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Leading theologian’s son uses social media to mock evangelicals

Leading theologian’s son uses social media to mock evangelicals

Last updated on: April 18, 2021 at 2:10 pm by Barry Duke

Leading theologian’s son uses social media to mock evangelicals 2021-04-18T14:10:36+02:00 Barry Duke

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SHOCK and horror gripped the evangelical world this week when a number of Christian outlets reported on the meteoric rise to fame of Abraham Piper who is posting videos on TikTok in which he mercilessly attacks the infantile stupidity of evangelicals.

Images via YouTube and TikTok

The son of well-known theologian John Piper, above, Abraham, inset, has 925,000 followers on TikTok – almost as many as his father has on Twitter (over one million).

According to ChurchLeaders, Abraham’s focus is geared toward debunking Christianity and the truth of the Bible. His platform is filled with a plethora of often laugh-out-loud videos with titles such as “Almost nobody believes in a literal hell,” “Why life would be pointless if there was ultimate meaning,” and “The Bible says having kids isn’t a good idea”.

Abraham Piper is one of five children who grew up in the household that taught “biblical values,” but was excommunicated from his dad’s Bethlehem Baptist Church at the age of 19 because he wanted to stop pretending that he was a Christian.

One of the most popular videos he has posted is from February of this year, and it has been viewed over 866k times: “It’s weird to make kids read the Bible.” Abraham asks, then vulgarly explains, “You wanna know one of the silliest things about being raised devoutly evangelical?” His answer, “Children are expected to read the Bible.”

Having experienced growing up in an evangelical household, there is resentment in his voice when he says:

While other kids are learning to read with comics or whatever normal parents have around the house, here fundie kids are … 6,7,8 years old devouring stories of Jezebel being defenestrated and then eaten by dogs, or Judas‘ bowels bursting out, or Noah’s sons laughing at him when he was passed out drunk and naked, or Lot’s daughters who got him drunk and screwing him so they could have babies.

The 39-year-old self-made millionaire laughingly added:

And those are just a few highlights off the top of my head decades later. The good book is full of children’s stories like these. It’s basically ‘Game of Thrones’ …except if you don’t read it you go to hell. I almost forgot about all the times I went back to ‘Song of Solomon‘ so I could read about breasts.

I’m thinking maybe the message of God’s Word didn’t land on me like it was supposed to.

That video has collected over 3,600 comments. One says:

My daughter lived with evangelicals for 6 months and it made her petrified of God. She is now into witchcraft like me.

In a video titled “I don’t attack Christianity,” Abraham Piper said:

I don’t attack Christianity. I berate evangelicalism. Fundamentalism … it is a destructive narrow-minded worldview … the most destructive, narrow-minded aspects of it is that its adherents feel as if they are the entirety of Christianity rather than the tiny sliver of it that they actually are.

Blasting evangelicalism, Abraham added:

It is a toddler tradition that’s cousins with Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, and the snot-nosed little sibling of mainline Protestant denominations.

Admitting his criticism is focused toward fundamentalism as the son of an evangelical theologian, he called the evanhelical stance “bizarre anti-intellectual bullshit.”

Sorrowfully writing for ChristianLeaders, Jesse T Jackson said:

Image via YouTube

An unfortunate theme recently has been notable faith leaders posting video statements that they no longer hold the beliefs they once taught, wrote about, or sang about. Author Paul Maxwell [above] announced earlier this month that he is no longer a Christian; he joined other popular influencers of the faith like Jon Steingard, Joshua Harris, and Marty Sampson.

Among those most upset by the reports of Abraham Piper’s viral videos is Messianic Jewish apologist and Trumpite Michael Brown.

Writing for The Christian Post today he asked:

What are we to make of all this? First, we have no idea what Abraham’s own experience was with the Lord. Did he ever know Him personally and intimately? Did he ever experience God’s power firsthand? Did he ever go beyond knowing the truths of the Bible to knowing the God of the Bible?

But I do not say this to accuse or judge. Instead, I’m simply saying that, unless I could speak with him personally, I have no way of knowing whether he ever enjoyed fellowship with Jesus and whether he was ever truly born again.

In any case, rather than belittle him or demonize him, we should pray for him …

Only God knows exactly why Abraham has rejected the faith. But he is right in pointing out the shallowness and even hypocrisy of many other American evangelicals. This remains an Achilles Heel in our movement.

Image via YouTube

Brown, above, said it is:

The spirit of the age to question God and to mock the Bible, part of a perfect societal storm including the increasing number of out and proud LGBTQ individuals, many of whom are friends and family members of Christians, causing the latter to question the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality.

Obviously, there are more factors that could be added here. But the bottom line is that we cannot ignore this ongoing apostasy, nor can we simply write off those who are on the attack.

Instead, now is the time for us to fall on our faces in fervent prayer, searching our own hearts and repenting of our own sin and hypocrisy. Along with that, we must cultivate an atmosphere of openness and honesty where people feel free to ask their questions and express their doubts and where can respond to them with patience and with truth.

The fact is that none of the attacks on our faith are really new, and Christian leaders in every generation have had to deal with their own society’s serious objections.

But our faith is based on truth, and that truth comes from the one and only God, and those who put their lives in His hands fully and without reservation will never regret doing so. Yet just because we feel secure does not mean that others do. And just because our faith is strong does not mean that the faith of our children is strong.

History teaches us that every generation must have a fresh, personal encounter with God, otherwise apostasy will set in. And that’s where we find ourselves today. What are we going to do about it?

My newest book Has God Failed You? Finding Faith When You’re Not Even Sure God Is Real, addresses the biggest reasons that people lose their faith.

I pray that God will use it to restore, strengthen, heal, and make whole. And may the Holy Spirit powerfully visit Abraham Piper and bring him to repentance and faith. He will not be the first prodigal to come home.

Brown needs to do a reality check. The chances of “prodigals ” coming “home” is about as likely as me ending up in bed with the cute, well-hung but very stupid Justin Bieber.

This from ZeroHedge yesterday:

Americans’ faith in organized religion continues to trend down at an accelerated pace. A new poll from Gallup shows for the first time since the public opinion polling company began asking questions in 1937, the number of Americans who view themselves as members of a church, synagogue, or mosque has plunged below 50%. Keep in mind, in 1937, when Gallup first asked the question, 73% went to church, synagogue, or mosque.

America is losing its religion, and this trend of a more secular state has been accelerating since the Dot Com Bust (the early 2000s). The poll found 47% of Americans said they were a part of a church, synagogue, or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.

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