impossible command and dwelling on failure after failure is not edifying. But that's not what you're advocating, I know...
I guess I'd rather view sin as a willful act of rebellion against God, rather than as a failure to "be perfect." That God gave me the means in the Holy Spirit to resist sin and I still elected to act against God makes me sorrowful and repentant, while the idea of a remote, inaccessible Judge demanding perfection in all things, even spelling (tut tut, T, I noticed you misspelled 'oriented') makes me a little pissed. And I know that's prideful, but it's real and uncut. Maybe breaking me on that anvil of truth, so to speak, is what I can get out of this, so call it a work in progress. Because I'm sure not there yet.
Bob, I'll bet you're loving this, since you get a kick out of getting people upset about just this sort of thing. You and the interns comprise a John Piper fan club too, if I'm not mistaken, so the fact that I think he's a bit of a jerk right now means a book of his stuff is on the way, right?
Hmm, I wonder if I can classify the last hour as 'personal development' on my timecard...
Bob (and others)-
I don't understand the "preservation of the saints." Is is talking about salvation? Bob wrote that we should reject the idea of "once saved, always saved." Is that saying we should reject the idea of a secure salvation, or reject the "I'll do what I want because I'm saved anyway" attitude that some might get from their definite promise of heaven?
I also am unsure about the doctrine that Piper is all about. Did God really make people doomed to eternal suffering- never having the chance for anything better? That really makes me question Miller's statement that "I am wanted by God." I sure believe he loves people- want to believe he loves all people, but am despairing (hopefully misinterpreting Piper's theology) for those who never had a choice.
Lane,
Good response. I like the wrestling that is going in your heart. I forgot to tell you that I am a bad speller. It stinks that this comment thing doesn't have spell check.
I should add that I am a recovering perfectionist AND legalist. I think there is a spectrum of people that are somewhere between extreme-truth and extreme-grace. I fall on the extreme-truth side and I'm trying to get more towards the middle. John Piper probably started on the extreme-truth side. That is why it seems I can relate to him. If I were a preacher, I'd probably be in danger of preaching more truth than grace. Scary.
I think we can both challenge each other...because it seems to me like you are on the grace side. One of my mentors is actually on the grace side of the spectrum. It is amazing to come to him and confess my sin... because I get what I don't give myself...grace. An extreme-truth person goes through a lot of guilt, since the ability to comprehend and feel grace is hard.
To keep this interesting, I have one more question. When we don't strive to be perfected, is it a sin of omission? We are very aware of sins of commission, but rarely focus on the other kind.
C.S. Lewis did a personal study of the book of Pslams and put all the sins (that he observed in the book) into two categories. 90% of the sins were sins of omission and only 10% were sins of commission. Interesting, huh?
EVAN -
Great questions, and I appreciate your intelligent wrestling. I'll leave you in the tension and let other commenters perhaps help resolve it?? :)
One thought: preservation is saying, "Salvation is secure... but not mechanistically so. It takes work, and means, and trust."
Follow the Westminster Confession link and read chapters 17 and 18 carefully for a more thorough treatment.
Observation: Lane was a no show at CD on Sunday. I’m callin’ him out on being a little intimidated by the Piper fan club after all these provocative posts.
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