I saw this come across John Piper’s twitter feed yesterday and I was intrigued enough to chase down the link yesterday evening.
JohnPiperApology for being a jerk, and a new attempt at why I don’t have a TV and rarely go to movies.http://ow.ly/fRb4about 16 hours ago from HootSuite
this how he starts his post at the link:
Now that the video of the Q&A at Advance 09 is available, I can look at it and feel bad all over again. Here’s what I regret, indeed what I have apologized for to the person who asked the question.
The first question to me and Mark Driscoll was, “Piper says get rid of my TV, and Driscoll says buy extra DVRs. How do you reconcile this difference?”
I responded, “Get your sources right. . . . I never said that in my life.”
Almost as soon as it was out of my mouth, I felt: “What a jerk, Piper!” A jerk is a person who nitpicks about the way a question is worded rather than taking the opportunity to address the issue in a serious way. I blew it at multiple levels.
So I was very glad when the person who asked the question wrote to me. I wrote back,
Be totally relieved that YOU did not ask a bad question. I gave a useless and unhelpful, and I think snide, answer and missed a GOLDEN opportunity to make plain the dangers of the triviality you referred to. . . . I don’t know why I snapped about the wording of the question instead of using it for what it was intended for. It was foolish and I think sinful.
So let me see if I can do better now
fantastic. I love this attitude. recognizing the problem and seeking to rectify it. Glad to have the opportunity to admit wrong to the recipient of the wrongness.