Saturday Morning Piper

The last few days I've been attending Children Desiring God, a conference hosted by John Piper's church. This morning as I was purusing their website I came across two articles that I thought were especially interesting.

1. The first I thought was interesting not because it was especially profound or said something that hadn't been said before regarding partial-birth abortion. It was the title that struck me: "Let the Python Eat its Tail. Amen." It is a response to the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the ban on partial-birth abortion. Be forwarned, it's graphic and may make you cry. The graphic nature is not due to Piper being a sensationalist but from merely quoting Justice Kennedy.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2007/2159_Let_the_Python_Eat_Its_Tail_Amen/

2. The second is entitled "Don't Play the Lottery for Me." http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2003/1223_Dont_Play_the_Lottery_for_Me/

It was written several years ago in response to the West Virginia man who tried to donate some of his winning to the Red Cross and was turned down. It highlights that the real problem with gambling is not merely the fact that you usually lose and are squandering your money. It is just as problemeantic when you win because you are defrauding the poor. Here are two excerpts:

"Christ does not build his church on the backs of the poor. The engine that delivers his righteousness in the world is not driven by the desire to get rich. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not advanced by undermining civic virtue. Let the pastors take their silver and throw it back into the temple of greed."

"Don't play the Lottery for Bethlehem Baptist Church. We will not, I pray, salve your conscience by taking one dime of your plunder, or supporting even the thought of your spiritual suicide. Let the widow give her penny and the laborer his wage. And keep your life free from the love of money."

Great stuff.