Hi all, thanks for the comments.

It really is amazing to see this particular step. I have thinking all day about it. Especially the appearance with two female expositors… With Piper’s prominence in CBMW, this is such a blatantly hypocritical decision that it is hard to fathom how anyone can defend him, or really how anyone can recommend his work.

I had a call this evening from a fellow who is a new convert (from an amazing background). He wanted to know about 1 Tim 2.11-12 and women preaching and all. (He didn’t stay for all our services Sunday, because I preached on the passage in the afternoon!) What he was wondering about was whether he should watch the women Bible teachers that appear on television or not. His theory is that if the Bible says it, we should go with what the Bible says.

So… I agree of course, and I taught him what the text means and mentioned the reasons Paul gives in vv. 13-14. Now, the issue isn’t at the level where I would necessarily need to send him to read some of the CBMW material on the subject.

But what about this? Suppose I had a young convert or a preacher boy or someone who really needed more help than a short conversation on the phone about women preaching and all. Knowing this kind of hypocrisy by Piper, how confidently can I recommend his writings on the subject? “Oh, what Piper says is real good here, too bad he doesn’t practice what he preaches.” It is incredible how discouraging and damaging this compromise is.

The same damage occurs from the ecumenical perspective, but we are getting kind of inured to it, I think. It maybe is a little harder to see. But this hypocrisy with the women expositors makes the whole hypocrisy quite plain.

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

This is the first I’ve seen this, Don. Ouch! All the Piper lovers go into hiding. This isn’t a downward trend. This is who he is.

Your mentioning this article reminds me of the recent missionary swap between Capitol Hill Baptist Church (Mark Dever) and Inter-City Baptist Church (Dave Doran). Both Dever and Doran had Conrad Mbewe from Zambia speak at their churches.

Apparently, Piper isn’t the only one who’s moving in unusual circles these days. I find the “chumminess” between Doran and Dever interesting because of Doran’s criticism of the separatism of men like J. R. Rice–the very separatism which Doran is now practicing.

As you know, I’ve always felt Rice, Jones, Sr., and Sumner had the separation issue about right. Perhaps Dave will now acknowledge this and give credit where credit is due. But what do you think the odds of that are?

Have a good one!

tjp