Juan Piper (last name pronounced pea-pear)

Ahh! I finally finished his book Let the Nations be Glad. It took every ounce of energy inside of me to hold back my words until the end. I wanted to see if there was a light at the end of the tunnel, hoping I wasn't just anticipating the end like the credits of The English Patient.

No. It's not THAT bad. But there were points at which I got so frustrated at how long he took to argue such ridiculous points about missions and worship. On the bright side, he's a much better speaker than he is a writer. Just. Don't. Do. It.

I'm sorry, but I'll explain. First, an entire chapter (50 pages!) on whether missions includes reaching all people groups or all geographic locations killed me. The idea is to go; the idea is not to compartmentalize missions in one's life but to realize that every opportunity is missions. Let's not argue about who counts and what doesn't, give me more Juan P. give me more!!!

Second, it was hard to find that a lot of my favorite parts from the book turned out to be quotes from other people. Example from Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian worker who was put in prison for his faith:

I remember my last Confirmation class before I left Romania. I took a group of ten to fifteen boys and girls on a Sunday morning, not to a church, but to the zoo. Before the cage of lions I told them, "Your forefathers in faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith. Know that you also will have to suffer. You will not be thrown before lions, but you will have to do with men who would be much worse than lions. Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ." They had tears in their eyes when they said yes.

Exactly. How could one not feel convicted from that?

My other quote comes from John Stott, and the quote is actually in a footnote--something most people don't read. I fear quoting this because it will be out of context. And yet, since I struggled so much with the book, do I really want to recommend it for you to find what I'm talking about?

Okay, I'll go for it. It's this thing I have about making claims about Christianity when there's not enough Biblical support one way or the other--or if it's simply unclear. I.E. what hell is like, what the apocalypse will be like, etc. I'm just not comfortable making a claim, and I'm also very happy with saying, "I don't know." Because hey, I don't. It doesn't mean I'm not seeking out certain answers (such as the whole women in ministry debate that continues to loom in my head), but there are parts of Christianity that I am more concerned about. Namely, that all people come to know Christ.

Well, Piper argues about the hell issue. It's the, is hell an eternal torment vs. a complete destruction question. Piper sits on the eternal torment side, arguing that this makes missions all the more urgent. His mentor John Stott disagrees, and wrote to Piper back in 1993 that he finds Piper "overly dogmatic, as [Stott] wrote in [his] earlier letter, leaving no room for humble agnosticism which allows that God has not revealed everything as plainly as [Piper] make[s] out."Clarification: I'm not saying this quote is great because it calls Piper overly dogmatic, but the last part of the sentence is well put. In my opinion. Randy, you're allowed to say something here because I feel like you might want to.

I guess when I thought about the hell debate I thought, either way makes missions more urgent! If it's an eternal torment, then I want to tell as many people as possible about Jesus so they don't have to suffer so. If it's a complete destruction, then I want to tell as many people as possible about Jesus so they can still have purpose. How Descartes of me, but I agree with the line of reason that thinking makes one significant. And in a way, complete destruction is still an eternal torment--an eternal separation from Christ.

Any way, the best parts of the book written by Piper himself are at the tail end, so I'm glad I finished. He included a great analogy about how all nations are included in God's story. We are like a choir, not singing in unison, but our unique parts make the sound richer, more beautiful... only then he included an analogy in the very next paragraph that basically said the same thing and I was reminded of the poor writing style yet again. You just gotta tell me once, man!

I'll also cut some slack because in the end I talked a lot with Sarah about how I was feeling about what Piper was saying. I'll give him plenty of street cred for his pages of Scripture quotations. I'll even say again that he's a great speaker. Then I'll add, for good measure, that maybe I picked the wrong book because I'm already on the field and I don't need the petty arguments to convince me why I should go or support someone to go.

Any way, I'm a month into being here and that is crazy to me. Excited to start the next book and to get more rest to prepare for a day where I hopefully go back out to be with the gals at the institute. Chau.