Life Past the 10th Grade...
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
One of the things I deal with a on a daily basis is comments from unbelievers and immature professors of Christ. I'll usually block the abrasive unbelievers and try to at least converse with those who profess to believe but aren't clear about things and even the unbelievers who are cordial. One thing that I notice in each is a fundamental misunderstanding of their beliefs about what exactly I believe. Unfortunately, this tendency is fully functioning not only in the groups previously mentioned, but also in the professing pastors that come and comment occasionally... which brings us to the case in point.
Earlier today, I was reading Slice when I came across a quote from a person who I've critiqued here before about certain issues mainly because I used to attend his entertainment center (so according to those people, I have full reign to speak about it since attendance is a priority in critiquing these places). I know first hand what's going on and have very good friends who still go there. The quote I came across was this:
“BTW…why is it that many of the reformed guys are complete @$$holes? Did God REALLY call them to pick apart verb tenses and voice intonations of speakers who don’t say things exactly right or don’t use a particular word order?”
- Perry Noble (source)
Even though he used an explicative here, that's not really the point in me writing this post. I would be foolish to think that an 89 Sedan could fly me to Cuba. It's not in it's nature to do so. In the same gist, I would also be foolish to think that someone who has no qualms with embracing the mindset of a 10th grader would think and speak with maturity. No, the things I want to focus on in this post are the following two things:
1) Perry said, "Did God REALLY call them to pick apart verb tenses and voice intonations of speakers who don’t say things exactly right or don’t use a particular word order?"
If you think that spending time learning something that you want to be faithful to isn't what God wants us to do, you've got a lot more repenting to do than the repenting you shared that you've done previously in your post. Let's just consider this scenario: Let's say that what we "reformed guys" hold to is actually what Scripture teaches (just for kicks, of course), and, because we want to be faithful to Scripture, we take the time to parse through the verbs, nouns, etc, to make sure that we're being honest with it because of the respect we have for it. Wouldn't this make Perry someone who was going against the Scriptures? The last thing Satan wants is for us to understand what exactly the Scriptures say. It's no wonder that there are "entertainers of light" who do the same.
In case that point didn't come across, allow me to bring this closer to home in an example that might help you more, Perry. There's a game called Guitar Hero. Those who are faithful to it want to learn every tab, beat, button combo, etc. They want to represent the songs in the way that would best represent the video game they hold dear. I'm sure many of your friends hold to this. I'm wondering why I won't see a blog post on your website, Perry, critiquing them for doing so. Could it be that you hold a double standard in regard to what is being parsed through, and your critiques aren't really based on anything other than your subjective feelings, what you can get out of it for yourself, etc.? Could it be that if you did go after them for doing the same exact thing in essence that you're going after people who take time with the Greek to do, your popularity rating with them would go down? After all, Guitar Hero is so much more popular than Reformed theology, and if you keep the Guitar Hero folks happy, hey, more numbers means God's doing a work in that entertainment center, huh? I had friends in high school who were really into music. Very often, when a certain band went "big time" for the sake of "being big time" they would lament the fact that the band sold out. I am hard pressed to think of a situation where a person has "sold out" more than what I am seeing in regard to the "Seeker-Sensitive" religion these days, and the example that I've shown above certainly attributes itself to being susceptible to this lament.
2) "And if you are reformed and angry at the paragraph above…I was predestined before the foundations of the world to type it…so get over it! :-)"
Ah, the fundamental misunderstanding of double predestination. You would think that someone who's against rightly dividing the word of truth would understand certain doctrines, right? Well...
One thing that Perry is great about is pejorative rhetoric. However, pejorative rhetoric often shows a fundamental misunderstanding of certain ideas when the rhetoric is laid out for all to see. This theory holds true here. Perry actually believes that we actually believe that God was the one who made him say, "many of the reformed guys are complete @$$holes". I attribute this to two things. 1) I know when I was in the 10th grade, I didn't want to be accountable for much of anything except that which would put me in the best light possible around others and impress them the most. It comes to me as no surprise that someone who, again, has no qualms with never going past the mindset of a 10th grader would like to not take responsibility of his own actions. and 2) (I'm going to get a little technical here, but just use the same brainpower you would trying to learn "Highway to Hell" on Guitar Hero.) Perry has a fundmental misunderstanding that he'll only be able to overcome by what he doesn't seem to fond of: study. You see, there's this thing called original sin. Original sin states that we were all guilty when we were born in Adam after the fall because of the fall. So, when someone these days says something like, "many of the reformed guys are complete @$$holes", they are saying exactly what they want to say according to their nature. God doesn't force them to say, "many of the reformed guys are complete @$$holes". They do it solely because they want to, and it is what their nature desires. Here, unfortunately, we learn not only that Perry doesn't understand double predestination, but he also doesn't want to take responsibility for his own actions. It's sad, but what do you expect from someone who sees nothing wrong with playing "Highway to Hell" for their Easter concert/Sunday morning service? The Bible tells us to "study to show yourself approved". Unfortunately, today in the Seeker-Sensitive Religion, many of them hold that it should have said, "be as popular as you possibly can with unbelievers to show yourself approved."
To help you understand what exactly it is you are misrepresenting, Perry, I would like to introduce you to the doctrine of Double Predestination (Explained Rightly) with the hopes that you have a "de ja vu" and repent of this like you repented of forming uninformed opinions of others before you even knew what they held (your John Piper example).
Also, Perry, to help you understand a little about the importance of sound speech, I'm including this little video from Phil Johnson so hopefully it will bring a little more conviction.:
In closing, I'd like to emphatically stress that life past the 10th grade is wonderful, Perry. I promise. One would think it's about time to graduate from that way of thinking at 35+.
(Disclaimer: This picture is not Perry Noble, but I believe it embodies the mentality that he and many in the movement are embracing: middle aged men trying to be hip for "big time's" sake.)
