Many of the biggest “Aha!” moments in my life involve John Piper. One of the most important came in June of 2008. Barely 21 years old, I had just moved to seminary, and I was pretty adept at looking down my nose at churches that didn’t practice Christ-centered preaching as I defined it. I was quick to disparage anyone to my theological right as a “fundamentalist” or “legalist.”
Then I read John Piper’s “20 Reasons I Don’t Take Potshots at Fundamentalists,” in which he lists specific reasons for why he’s grateful for a tribe not his own. Here was one of my heroes joyfully pointing out evidences of grace in actual Fundamentalists.
Now, years later, I recognize that this type of warm, large-hearted thankfulness for fellow Christians of a different stripe is a dominant characteristic of the godliest people I know.
Of course, the Bible teaches us to directly confront theological error. It even has a category for using harsh speech with wolves who pervert a church’s fidelity or lead people into eternal destruction (cf. Acts 13:8–11). But neither should Christians engage in the worldly practice of name-calling or employing theological slurs, especially when speaking of brothers and sisters in Christ.
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