Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
Perhaps the real reason for Piper not saying "man becomes god" is that the Spirit of God is not anointing him to say that because it is not in the Bible.
Obviously you make Witness Lee's writings the standard by which we judge all other writers including the writers of the Bible.
|
Not just Lee, the early church fathers, even CS Lewis expound the scripture about glorification better than Piper if we do a chapter by chapter comparison. Not to blame him, but if I was looking for a good resource on the matter I would prefer Lee over Piper.
He seems inhibited by an irrational fear of being the focus rather than Christ when he writes:
"I am inclined to stress seeing as the goal rather than being. The reason is that it seems to me that putting the stress on seeing the glory of Christ makes him the focus, but putting the stress on being like Christ makes me the focus.".
The bible teaches that we are the focus of His salvation - Christ did not die for Himself but for us.
Piper dips his toe into the doctrine of "deification" by referencing the early church fathers, dilutes it back to mere "glorification" to mold it into his evangelical Calvinist viewpoint.
In contrast, CS Lewis has the vision of deification and is not shy to state it plainly.
In his book Mere Christianity, which can be seen as a manifesto on the subject, Lewis argues that the whole purpose of Christianity is to turn people into what he variously calls “new men,” “little Christs,” “Sons of God”—and “gods and goddesses.”
Lewis knew such language might give many of us a shock, but he insisted that this is “precisely what Christianity is about.
Although largely forgotten by Christians today, deification is at the heart of Lewis’ vision of reality. From his sermons to his apologetic essays, from his space fiction to his children’s stories, one can hardly find a corner of his literary universe that is not illumined by the idea.
It is not surprising that some modern Christians might find this idea baffling or even heretical; but neither is it surprising that Lewis did not since his mind was “shaped by the whole scope of intellectual history and Christian thought…liberated from the narrow confines of the religious views of the day.
http://www.cslewis.org/journal/shine...f-deification/
I suggest that Piper is inhibited as he "represents the narrow confines of the religious views of the day", whereas CS Lewis, Lee and others, are not.