One of the themes that keeps occurring in my life is that I'm not one who goes with the flow. I'm a cross stream swimmer. I don't want to dive in and eventually reach the ocean and be swept out to sea. Rather, I want to reach the other side. I somehow have to cut through it all to come out alive.
This picture applies to theology and various circles within Christianity. I've had my share. I seem to find something new, immerse myself, but then figure out all the problems with it, glean the best, toss the rest, and move on. I may be at the "move on" point yet again. But one way this time is different is that I've already moved on from the individual influences, yet still kept the company of those in the system for a while. Until recently.
For what it's worth, for a number of years I was a cross stream swimmer in the John MacArthur/ RC Sproul/ John Piper/ DA Carson/ Michael Horton/ Wayne Mack/ Jay Adams/ Tedd Tripp/ Paul Tripp/ Martha Peace/ Johnathan Harris/ CJ Mahaney/ Mark Dever/ Alexander Strauch/ Tim Keller ecosystem. I reached the other side, and cleaned the algae out from between my toes and the crustaceans from my bum.
I'm not sure what's next on the horizon (and I never am), but I hope it's not the same old stream. I'd seriously like to hawk some "John Piper said it...I believe it...That settles it" bumper stickers. They would sell well, I'm sure, but I'm afraid that many of the buyers would buy these bumper stickers out of a sense of seriousness rather than out of a sense of humor.
Thank you. This post helps validate my same experience with Piper. I found some good things but felt bad about tossing the bad....I can't really take him anymore. And I'm becoming ok with that.
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't have a problem with Piper (or several of the other names), per se, but it's with the "it's true because he/she said it and now we can use his/her views to make our point" type of thing. Wading through the second hand "if you only did things the way they laid them out, there wouldn't be any problems" mentality is the more difficult part.
Boy can I relate! Sounds like we have alot in common...God be with you brother.
ReplyDeleteBeing a cross stream swimmer myself I appreciated this post. I think it's called 'Ditch the Garbage' and although that sounds harsh it isn't meant to be. We do toss and we do that under the influence of the guidance of the Holy Spirit!
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