For the life of me I cannot read anything Tony Jones has written or said without coming to the conclusion that he is an unabashed un-believer who flaunts his own intelligence as superior to God. His latest rant over at Patheos liberal blog illustrates clearly that he is a proud, boastful, un-believer. Here he takes a crack at John Piper for his belief in the sovereignty of an all-mighty, all-knowing, and everywhere-present God. I am no great fan of John Piper, but who is the foolish one here? If the Christian God really exist, who is the fool, the one who says and believes in the powerful God revealed in the Bible, or the god of Tony Jones, who is little and impotent?
I guess I must be a little naïve, and maybe a little childish, because I believe the Bible. Not-so with Tony Jones, he is very much the “adult” and not at all silly enough to be taken-in with the revelations of an omnipotent, omniscience God, Who is present everywhere at all times. With Tony’s vast intellect (and it is vast, just ask him or read his blog) he is able to understand all things, even able to correct God Himself. Tony is the pinnacle, the superlative, the acme of all homo sapiens, i.e. wise man, and able to put words into the mouth of his own Creator. But, if my childishness serves me correctly, the enormity of Tony's intellect may be the very thing that disqualifies him from being called “Christian,” and puts him more in league with the Devil, and not YHWH.
God say of Himself that He is the Sovereign and that all things are in His hands:
“… I am God, and there is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done. Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure’; … Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it” Isa 46:8-11
The Psalmist, for example, declared that “the Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in their depths” (Psalms 135:6). “The Lord works out everything for His own ends, even the wicked for a day of disaster” (Proverbs 16:33; Ephesians 1:11), and there are many such verses as these.
Can you be a “Christian” and not believe God is sovereign? The answer is an unqualified, unconditional, straight-out, NO! How is that possible? How can a person not believe God and still claim to be a “believer”? It is impossible! You cannot “believe” and “not-believe” at the same time.
Tony Jones’ un-belief in the extraordinary utterness, absoluteness, unlimited, and unbounded sovereignty of God in no way justifies his irresponsibility and rebellion against the whole truth of God’s inspired revelation as delivered to His creation. Neither does it mitigate Tony’s own requirement to recognize or acknowledge the sway of God in the movement of all things within that creation.
Just because Tony arbitrarily chooses to emphasize his own vast intelligence over the intelligence of God does not really make him smarter than God, as he would have his readers believe. Jesus even includes “. . .every careless word that men shall speak” as being judged, regardless of what anyone thinks to the contrary. Tony’s pinnacle of perfection will not stand in judgment of God, but will rather be judged.
Conclusion:
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.