Piper Follow Up

A good friend sent this comment from a pastor who wrote to John Piper asking him to repent of his observations regarding the ELCA and the tornado. I will post them below. See if you can figure out how many ways this poor pastor has misunderstood the Creator of the universe...who we are told is a "consuming fire".
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I rarely take to writing to directly confront one of my "colleagues" in ministry, however, when something is written and presented that is completely off-the-charts ridiculous, I simply have to respond. I will do my best to do so in love and respect, which, it seems, my dear brother, Rev. Piper, has decided is no longer necessary.

First let me get this out of the way up front for some of you who will take offense to my taking offense at John's article. I honestly have no problem with Rev. Piper expressing his opinions concerning "homosexuality." It is a free country, and I believe in an open table of discourse. So, my response will confront John where I disagree with him, and I believe I am free to offer my opinions too.

However, what I really mean to address is his perpetuation of the ridiculous notion that God is, or would, or has ever, actually enacted vengeance upon humankind via weather, or disease, or war, or famine, etc.

Now, let me beat some of you to it... I am fully aware that the Bible has several examples of what ancients perceived as being God's retribution on humankind. Sodom, Noah, Babel, Egypt, and more. I really don't care to get into specific debate as to whether these were actual historic events, or, if they were, whether God actually caused them, or whether they were enacted for the purposes for which the ancients supposed they were. Such debate is fun, and can be informative, but, since said events cannot be proven to have actually occurred, and since, even if we could prove so, there is no way to prove that the events were caused by God, the debate ends at pure fun and speculation, or at least it does if parties in the debate are able to debate in love and respect.

What I would like to encourage, however, is that we keep in mind that all ancient cultures viewed catastrophic events in this way. Since they had no scientific knowledge of how the universe worked, they were doing their best to make sense of tragic events. Since such events were obviously from some source far greater and more powerful than themselves ancients could only make sense of them in other-worldly terms, as being from "the gods," or in the case of early Judaism, Islam and Christianity, from God. To the Greeks, Zeus, the mightiest of the gods, was the thrower of lightning, and did so to enact retribution upon humans or upon other gods with whom he was dissatisfied. Oddly, many Christians still today, perhaps somewhat "tongue-in-cheek," but still with some fear, speak of God potentially striking someone with lightning for some perceived offense. This ancient fear is still deeply embedded within our psychological selves, even though we know, scientifically, this is not probable, or even likely.

So, when I read in Rev. Piper's blog the assertion that God in effect sent a tornado to Minneapolis, MN, and caused it to settle at or near the meeting place of the National Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, in order to warn them of God's impending dissatisfaction with many in that denomination who were considering a "Proposed Social Statement on Human Sexuality,” I was horrified, to say the least! Piper's indication is that God's wrath was only a tornado away from wiping out all participants who might dare to vote that actively gay clergy should be ordained and allowed to serve freely in the ELCA, and that God actually caused a tornado to appear to deliver that precise warning!

Rev. Piper, I truly and honestly love you as a dear brother in Jesus Christ, and I have personally been blessed many times in the past by your writing and speaking. However, I fear that in this, quite literally silly, proclamation, you have overstepped and done great damage to your otherwise fruitful ministry in Christ. I have to counter-proclaim: this message of yours did not come from the Lord. You are out of line, and out of step, and I pray you, repent.

It is one thing to offer your best understanding of scripture perceived to deal with homosexuality, even if it differs from mine. But, to make such a bold and unwise and hateful and unjust proclamation is quite another thing altogether!

I will not address items #2 and #3 on your list, other than to simply say, I respectfully disagree. These are as of yet unsettled debates that will continue for yet some time and need not be rehashed here.

In item #1, you fail to provide reference to the particular version you quote: "nor men who practice homosexuality..." I would simply follow with this, given your demonstration of extreme fundamentalism and preference for a literal interpretation: if you hold to a literal interpretation, if this english translation is even accurate to begin with, then you must say that this applies to men only. So, apparently, women who practice homosexuality are not excluded from the Kingdom of God. Lesbians everywhere thank you for this inclusion.

In item #4, to suggest that this question asked under the breath by Jesus' disciples is somehow proof that every wind, of any type, including tornados, are caused, summoned, and directed by Jesus is quite simply ludicrous! I honestly find it downright weird that you said something like this.

In item #5, are you suggesting that Jesus' answer here indicates that He, or our Triune God, caused the tower of Siloam to fall and kill the 18 persons for some perceived offense? And that further, because Jesus did so, He also does so with all such calamities which befall humankind? Surely not, sir! The scripture in no way makes any such claim, nor does Jesus in His response. The only point I hear Jesus making is that we can never know when such calamities may occur and therefore we should all be prepared for the end of our earthly lives. I hear, implied in Jesus' response, the notion of God's allowance of natural, or otherwise, calamitous events to occur usually without God's intervention either in causation or in prevention.

Finally, in item #6, my dear brother, I can only respond with, WOW! REALLY? It is this statement/conclusion of yours that I must insist that you repent of! We can agree to disagree given our different interpretations of scripture. I may be wrong on these. I don't believe I am, but I could be. But, you could be wrong. However, as to whether God sent this tornado as a warning, let's be clear... you are absolutely wrong in this respect. There is simply no scriptural or scientific evidence that you can call upon that will support such a ridiculous suggestion! This is quite simply Falwellian fear-mongering at it's most destructive. Are you the new Jerry Falwell, my dear brother? Please say it isn't so.

You fail to mention in your blog that this same tornado also touched down in a neighborhood to the south in Minneapolis, causing great damage to homes. Did God also cause this same tornado to do this damage? If so, what do you think was the sin of the people who lived in those homes? Or, what was God trying to warn them about? Now, I'll give you this: if, in the coming days, we find that the persons who lived in those homes damaged to the south of the convention center were actually the persons who were voting pro-gay in the convention of the ELCA, I'll stand corrected and happily admit my error.

In God's Love and Grace,Rev. Gregory M. McCaw08-20-2009
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"In the last days men will surround themselves with many teachers who tell them what their itchy ears want to hear." Apostle Paul

Hat tip to Mike S.