Seth Udinski, FISM News
Dr. John Piper has been one of the most influential voices in evangelical Christianity throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. For 33 years, he was the senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota. He is now the founder and head teacher of Desiring God, a Christian teaching ministry named after his most famous book, and he also serves as chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary.
On Tuesday, Piper wrote a controversial article on his ministry’s website titled “A Reason To Be Vaccinated: Freedom.” Piper encouraged Christians to get the COVID-19 shot if they feel it is a wise decision for them.
In the article he stated that he was writing to encourage believers to get vaccinated, while also stating it should be up to individual choice:
My aim in this article is to encourage Christians to be vaccinated, if they can do so with a good conscience and judicious medical warrant.
He cited various reports on the dangers of the virus, and then went into a discourse on Christian freedom and how that should liberate believers to make a health decision.
Piper states in the article:
If your Father in heaven makes it clear to you, by his word and wisdom, that his glory and your neighbor’s good will be better served by not being vaccinated, you are free to risk COVID for love’s sake. No Christian is obliged to bow to unwarranted mandates. But that’s not my main point…My point is this: Don’t be enslaved by fear of man. Don’t be enslaved by the fear of breaking ranks with ideological allies. The old name for this is peer pressure. You are free.
Piper then continues with a direct charge to Christians who believe they should be inoculated, but fear that if they do, they would be labeled negatively:
Your conscience is increasingly clear. It says, “Get vaccinated.” But there is this niggling fear of looking left wing, or progressive, or Democratic, or compromised, or woke! So, my message to such folks is this: “The children are free!”