John Piper is indeed fallible...
...and he is dead(ly) wrong in this case
In a brief and kind of random post, Pastor John Piper posted a brief note on the Desiring God blog regarding the recent decision overturning the D.C. gun ban. His full post reads as follows:
What do the supreme court ruling on guns and the martyrdom of missionaries have to do with each other?
Noël and I watched Beyond Gates of Splendor, the documentary version of End of the Spear, the story of the martyrdom of Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Nate Saint in Ecuador in 1956. That same day we heard that the Supreme Court decided in favor of the right of Americans to keep firearms at home for self-defense.
Here’s the connection. The missionaries had guns when they were speared to death. One of them shot the gun into the air, it appears, as he was killed, rather than shooting the natives. They had agreed to do this. The reason was simple and staggeringly Christlike:
The natives are not ready for heaven. We are.
I suspect the same could be said for almost anyone who breaks into my house. There are other reasons why I have never owned a firearm and do not have one in my house. But that reason moves me deeply. I hope you don’t use your economic stimulus check to buy a gun. Better to find some missionaries like this and support them.
With all respect due to John Piper, and he is a man I respect theologically as much as almost anyone out there, that is a poor argument. Should these missionaries, intentionally in harm's way to bring the Gospel to an unreached people have shot the natives? Of course not. But is it the same thing as defending your home against a criminal? What if the natives had attacked the family of the missionaries?
Dr. James White responded on his blog and his response is far better thought out than John Piper's original statement.
This is the best part of his response...
In the spirit of Christian freedom and with the deepest respect for brother Piper, I could not disagree more strongly with the sentiment here expressed. First, I see no parallel whatsoever between missionaries in the jungle seeking to open contact with a violent and primitive tribe and a meth-laden gang member seeking to rob, rape, and murder. In fact, I see many, many reasons to view the two very, very differently. The gang member in the streets of Phoenix has every possible opportunity to do good, to obey the gospel, to work and abide by the law. But he chooses, purposefully and knowingly, to do otherwise. He chooses to enter into my home, threatening the lives of my family. And he comes armed. In the second place, I don't believe a Christian is a martyr if they fall prey to the random, drug-induced violence of a gang member or criminal. There is a difference between being a victim because you did not take the proper precautions and being a martyr because you purposefully expose yourself to danger and even death in the service of the gospel.
From my stand point, in agreement with Dr. White...First, we are not called on to cast our lives aside randomly, for no reason. Should a Christian not drive a car because he might get in an accident and kill someone else? Well it is OK if I die, but I might kill an unbeliever!
Second, I would imagine that John Piper, a man who has published a number of hugely successful books, lives in a pretty decent house in a nice neighborhood. And good for him, he is a talented and blessed writer and speaker. Unfortunately the people who are left defenseless under confiscatory gun laws probably don't live in a similarly nice neighborhood. Dr. Piper has never really had his gun rights under our Constitution violated, but those who live in D.C. have. They have lived in fear all of these years and been left with a choice: arm themselves against violent criminals and in doing so become law breakers themselves or leave themselves at the mercy of the worst criminals in our society and hope the cops show up before the criminals get in.
Third, Piper is one of the strongest proponents of the sovereignty of God in salvation. I hardly think that God would permit one of His elect sheep to break in my house, only to have me gun him down defending my family and thwart His will to save that person. He will let no one snatch from His hand any of those given Him by the Father. There is no exemption there for knuckleheads who break into my house.
Again, Dr. Piper and his ministry have blessed me greatly along with countless other Christians, but I believe in this case he has let an emotional reaction override his judgment. If Dr. Piper chooses to not have a firearm in his home, that is his right and I respect that. But when he suggests that I ought not defend my family from potential harm, with faulty reasoning I believe, I choose to respectfully let him know he is wrong. I am in total agreement with Dr. White's closing statement:
And should any evildoer think of looking up my home, thinking he will find an unarmed victim, think again. I will be glad to proclaim the gospel to you today, but if I find you coming through the window of my bedroom tonight, you will be ushered into eternity post-haste. Some decisions are, indeed, final.
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