Spiritual Porn?

Dan Philips over at Pyromaniacs makes a startling comparison: Porn and Paper Pastors.

I felt convicted as I read the article because I fear have been guilty of comparing my pastors with those whose words have been carefully researched, revised, and reprinted on page after flawless page. I have forced my pastors' words through a fine sieve of precisely articulated theology straight from the pen of [Sproul, Piper, Calvin...]. And when my pastors' live, in-person teaching doesn't measure up line for line with the immortal words of R.C. or some dead Puritan, I find myself shaking my head in disappointment.

How fair is that? Not so much at all.

And Dan Philips likens our love of "paper pastors" to the fool's love of pornography. We lust after the unreal, give our hearts to those whose words and images are edited and airbrushed to perfection, rather than loving those who have good and bad days and labor beside us in the ugly reality of our very own sin.

And by "we", I mean "I".

I appreciate this re-calibration of my perspective on famous pastors and theologians. Not to dismiss their often brilliant work, but to put them in their proper place: While their work is certainly helpful and can be foundational to building a sound theology, it ought not to replace a discipling, mentoring relationship with a flesh-and-blood minister of the Word. Never before have I paused in utter gratitude for the great gift that is God's appointed shepherd.

Enough of muddying up the issue with my own dim thoughts. Read the article for yourself - what do you think? Is John Piper really the porn of the Christian world? (Or, at least does he have the potential to be?) C'mon guys, leave your comments...I know you can do it!

3 comments:

Greg said...

Personally I think he takes it a little too far. It's one thing if you are foregoing your real life pastor (and therefore the local church) in order to solely listen to or read the paper pastors...
But if you are comparing the two that is an entirely different matter. And even then there are two kinds of comparing...

If I am comparing giftedness in presentation or delivery, ie, John Piper is a way better preacher than Greg Gentry, and therefore Greg Gentry sucks... that is bad.

The true value of a pastor should rarely if ever be measured by the delivery of his message. It should almost always be by the content. 90% of the rest has more to do with the hearers than the preacher.

That being said, if you are listening to Greg Gentry preach something that contradicts something you heard Piper or Sproul or someone else you respect preach, that's probably a good comparison to be making and will allow for discussion and better understanding of the text for you and perhaps Greg Gentry too.

Comparing content can be very helpful. Comparing delivery usually is not.

My $.02
:-)

Elizabeth said...

Well said, Greg! I agree with your slightly more nuanced take on the comparison. But I do think even comparing content can be done in the wrong spirit, when we essentially idolize a "Paper Pastor" and view his theology as correct just because he said it. And the flavor I got from the original article was more, as you said, foregoing a relationship with your real pastor in favor of listening to podcasts/reading books/etc. I could be wrong, but that's how I read it.

Thanks again for weighing in!

NJGeorge said...

First of all, I didn’t cheat on my pastor by reading the article.
Second, I do feel guilty writing to a blog instead of talking to people in my local church – why would that not be the same sin?
OK, I have lots of issues with what I imagine this to be about. It is highly likely that I totally misunderstand the guy’s whole point.

Fear and trembling, scarcely saved Phil 2:12-13 1 Pet 4:18 We aren’t playing Christianity, we haven’t “arrived,” We need to be fed. This isn’t about the self esteem of our local pastor. Any time that we think we are going to church to make someone feel good, and that we ourselves are already in the bonus round spiritually –supererogation – we don’t really need church, we are just doing this to build up our pastor, we need to flee to God. If your local pastor is no good, don’t pretend that he is - get out of there. I have a big problem with ministering to ministry leaders. The whole “stealth ministry” concept bothers me.

Long view. The time we spend on earth is short. Reading Christian books isn’t fantasy. We will be Christ’s bride together with those very authors for eternity. The invisible church is real. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – all time. With all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours – all places. That is the invisible church. We are one body. “We can be helped through sermons given by preachers we do not know and may never meet, But that is not the case with this preacher (Christ) or his sermon (Sermon on the Mount).” Sinclair Ferguuson. Instead of likening reading books to pornography, I think it is more along the lines of a teenager praying for his future spouse. We will get to know these authors - way better than we know anyone on earth if heaven is like that.

If a Christian book is good, we aren’t drooling over the author, we are longing for Christ. I was in my forties before I even started remembering who wrote any of the books I read. We went through Starr Meade’s Training Hearts Teaching Minds twice before I realized that Starr Meade was someone’s name and not the publishing house.

Sermons. I don’t want clever, I don’t want novel interpretation, lofty speech or wisdom – what does the text say? Maybe the problem is what we are looking for. Is the illustration more precious to us than the verse? So, preaching a great sermon is not too tough. Just tell us what the verse says.

Pastor is a servant. We aren’t his fan club. We follow Christ Luke 9:49. Is there really any pastor who is upset when his flock cares about faith and takes time to read? If a pastor is threatened by this, he isn’t a servant. I must decrease; he must increase. Our pastors are just like us, but they went to seminary. “Why are we concerned about preaching the Gospel well; for God’s glory or for our Glory?” Martyn Lloyd-Jones
As with any sin, the ordinary pastor can fall on one side and the super-apostle can fall on the other side of this issue.

Are there really too many thoroughly researched ideas? Do we need a moratorium on good books? What America needs is slapped together, half-baked ramblings so we can all continue to Amuse Ourselves to Death.

Do we only sing hymns written by members of our congregation?

Those are most of my ideas on the title of the guy's article.