In his Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, John Piper states that an "earnest prayer and challenge" of his for Christians is:
That you develop a wartime mentality and lifestyle; that you never forget that life is short, that billions of people hang in the balance of heaven and hell every day, that the love of money is spiritual suicide, that the goals of upward mobility are a poor and dangerous substitute for the goal of living for Christ with all your might and maximizing your joy in ministry to people's needs.
In Searching for God Knows What, Don Miller writes:
To be honest, I think most Christians [...] want to love people and obey God but feel they have to wage a culture war. But this isn't the case at all [...] in fact, even today, moralists who use war rhetoric will speak of right and wrong, and even some vague and angry God, but never Jesus [...] I can't say this clearly enough: If we are preaching a morality without Christ, and using war rhetoric to communicate a battle mentality, we are fighting on Satan's side.
I have juxtaposed these two excerpts slightly out of context, but I think it's really fascinating that the two Christian authors that my peers regard as their most influential take such opposite approaches to Christian ministry.
If we elect not to play the game of taking thoughts to unbalanced extremes, then I can see a lot of value in thinking both ways. We do serve a Lion and a Lamb.
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2 comments:
I think I know where Miller is coming from, but I'm more on the Piper side of this. The warfare mentality is definitely something to keep in mind, that is, the fact that we are at odds with the world in our way of life, and that we are facing a serious spiritual warfare that requires sacrifice and commitment.
Miller, I think, should have probably chosen his words better, because what I feel he is more getting at is not a warfare mentality, but warfare tactics, that is, the oppression of others, dismissal of counter-claims, "loudness," hateful speech, and sometimes violence.
But maybe the word warfare is thus inadequate. What Martin Luther King did was in a sense warfare in mentality, but in complete rejection of the tactics of warfare. It is fighting for what is right, refusing to conform, and rejecting the impetus society places on you, but doing it in a fashion that is utterly and aggravatingly peaceful.
I agree, Mithun, that Miller (taken only in the context as presented) seems to be talking against cultural warfare as something utterly mundane, as opposed to the spiritual sense that Piper implies.
The argument brings to mind images of Fred Phelps' gang of hate-mongers, who take parts of scripture and pervert them, completely missing the heart of the Gospel, which is grace.
Although Miller doesn't talk about it, I would hope he would also have a "wartime mentality" in "the goal of living for Christ with all your might and maximizing your joy in ministry to people's needs". Not to hate, or use propaganda, but to love people as Christ loves us.
I guess I'm not sure what the "extremes" are in how we're called to live?
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