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Transcript of John Piper’s Interview of Rick Warren
In spite of Rick Warren’s efforts to now conceal all materials…video, transcript, etc…of John Piper’s recent interview of himself on May 1, 2011…well, too late. Oops.
5ptsalt has obtained a full transcript of the interview and we can’t help but wonder, why the concealment?
Why pull the transcript and video in the first place? Is there something to hide? Is someone afraid of something? Ashamed? Is this damage control? What gives Jethro?
Quite frankly, one has to wonder: Why would Piper go to the effort of interviewing the man, apparently in an attempt to assist in trying to recover Warrens damaged reputation, only to watch his valuable time being dismissed by Warren now?
It truly boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
I can tell you this much. Our Lord Jesus became a man of no reputation, and here we see at least one man, perhaps two, doing everything they can to protect and bolster theirs. Makes me wonder.
Oh, for those of you who are thinking “Why can’t we ignore this ‘secondary stuff’ and just focus on the Gospel”, I answer: If you think that way, you care little for truth. You are dismissed.
Here’s the full interview, for what it’s worth:
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Thank you for posting this. I shared it on my blog. There is a desperate need for this information to get out; sadly, Piper is not the man he once seemed to be.
Anna, I’m curious as to whether your comment is for or against Piper. If against, what did you read in their conversation that you found unpalatable?
Great read.
Great as in… Great for showing us just how much in the back pocket of Rick Warren John has gotten himself?
He supports Warren. I fear that he is not showing great discernment in doing so. That’s all I meant.
It makes sense to me that Piper supports Warren. After all, Piper is part of Converge, (formerly the Baptist General Conference). I have seen enough evidence from my time in a church of that group, to know that their heart is in the same place Warren’s is. And that is for a one united, works oriented church. Look at all of the connections/associations that Converge and the BGC share. Warren and Piper are similar in spirit. The Baptist General Conference verged off of the narrow road, and Warrens own SBC is guilty of the same. I see no difference in Piper and Warren. One will have to support the other in order to promote the bigger plan that they are both a part of.
The comments in the transcript about how Christians should learn to “self-feed” is somewhat troubling. The task of feeding the flock was given to Pastors.
The whole “self-feeding” gimmick was used by Willow Creek when they realized their church-growth scheme wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. Instead of having leaders unite the body around the preaching of the Word and the sacraments, WC said people should “self-feed” and become less dependent on the church as a body.
Seems like an excuse for pastors not to do their jobs, to which far too many of them really weren’t called in the first place.
Hey this is interesting – seems like Warren thinks a picture means something about connections/support of the people in the picture:
he says:
“When I accepted the invitation to do the president’s inauguration, who I clearly don’t agree with, just like I would accept an invitation to Larry King or whatever, it’s because I knew every–on that inauguration–every national leader, every king and prince around the world was watching that show, okay. And I thought if I have a team that’s in a country and they get in trouble, they can hold up a picture, This is the president of the United States and this is my pastor. It may be able to get them out. So it really had nothing to do with national consumption. My motivation is really all about mission.”
Hmmmm…
quote from Warren:
‘And I thought if I have a team that’s in a country and they get in trouble, they can hold up a picture, This is the president of the United States and this is my pastor. It may be able to get them out. So it really had nothing to do with national consumption. My motivation is really all about mission.” ‘
and whatever does that mean? Was he rambling and had no plan on what to say? Or am I the only one who does not understand what was said there?
Paula, I agree with you.
‘hmmmmm…’ is about all I can do with that.
Comments like these are very similar to how Tim Keller responds to a question. When I have heard Keller answer questions, I noticed he says a lot, without saying anything. What I mean is that Keller typically will avoid answering a question and instead will answer with long-winded answers that sound intelligent, but did not actually answer the question. Or he will briefly answer the question during or at the end, as if to distract from his answer to make it palatable to his audience.
Rick Warren also does this, except his is in a less deceitful way, because I don’t believe Warren is as clever. Warren simply is a chameleon that knows when to change colors for his situation to try and make everyone like him.
Let us not forget that this same speech he accepted for the inauguration is also the same speech, in which he prayed a (pre-written) prayer in the name of…ah-hem…Isa, the false Jesus of the Qur’an.
Regardless, I don’t need a silly photo of him with the President to defend me in an attack from Christian persecution. I need Jesus Christ and if He chooses that I suffer, may it bring glory to His name!!! That is a coward of an answer from Mr. Warren.
Our Father knows what is happening in the midst of all this Piper/Warren controversy and I trust Him to have His will be done. Pray for these men, as we would pray for our loved ones and our enemies. In the meantime, let us love the Lord our God will all our heart, mind, soul, and strength this day!
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I might be missing something. I went to desiringgod.org and typed in “Rick Warren” in the search and the second thing that appeared was the video. The initial statements may need clarification as I do not understand what is being “concealed.”
If Pastor Warren were trying to “conceal all materials” related to the video, wouldn’t he just ask Pastor Piper to remove it from his website?
The video is here as of February 16, 2012.
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/john-piper-interviews-rick-warren-on-doctrine
Yep. It was up, then gone, then back again….it’s been up for quite some time now.
I just read the entire transcript. I don’t understand why the negative comments about it?
Am I missing something???