Today I listened to an recently filmed interview of John Piper, famous apologist for Calvinism via both pulpit and page.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
The title captured Piper’s major thrust succinctly: “You Don’t Plan Your Life”.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
I’m not sure what the audience thought, but Piper’s talk gives the perfect example of the contradiction inherent between two positions which Calvinism holds dear:<\/p>\n\n\n
1) God decrees absolutely everything. Nothing happens – no action, thought, or word – apart from His will.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
And yet…<\/p>\n\n\n
2) Humans have enough of a type of free will to be culpable for their actions and inactions.<\/p>\n\n\n
Here’s what I mean:<\/p>\n\n\n
At the 7:00 mark, Piper tells the audience “the posture you’re in right now is dictated by the Lord” so much so that if they have their legs crossed, it is “because God willed it 10 million years ago”! [Yes, he really says that.]\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Piper explains that this is “what we [as Calvinists] stand for”, summing it up thus: “The all-pervasive sovereignty of God and His total governance of the world”.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
By the 11:30 mark Piper summarizes: “You don’t plan your life! Just get over it – you don’t plan your life.”<\/p>\n\n\n
And it’s at this point that you need to brace yourself if you are expecting coherence and consistency.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
As he continues, Piper induces theological whiplash: “So here’s what the Lord wants from you<\/i><\/b> … He wants your flat out, 24\/7 devotion to Him and His calling on holiness in your life.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
“He will guide you if your life is devoted to Him.”<\/p>\n\n\n
Say what now? How in the world does God both dictate my life and guide my life? What’s my role in my own life again?<\/p>\n\n\n
Incomprehensible gibberish.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
But neither the interviewer nor Piper’s audience seems to notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n