I like Twitter. I like Piper. It’s his clones I cannot stand.
Last March I wanted to do a little live-micro-blogging. I signed up for twitter (my account is here). For the record, I was a slow sell on Twitter. I did not want to do it. I thought it was stupid and could not think of a good use for it. I mean, think about it, it could easily be an ego-fest of epic proportions. The underlying assumption is, “people care about what I am doing every minute of the day.”
Then we talked to a Realtor
When we decided to buy a house, we asked a good friend of ours to be our agent. One evening she told us she used Twitter. My first reaction was to make fun of her. But I found out she was using it as an effective business strategy. I bought in hook, line, and sinker after that. I started to discover how Twitter could be used on many levels from church and blog promotion to prayer requests. After my Seattle trip, I found many like-minded dudes were following me and I was following them. I have built a great online community with many people I have not met face to face. I have had some humorous exchanges with some great people. I have found inspiration and challenges from people all over the country. All because of Twitter.
Than something bad happened. John Piper started using Twitter.
In June of 2009, John Piper announced he was on Twitter. John Piper is a true man of God and it comes through in everything he does. Even in his “tweets.” Most of them are inspiring and introspective. He asks tough questions and proclaims the Gospel. I follow John Piper on Twitter.
Piper proclaimed;
“Okay, truth-lover, see what you can do with 140 characters! You say your mission is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things! Well, this is one of those ‘all things.’ Can you magnify Christ with this thimble-full of letters?”
And he does just that! He proclaims Christ in all things.
But then I lost all my normal “friends” on Twitter.
They all turned into little John Pipers. I used to see real tweets from people. Some would talk about their latest blog posts or posts they found interesting. Others would talk about their recent studies in Scripture or what books they were reading. Many of them were fun and humorous.
Now many of them are just pretentious and therefore obnoxious.
Once the nature and style of Piper’s 140 characters or less were released, people started to mimic him. Gone are the “fruitless” tweets about how their toddlers did something cute or about the interesting things that happen day-to-day. It has been replaced with numerous (and annoying) pithy statements and faux-holiness. How do I know these are “faux?” Because most of you changed over-night. While it takes a lifetime to be sanctified, it only took your Twitter accounts 24 hours.
I had to “unfollow” some of you yesterday.
I could not take it anymore. If you over-loaded me with Piper-esque sayings, I stopped following you. I love the Gospel and I love to hear about it. But when all you tweet are these deep and introspective tweets, when before you interacted more relationally, I could not take it anymore. Transparency ceased because of Piper, or at least it appears that way.
God wants you to be yourself.
He created one John Piper (I mean…unless your name is also “John Piper”). Chances are, it is not you.
Be your self. I may even start to follow you again.
-Don-
There is even a twitter account dedicated solely to imitating Piper http://twitter.com/fakejohnpiper
Dude, you nailed it!
But what about all the bloggers with the same disease?
Very true. Drives me crazy. A few weeks ago I tweeted something along the lines of "Remember the good ol' days when Twitter was actually about what people were doing and not just deep, thoughtful quotes?"
sort of. There are plenty of people arguing from the other side. "Don't tell me what you are eating for breakfast – I don't care. Give me something worthwhile to think about," they say. I'm somewhere in the middle. I like to share what I'm learning, but I more often than not talk about what I'm doing at the moment.
I love this article!
Great article. I may have to follow you for havingthe guts to say that.
Piper fan too. @mike_little
Thanks for the kind words. I will return the follow!
Mike, I'm not positive, but my guess is that Piper probably doesn't want "fans."
Is there a biblical mandate for following leaders and imitating their way of faith?
I mean, I get the point, but people trying to use their tweets to effectively glorify God? Um. That's good.
"Originality" is not the greatest good. I feel like it's way too high a priority for me. It's a real avenue of pride. CSL has a good word about that.
I am for Retweeting good stuff, not mimicking it.
Also, this post is funny. I like it.
Twitter.com/sdsmith_
Interesting take on this. I've struggled with this a bit myself. My first tweet 4 months ago was: "Contemplating how Twitter can be used for the glory of God. 1cor10:31" And I try to ask myself this question every time I tweet. But I also wonder if I'm over-spiritualizing things at times.
But the allure to be entertaining is terribly strong too. Here's John Piper, ruining Twitter all over again: When Abraham (his son) asked what he should say to a room full of Christian bloggers, his dad answered, "Tell them that it takes relentless intentionality to keep a Christ-exalting blog from become a clever blog. The temptation to entertain is almost irresistible" (http://bit.ly/58NEmq).
I guess at the end of the day that Twitter reveals our hearts. Just like money does. And our actions and words. So maybe everyone should feel free to reveal their hearts (and learn about the tendencies our own hearts in the process as we play up or play down our spirituality for the sake of others). And we as readers can be free to be part of their community or not =).
"I guess at the end of the day, Twitter reveals our hearts." YES.
I do believe we can imitate good, godly men (1 Cor. 11:1). I, like you, love that people want to glorify God with their tweets and I love those who re-tweet Piper (or any Christian man). What I don't get is, what happened to the real tweets?
I will look you up on twitter. Thanks for the comment.
I prefer the commentary as well. I love receive Piper's tweets and I love the Lord, but the real you is what I want to know.
i think this article is absolute garbage. sounds like your followers were too smart for you.
garbage is as garbage does. Would Piper say that about his blog post?
I agree. That is probably why I would start to follow someone in the first place.
If Jonathan Edwards was still alive, would you tell John Piper to quit mimicking him. Piper himself says it's good to think a man's thoughts after him.
I think you premise is true, I just don't see the harm in an incredibly superficial world thinking a little more introspectively.
LOL! I know a couple of those…
It seems there's a goal for authentic relationships, encouragement, and sharing or knowledge (whether it's the Gospel or something else). On either side of that we have the pithy, useless minutae and pithy, useless bluster.
"God wants you to be yourself."
I'd like for you to back this up.
I understand you're talking about being fake (by instantly becoming holy like John Piper [read tongue in cheek]), but this statement isn't correct. If we were to be 'ourselves', we would be the same corrupted walking corpses that we were born into. However, we (Christians) ARE changed and continually in the process of being changed into the likeness of Christ. Why is it so bad when others see someone working out their faith and choose to imitate him/her? Even Paul begs believers to imitate his actions. Paul and John both do this with full disclaimer they have not attained full righteousness and it is by no doing of their own but by the Holy Spirit in them.
Just because you see a multitude of Christians actually putting aside their worldliness for the sake of the Gospel (GASP!), it doesn't mean it's wrong or fake. Why WOULDN'T you want to see fellow believers take such a thing as Twitter so seriously? You admit Twitter is a powerful tool. Why not use it for our intended purpose instead of our entertainment? I mean, isn't our intended purpose to glorify God? Or is our intended purpose to be entertained by witty quips about our friends' mishaps and/or their children's firsts?
I tweet fairly regularly, but I don't follow John's format. I also don't abhor his tweets or the people that have followed suit. It seems that your disdain for people actually choosing to do something because they've been biblically challenged is overshadowing your love for the Gospel.
If I'm wrong, please correct me. If I'm right, perhaps this will invoke a change of heart.
"God wants you to be yourself."
I'd like for you to back this up.
He made me me. Is that an OK reason to think he wants me to be me?
Maybe another way of saying this is that God would want us to be honest–honest with Him, and honest with ourselves. To Don's (and your) point, I would assume God would rather us be real and transparent than mimic someone else. And to Michael's point, God means for us to be more than ourselves; we're predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Being real on Twitter is good; becoming sanctified through what it mirrors from our hearts is better.
Thoughts?
I am glad somebody actually filtered this guys opinion through the lens of Scripture. If God wanted us to be ourselves, then Christ's sacrificial death was for nothing. God wanted us to be righteous. In a sense he wants us to be ourselves, in that he does not want us cease being one person and become another. However, God does not want us to continue on in sinful, vain, self-absorbedness. I am reminded of when Paul tells the Colossians to "…put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator."
Imitating Piper could also arouse the same kind of vain, self-important feelings as well. As with all these kinds of things, if we do decide that we want to glorify God in 140 characters via twitter, we should examine our hearts and be sure that such an activity would not be self-seeking.
I think it is unwise to make sweeping generalizations about everyone who tweets in this manner. I think it even more unwise to post such sweeping generalizations on the internet.
You forgot just how many twitter accounts Piper tweets from. I mean, if you count things like DesiringGod.org and DWYL, etc.
Seriously, I see what you are saying. I also see some validity, but is it really a bad thing? Do you not think the same thing has happened on the blog world in some respect? I know…twitter is easier to track.
Did Piper really "ruin" twitter? Nah…if you're take is true then it's your friends' own fault. But just think..if they can get some RTs or get with the "in crowd" they just might become very popular tweeters and bloggers.
I think you are ruining Twitter for some of these guys.
I dont wanna know you. I wanna know God in you. TWEET away! You will bore me in no time.
Assuming you're trying to be Christ-like here, would it be safe to say that it follows from your comment that Jesus doesn't want to know you?
There’s less (as opposed to “more”) to us (humanity) than God’s image and likeness, particularly His Holiness. And that’s how we are now called to relate to each other, as sinners, and for those of us who are Christians, sinners with reason to rejoice in the lack of condemnation (Romans8:1) we now have. So how can we not want to know what our fellow persons in the flesh are up to, even in a fleshly sense, if we are to rejoice in our redemption? You must KNOW someone in the flesh to see transformation in the heart, as only God can see the heart. (2Cor4:16) I actually _love_ twitter for that: being able to see people at their most normal moments, and pursue them!
Nice p(rov)oking article Mr. Piper
Don,
It's about time you riled people up. I love it! I could even care less about what you wrote. I just love big reactions!
Yea. I did not think this would be the reaction….Oh well. I just hope my hosting server does not go down from the influx of hits.
Personally if I am following someone who doesn't display a balance between who they are in their average day to day and posting things that provoke, challenge, annoy, inspire me I end up un-following them. If it is a steady diet of: at work, at lunch, in line at the store – they are gone.
Thanks for the well thought out post!
Jackie
PS Annie some times you have to know a person to know the God in them; Jesus was very relational and He knows His own intimately of which I am so very thankful for.
And a fine plan it is.
I have a Tweet I haven't used yet that's something along the lines of, "I'm tired of following people who just seem like they're having their devotions all day long.
I wish I had thought of that tweet myself!
Why does it not surprise me that Christians are complaining about an influx of talk about Jesus on twitter. If you want authentic personal relationships, then you need to get off of your computer and start meeting people personally in real life on the streets, at work, at the store, and wherever you go. Twitter is not the place for that. But please seek to glorify God in all things, even twitter. "He must increase, and I must decrease." Sounds like John the Baptizer talked more about God than what he was up to. Not sure about you but I much rather be pushed towards Christ through someone's tweet than to hear how they are sitting on the toilet, cooking dinner, walking out the door, or whatever everyday thing they are doing and probably not seeking how they might glorify God in that situation. If John the Baptizer had twitter i'm pretty sure it didn't go like this: "Sitting in the desert, exhausted from yelling @ people and tired of eating locust and honey. Maybe I need new PR and a new wardrobe." Instead I"m sure it would read something like this: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance."
Twitter is just a reflection of what happens in the real world… this mindset of conformity happens in the real world…an it turn peoples stomach– and hinders people from meeting in the real world there also.
Its unnatural and people can sniff it a mile away. Great Post— fair tone and great guts to say it. Well done
meeting the real Jesus.
"and hinders people from meeting Jesus in the real world there also." is how it should read
If John the Baptizer had a twitter account, I would so follow it!
This is a very clever argument, but unfortunately you might hinder the innocent because of your disdain for the hypocrite. I follow John Piper but do not tweet in the fashion I do because I worship him or something. I have found a very helpful discipline in distilling my devotional down into a pithy 140 character statement. Then my hope is that it helps someone else too. You might unintentionally cause someone to steer away from tweeting this way in an honost fashion because of fear of looking like a wanna-be. I know that was my first thought after reading this blog, I wish you would have thought out the implications of your argument before posting it…
What everyone seems to be missing here, is that he did not say anything against intellect or spirituality, and he's not judging tweeters for using that forum to exercise either of those. He's also not saying that in order to "be yourself", you must talk strictly about what you ate for lunch, or other mundane daily habits. If you have a spiritual moment that you feel is worth sharing, then share away. If something made you laugh, if your kid did something cute, or you did something with family/friends/co-workers that meant something to you, then share that too. No one's crying out for spirituality to cease on twitter. All he's saying, and he brings up an excellent point, is to be honest about who you are as a whole. Don't neglect who God made you to be, idiosyncracy's and all, in an effort to out-spiritualize all of your followers. Because that's surprisingly un-spiritual.
Brilliant post! I've done some Christian cartoons, maybe you'd like o check them out sometime?
Don, I think you might be a tad off base here.
If John Piper's tweets have caused others to tweet in a more gospel-oriented way, what is it that you are complaining about? How is mimicking the style of JP's tweets more egregious an error than judging the motivation behind someone's efforts (genuine or otherwise) to preach the gospel?
I don't imagine you can judge with certainty the motivations behind the Piper-esque tweets that you find so annoying, and so to judge them as phony is an error on your part.
But whether these tweets are genuine or not isn't really the point. Is the doctrine sound? Are they preaching Christ or a false gospel? If they are preaching the gospel, then it would behoove us to follow Paul's example: "What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice." Phillipians 1:18
Well said. Patrick Burwell @OnlyJesusSaves
Good post. In agreement with much of what you are saying.
I am just realizing that I visited your blog a while back, not sure which post though. Well, keep thinking, blogging and living. See you around.
Welcome back! Thanks for the "support."
don, you should seriously consider deleting your twitter account and your blog. it's obvious you have nothing of any worth to offer the world.
You have to put smiley faces after comments like this…or get back on your meds.
If he promises to stay off his meds, I will start following him on twitter.
hahahaha…
And you obviously do?
How could you ever say that to someone? Where is the love in your statement, "you have nothing of any worth to offer the world"? People have committed suicide over such thoughts. Please, I beg of you to recant your statement about Don. I don't know him at all, but your words are unjustifiable if you claim to love Christ.
Don't worry Kerrin, I have been involved in church planting. I have pretty thick skin. Thanks though, I appreciate your comment.
Interesting tension here between sharing the gospel and being authentic, even if authentic is not as pretty or spiritual… As I read it, your ire is not directed against the gospel being shared on twitter, or even the proliferation of Jesus-y tweets since June of this year, but rather at your insincere friends who have rushed to copy Piper's style at the expense of their own personalities.
If I read you right, then I agree. I believe that everyone needs to speak with the unique voice that God created them with, and not with John Piper's voice. He has gifted us each differently, and to mimic someone else's message is to deny our own.
If I read you wrong, though, and you really are upset about the gospel being shared and proliferated on twitter, then I think you need to reevaluate your spiritual life a little bit.
But I think I read you right…
I think you're reading him correctly… people seemed to ignore that the source of his frustration was not spreading the gospel through twitter, rather people suddenly changing their tweet styles to be more like Piper and less like their previous tweet style. I think he possibly misses hearing the true voices of those twitter friends…? I personally believe individuals are more likely to connect the gospel to the hearts of non-believers when it sounds authentic and genuine… not like it's being read or simply recited from scripture memorization.
As Jillyshelly said, you read me right.
Okay, so I had to check to see if you stopped following me. lol. Because sometimes I retweet Piper.
I don't care if you re-tweet Piper. That and, I like your tweets. I almost hate that you work during the day now, less Jon on twitter
Aawwee. That's so sweet.
I found this blogpost because of a Tweet.
You have ruined Twitter.
http://www.twitter.com/fakeServetus
I consider that a compliment sir!
What about people who tweeted like John Piper before John Piper started tweeting?
They are safe.
I love this. A plague on the houses of overly spiritual status updates of any form.
I think it's ok if you've set up the account in a way that suggests that you're only ever going to write pithy zen spiritual statements expressing your deep theological understanding. But if your followers are full of normal people expecting to meet the real you – don't do it.
Especially don't do the chain mail ones… "real Christians will retweet this statement" urgh.
I have never had one of those chain letter type of tweets….I hope I never do.
Great Read! Sometimes I get bored with the same things said by the same people. Thanks for pointing this out!
How can you imitate a guy who's main trait is originality. I'm talking about Jesus. Piper or pauper…the "front" virtue is what burns me a bit. We need more people showing Jesus on their daily lives and less people quoting him like some website. Christian' s should resist the temptation to escape the world, rather, go into it to transform it. Not so that people can develop the ability to say the word "Jesus" twice in every sentence but to become "like Him", "In Him".
I have to fart
Of course you do.
"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." — 1 Corinthians 11:1
What if you head and heart constantly runs like that? That it always dwells on God? What then?
I've found that I don't have to follow Piper. He gets retweeted enough by the people I follow.
Twitter is a social network. Not a virtual street corner for you to preach from. I expect most normal (non-well known) people to engage in conversation, and hopefully we get to know each other.
I think some of you may be missing the point. If spirituality is part of your life, make it part of your twitter, but do it in your own voice, and let it come from your own life. But, be you. Not some super spiritual version of you.
+1! I agree.
I STILL can’t distill God down to 140 characters. If you follow me, you’ll sometimes get me trying to follow Jesus. Or sometimes me changing a poopy diaper or listening to Tool. Chips fall where they may, if I wanted neat, succint devotional thoughts, I’d read ..well, nevermind. The point is I agree with the assertion that Jesus somehow needs me on the planet, otherwise He wouldve cloned Piper.
you sure give Piper a lot of credit.
Lol follow me…… Oh and who cares? To some people being there self is imiating others.
Wasn’t trying to be mean…. I’m just saying…. If I don’t like someones tweet I’m following I’ll just skip over it and hope for a better one later
So that's what happened to you.