How Abraham Piper Tries To CONFUSE Christians!

Fight For Truth

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Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where we give you Christian commentary about the things that matter.

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In today's video, we're going to be talking about Abraham Piper, the son of famous pastor John Piper.

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Now, unfortunately, Abraham Piper has left the Christian faith, and he's very vocal about that fact.

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Indeed, a good bit of his time is spent on TikTok making videos against the Christian worldview. He seems determined not just to renounce the faith that he once professed, but to actively work against it.

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Let's pray that he would return quickly and repent soon. But with that said, I want you to watch this video of his.

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When the Bible says, believe in Jesus or you'll be condemned, it's saying, doubt him, and it threatens you if you don't.

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Because when you say you believe something, you're saying it may not be true. Why would you have to believe anything if you actually had access to the truth?

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You don't believe things that you know. Let's take a trip to the other room. When I see the cat next to me on a chair, there's no ordinary sense or reasonable sense in which

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I am believing that she's here in the dining room with me. She just is, and I'm aware of it. No belief involved.

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It's simply apparent. And if one of the kids were to call from their room, is the cat down there? And I were to say,

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I believe so, that would be tantamount to a lie. Because it clearly implies that I'm not sure where the cat is, even though she's right there, and I know it.

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Now, there's nothing wrong with believing, obviously, but it seems relevant to acknowledge that when you believe something, you're showing that you actually doubt it.

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So when the Bible says, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, that command carries inside it the admission that maybe you shouldn't.

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So here, Abraham Piper is playing one of his famous philosophical word games. He loves to do this postmodernist, nothing really matters, everything's meaningless, let's all just laugh about how stupid life is, and all that kind of stuff.

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And a lot of these things are very deeply confusing to Christians. First Peter 3 .15 says that we should, quote, always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in us, end quote.

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Many Christians want to know how they should respond to people like Abraham Piper, but the confusing philosophical circus that he's the ringleader of is really hard to understand and respond to.

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So let's compare this particular TikTok to scripture and answer it today. First, Abraham's video is effectively saying that belief implies some level of doubt.

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After all, he says you cannot truly believe something that you know to be true, and therefore any command to believe that is given in scripture also amounts to a command to doubt, since doubt is essential to belief.

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This is what his perspective says. Keep in mind, he's making this point from within the

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Christian worldview to a certain extent. He's trying to make an internal critique of the

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Christian perspective. In essence, he's jumping into the Christian worldview in order to demonstrate why it does not make sense from within.

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But it is important to note that the Christian framework is based in the whole counsel of the

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Word of God. In other words, if Abraham Piper wants to point out that our worldview is internally inconsistent, then we must be allowed to make a full rebuttal using the entire worldview, the entire foundation of scripture, not just the specific part that he's talking about.

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So with that said, let's compare this to the counsel of scripture, because that is the standard of truth.

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We do not, as Christians, have the right to stand outside of scripture and judge it according to some made -up standard of truth, as Abraham Piper does.

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You see, Jesus says in John 17 17, quote, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth.

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So with that being understood, let's visit his first claim, shall we? Abraham Piper says that belief necessarily requires doubt.

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If you say, I believe the cat is downstairs, that implies you are unsure to some degree whether or not the cat is actually downstairs.

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If you knew that the cat was there, you would say, I know the cat is downstairs, not I believe so.

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Of course, assumed in this statement is the idea that there is some level of similarity between believing a cat is downstairs and, say, believing that Christ rose from the dead, for instance.

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The Christian faith would surely disagree with this comparison, because the idea that Jesus rose from the dead is at the foundation of our faith as Christians.

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We rely on this fact and put our trust and belief in its truth in a way that we never would for a cat being downstairs.

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Epistemologically, we're comparing apples to oranges. To compare these two statements is asinine then, as they do not carry the same connotation at all.

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The word belief is clearly not being used in the same way when we say a cat is downstairs as compared to Christ rose from the dead.

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Again, if he is actually going to argue that our Christian worldview is inconsistent with itself, he needs to actually compare the claims made here to the scriptures, as those are the foundation of our worldview.

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But here's where the rubber meets the road, folks. Does the Bible say that belief necessarily implies doubt?

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No. Abraham Piper is inserting his secular worldview into scripture in order to unsettle

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Christians and confuse them. Let me prove that to you. James 1 6 says, quote, but let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind, end quote.

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This passage makes it clear that it is possible to have faith, to have belief, without doubting.

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In fact, we are specifically told to have faith without doubting. So when Abraham Piper says that biblical belief must come along with doubt, or that biblical belief requires doubt, he's speaking out of his own worldview.

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But he is certainly not conducting a consistent internal critique of our worldview.

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So just to recap, Abraham Piper says that biblical belief implies doubt, but the

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Bible says that we should have faith without doubting. The difference is abundantly clear.

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In Matthew 14 31, after Jesus saves Peter from the waters of the Sea of Galilee, quote,

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Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, that is Peter, saying to him, oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?

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That's Jesus speaking at the end there. So it is clear that doubt and faith, or doubt and belief, are not two sides of the same coin, as Abraham Piper seems to think.

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Rather, they are opposites. Biblical belief undermines doubt, and doubt undermines biblical belief.

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This is what the Bible actually teaches, as opposed to the philosophical nonsense of Abraham Piper. Jesus tells

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Peter that his doubt was caused by too little faith, not by too much faith, the implication being that if he had more faith, there wouldn't be any doubt.

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So again, when we ask the question, does biblical belief always require the presence of doubt?

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The answer is most definitely no. Let us deal with Abraham Piper's next point then. He then makes the case that a command to believe in scripture is tantamount to a command to also doubt it.

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Again, this is not consistent with the scriptures. He's picking one concept out of the

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Bible, putting it under the microscope of his secular worldview, analyzing it from that perspective, and then telling us that it doesn't fit the bill.

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The issue is that we don't agree with his approach to scripture in the first place, because it doesn't fit with our worldview.

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2 Timothy 3 .16 says, quote, All scripture is God -breathed, not merely one concept, but the whole counsel.

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And in Matthew 4 .4, Jesus says, quote, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

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This is what we believe. This is what we start with. So when you have an unbiblical approach to biblical truth, you end up with unbiblical conclusions.

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That much is clear. In Matthew 21 .21, Jesus begins making a statement, saying, quote, If you have faith and do not doubt, end quote.

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Notice that it is not assumed here that faith or belief require doubt. Rather, Christ says that we ought to believe and not doubt, because again, they are not two sides of the same coin.

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They are opposites. Abraham Piper's word games will not change the biblical truth here.

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Biblical belief does not imply doubt. Rather, it conquers doubt. Every scriptural text that contrasts these two topics demonstrates this clearly.

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So here's the point. Any kind of belief that necessarily requires doubt is not actually biblical belief.

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It is something else entirely. And if it is not biblical belief being spoken of here, then

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Abraham Piper's argument does not actually illustrate what it's meant to illustrate. That being a biblical contradiction.

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Abraham can talk about the word belief all he wants, but he's not talking about the biblical term, nor is he using it according to the scriptural definition of the term.

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He's simply creating an unappetizing postmodern word salad with a bitter nihilist dressing.

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So instead of sitting at the table and munching on his rancid philosophical lettuce, let's feast on the true and life -giving bread of God's word.

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And rest assured that even when we sinfully doubt, we can still say, as the man says to Jesus in Mark 9, quote,

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I believe help my unbelief. So in conclusion, when someone wishes to use a biblical term in an unbiblical way, and in so doing undermine some

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Christian concept, remember that they are incorrect from the very start. The Bible defines its terms, not

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Abraham Piper. He does not have the authority to do that. As the scriptures say in Proverbs 3, 7, quote, be not wise in your own eyes, fear the

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Lord and turn away from evil. And please know this. I do not offer any of this correction from a high and mighty or superior position.

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I am nothing but a wretched sinner saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. So please let's pray that Abraham Piper would repent and come to true belief in Jesus Christ without any doubt and pray that he would turn to the truth of God's word.

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