Discussion on Piper

Over on Faith and Theology, a large discussion has developed in the comments concerning Ben’s post on Piper’s claim that his cancer comes as a gift designed by God. I was particularly impressed with the words of a certain Steven Harris who writes:

“It is true that Jesus and the Apostles cite scripture, but that's not the same as constructing a theology simply by assembling proof-texts. God has not given us a book of proof-texts to simply reassemble into doctrine like some kind of theological jigsaw. To treat the Bible as such is implying that God has, after all, given us the wrong kind of book. It is profoundly difficult to suggest that God is the source of illness and death. Aside from anything else, we have to then ask why Jesus heals peopel, why he defeats evil, and why he conquers death.God's stated plan for creation is to make it anew, and to create a world where there is no more death or suffering, a process he has begun by raising Jesus from the dead. We make a nonsense of this if we believe that God is the author of evil and death, and it means that ultimately we have no hope.There is a major difference between God using evil to accomplish good and God actually creating evil and death.”

Some extremely though provoking words, and don’t miss the other comments, all of them worth a read.