Piper vs. Deadpool

I usually enjoy John Piper's words quite a bit and never imagined myself disagreeing with any of his publications, but recently I became quite confused by a text allegedly written by him and decided to expose myself — as a redeemed sinner and therefore entirely dependent on the Lord's grace to obtain salvation — so that you don't need to speak ill of me (because I myself already acknowledge, expose, repent of, and tell you not to do the same!), but that, please, at the end of this post, you consider my responses to Piper.

BRIEF BACKGROUND

At 18 years old, I was sent to Manaus.
I left my mother's lap at 16, after passing a civil service exam, and after two years in a preparatory school, I ended up in a place where my brother had recently been murdered, in the early 90s.
I lost my virginity and threw myself into a previously unimaginable debauchery, thinking I would end up dying there, at the very least from AIDS…
I didn't get sick or die, although I came close: the Lord protected me and allowed me to begin acquiring wisdom… very little at first.

I used to be a representative for a healthy energy drink.
I went out to sell wherever I could: churches, hospitals, colleges… even the brothel that a cousin of mine owned!
The business was closed during the day, and since the sale was interpersonal—I bought from the company and resold to him—I ended up having to, on a few occasions, enter the office during business hours, which meant passing by some rather explicit performances.
I would go in, deliver, and leave… I never felt tempted, but, on the contrary, very embarrassed: in my youth I was around models, contests, fashion shows… and that place is the bottom of the moral pit for someone who has nothing left to offer for money but their body!
You see, if I wanted to, it would have been very easy to dispose of the "services" of any of those women—after all, my cousin was the owner—but I NEVER even considered such an act.

I've certainly seen many things in this life, and if I didn't run away, I received such a deliverance that today I can recount that phase with complete peace of mind, and even my wife knows about all of this.

Censorship due to eroticism or violence?

Last week I went with my wife to see the movie "Deadpool": I laughed a lot and nothing there—let's use a dramatic term—"injected sin" into me that I hadn't already seen or overcome. There isn't extensive nudity and the scenes shown are nothing that broadcast TV isn't already showing… in my case, it didn't even stick in my memory and I only remembered it because of… accusatory questionnaire that Piper created:

1. When will I gouge out my own eyes, if not now?
Jesus said that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away (Matthew 5:28-29). Seeing a naked woman on screen—or a naked man—leads a man, or a woman, to sin in their mind and desires.

2. Do I long to see God?
I want to see and know God as much as possible in this life and the next. Watching nudity is a huge obstacle to this pursuit. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). The pollution of the mind and heart by watching nudity weakens the heart's ability to see and delight in God. I challenge anyone to watch nudity and then turn to God, thank Him, and delight in Him more because of what they have just experienced.

3. Do I care about souls that present themselves naked?
God calls women to adorn themselves with decent clothing, with modesty and self-control (1 Timothy 2:9). When we receive or embrace nudity in our entertainment, we are implicitly endorsing the sin of the women who display themselves in this way, and therefore revealing a lack of concern for those souls. They disobey 1 Timothy 2:9, and we watch them, saying it's okay.

4. Would I be happy if my daughter played this role?
Most Christians are hypocritical when they watch nudity because, on the one hand, they say, while watching, that there is no problem, and on the other hand, they know deep down that they wouldn't want their daughters, wives, or girlfriends to do that. That is hypocrisy.

5. Am I assuming that nudity can be disguised?
Nudity is not like murder and violence on screen. Violence on screen is make-believe; nobody is actually killed. But nudity is not make-believe. These actresses are truly naked in front of the camera, doing exactly what the director told them to do with their legs, hands, and breasts. And they are truly naked in front of millions of Christians, for them to see.

6. Am I assuming that nudity is necessary for good art?
There isn't a great film or a great television series that needs nudity to enhance its greatness. No. There isn't. There are creative ways to show reality as it is without turning sex into a sport for the viewer and without putting the actors and actresses in morally compromising situations as part of the package.
It's not artistic integrity that's bringing nudity to the screen. Behind it all is male sexual appetite driving this business, followed by immense pressure from the industries and the desire to increase sales. It's not art that puts nudity in a film; it's the appeal to lust. It sells.

7. Am I free from doubt?
There is a biblical guideline that makes life very simple: “Anyone who doubts is condemned if they eat, because eating does not come from faith; for everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:32). My paraphrase: if you have doubts, don't do it. This would alter the visual habits of millions, and, oh, how sweetly they would sleep with that awareness.

So I say again: Join me in the pursuit of a kind of purity that sees God, and know the fullness of joy in His presence, and lasting pleasure at His right hand.

So, these are the “seven questions” and the answers he himself gives us — and this is a technique called “straw man,” quite common among leftists when they intend to make condemnations without running the risk of being refuted.
I finished reading them after, and since it was two or three days after I had already seen the film, I thought it was not only fair, but necessary and offered a significantly different perspective, to present...

MY ANSWERS TO PIPER'S QUESTIONS

1. I should have gotten rid of it when I was 18 and ended up in Manaus, but now… the nudity shown in the film is irrelevant in context, it didn't impress me and didn't even come close to tempting me, therefore, “no”!
   Following that line of reasoning, then going to the beach — something I personally don't like — would be more than enough reason for the weak to gouge out their eyes... and everything else!
2. Yes, I seek Him every day, but I am married and not at all celibate, so this question is pointless for someone who has a healthy married life.
3. I care about preaching the Word, the only way to access true faith, because it allows the legitimate action of the Holy Spirit. But, considering that Piper is an avowed Calvinist and therefore a defender of the doctrine of predestination… what kind of emotionally manipulative question is this? If there are souls already destined for condemnation, remaining naked or, even worse, emulating an esoteric mystical Christianity with financial objectives, given the Calvinist line of reasoning, at what point will the power to alter this condition be in my hands?
   Piper... are you trying to make people feel guilty for what God has ordained?!?!
4. No. Not at all! And what does that have to do with the movie?
   Perhaps a small "spoiler" is necessary about this scene with the naked women, which occurs very briefly in a "strip club" (not to mention brothel) and, yes, some naked bodies appear on screen for a few moments: they are not relevant roles, it is not possible to easily identify the identity of those who appear without clothes, at this moment the focus of the plot is completely different from admiring nudity... in short, it is one of those scenes where, very different from a pornographic film or a photo shoot, it is possible to never find out who appeared there naked.
   In these days of digital recordings, how many gospel singers and pastors have been explicitly caught in their utterly immoral infidelities? How many "evangelical" women are degrading themselves like professional prostitutes?!
   Wouldn't these women be committing a sin equivalent to that of a pastor who, during a "sacrifice to Moloch for Jesus," climbs onto a sound truck to say that the Brazilian people will enter heaven dancing samba?!
   Ultimately, carnal prostitution causes many to forget that spiritual prostitution, even when full of good intentions, is a sin that is just as, or even more, serious…
5. Nudity exists, and as Paul said, not even it can separate me from the love of God.
   Don't be ashamed to RUN AWAY, but I hope you're not a weakling who succumbs to any glimpse of a woman—or worse, a man!—without clothes.
   Nudity cannot be disguised, but despite dealing with a generation that is largely incontinent, I believe we can still expect to find some who will behave like Joseph.
6. No, and besides, didn't I already say that nudity wasn't essential to the film's plot?!
   I don't always go to the movies expecting to find "good art": sometimes I go to be scared, other times to laugh... often I leave frustrated, and that means I prefer to go without having detailed prior knowledge of what I'm going to see: this movie isn't any worse than what I hear happens in the soap operas that air after 10 PM on broadcast TV...
7. Absolutely yes!
   I watched it, laughed, and left! I didn't dwell on any of the nudity scenes that were shown, and I only remembered them when I read these seven questions designed to bring hell upon anyone who saw the film…

Piper's seven questions reminded me of those psychotically protective mothers who, before their child even scrapes their knee, want to rush them straight to the ICU or worse… put them in a coffin — and the emotional manipulation in the question about "naked souls" particularly irritated me.

SO, SHOULD I GO OR NOT?

I also went to see it.
BLACK PANTHER
And I ended up finding out
LOTS OF STRANGE THINGS!

Killmonger in Wakanda

So, is the purpose of this text to encourage Christians to go see Deadpool?!?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!
If you're unsure whether or not to see the film, if you're afraid of being seduced by the short and unremarkable nude scenes… don't go! Here's the biblical text to explain my position (and I've taken the liberty of highlighting the words to make it easier to understand):

It is best not to eat meat or drink wine.,
not even do OTHER THINGS in which your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is weakened.
Do you have faith?
Have it within yourself before God.
Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
But THE ONE WHO HAS DOUBTS, If he eats, he is condemned, because he does not eat from faith;
And everything that is not of faith is sin.

(Romans 14:21–23)

The responsibility of deciding whether or not you can go see the movie doesn't belong to Piper, it doesn't belong to me, but entirely and exclusively to YOU!!
Recalling what happened to me: I went to see the movie with my wife, and without really knowing what to expect, we watched, laughed, passed unscathed through the brief moments of nudity, laughed some more, stayed until the post-credits scenes (which were quite funny), and returned home together, normally—undoubtedly without a shadow of temptation and much less exposing any other weaker member of the Body of Christ to sin—where we prayed and slept peacefully. It would have stayed in that place in my memory where all the other movies are, kind of forgotten… until I came across those seven terrifying answers from Piper!

Likewise, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin,
but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.;
Do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as instruments of wickedness;
but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life,
and offer your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.

(Romans 6:11–14)

It's clear that the film, like many things we deal with, wasn't created with the aim of edifying anyone's Christian life, but Piper, with all his fame and theological stature, lends himself to writing a text like this and ends up drawing more attention than necessary to something that isn't "all that" and that would otherwise go relatively unnoticed: if it weren't "Piper," I might even suspect that this was one of those controversial and paid texts, created precisely to, through radical divergence, attract the attention of a group that wouldn't even pay attention to the product...

Ah! It's funny to observe that — especially in a film that received such alarming criticism from a renowned theologian — the main character ends up being faithful to the woman from the moment he meets her until the end… and apparently the feeling is mutual, from her to him, no matter how unusual and strange the environment in which they exist may be.

In the end… who kills more: Piper or Deadpool?

Considering that "gouging out eyes" is the first and mildest suggestion given by Piper, going through a very serious accusation of "lack of love for NAKED SOULS" and a veiled curse that our daughters will run the risk of playing insignificant nude roles in film... Piper's text is practically a generalized condemnation—for all those who have watched or will watch this film—to hell!
Any Arminian who has committed this "mortal sin" and reads Piper's text will be certain that their destiny is hell itself, for it is written:

Because it is impossible for those who were once enlightened..., And they tasted the heavenly gift, and became partakers of the Holy Spirit, And tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, And having fallen away, may they be renewed again unto repentance.; For in this way, as far as they are concerned, they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. For earth which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God; but earth which produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is near to being cursed.; Its purpose is to be burned..

(Hebrews 6:4–8)

(Incidentally, let it be said in passing:) any Arminian what to commit any sin And faced with this situation... all you can do is sit back and wait for hell!)

Is Piper's zeal beginning to extend beyond the Protestant pastoral sphere and taking on a centralizing, practically papal character? What kind of power is it to know how each and every person will react to a given event and immediately impute sin to them?!

In short, Deadpool kills hundreds of virtual characters with special effects, but Piper and her seven comebacks... those condemn them straight to hell itself!!

And I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

(Luke 12:4–5)

Without a doubt, something very strange is happening with my dear Piper, author of excellent texts that have served and still serve to edify me, but who strangely decided to fire a cannon at a fly and, as I explain in this text, may have missed (and by a lot) the target!

I have already written to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people;
This does not mean at all the debauched people of this world, or the greedy, or the thieves, or the idolaters;
because then you would have to leave the world..
But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler.;
with that one, do not even eat.

(1 Corinthians 5:9-11 – ACF)

What is most dangerous?You go out to see a movie knowing it's pure nonsense meant to make you laugh and not be taken seriously. OR To go out expecting to offer a rational worship to the Lord and be edified in the Word… and to find oneself confronted with a spurious theology in the style of Benny Hinn, Agenor Duque, Lagoinha, Malafaia…?

Finally, from the beginning of this text I acknowledge and emphasize my condition as a sinner, fallible and perverse, seeking the Lord, depending entirely on Him for salvation: I have no merit whatsoever and, perhaps, my only quality is to observe the things that happen and analyze them from a biblical perspective without bias.
I hope you can reflect on the points I present here and that this may serve to build up the Body of Christ.