Barna Group Profoundly Mistaken on the New Birth!

Thanks to our Lord Jesus and to John Piper we have another sound, corrective on what constitutes being born-again. In his latest book, Finally Alive, Piper introduces the category of the new birth by juxtaposing the Barna Group and the New Testament presuppositions (pp. 13-15). After citing Barna researcher's definition of born again, Piper points out it's categorical weakness:

"In this research the term born again refers to people who say things. They say, "I have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. It's important to me." They say, "I believe that I will go to heaven when I die. I have confessed my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior." Then the Barna Group takes them at their word, ascribes to them the infinitely important reality of the new birth, and then slanders that precious biblical reality by saying that regenerate hearts have no more victory over sin than unregenerate hearts. [The Barna Group reported for instance that "only nine percent of evangelicals tithe." And, "of 12,000 teenagers who took the pledge to wait for marriage, 80% had sex outside marriage in the next seven years."]

It's no wonder, after citing Barna's research which leads us to conclude that believers are no different from the world, that Piper declares unashamedly, 

I want to say loud and clear that when the Barna Group uses the term born again to describe American church-goers whose lives are indistinguishable from the world, and who sin as much as the world, and sacrifice for others as little as the world, and embrace injustice as readily as the world, and covet things as greedily as the world, and enjoy God-ignoring entertainment as enthusiastically as the world--when the term born again is used to describe these professing Christians, the Barna Group is making a profound mistake [emphasis mine]. It is using the biblical term born again in a way that would make it unrecognizable by Jesus and the biblical writers.

But the New Testament says otherwise:

I'm not saying their research is wrong. It appears to be appallingly right. I am not saying that the church is not as worldly as they say it is. I am saying that the writers of the New Testament think in exactly the opposite direction about being born gain.

Then Piper draws a pivotal and devastatingly accurate contrast:

Instead of moving from a profession of faith, to the label born again, to the worldliness of these so-called born again people, to the conclusion that the new birth does not radically change people, the New Testament moves in the opposite direction.

It moves from the absolute certainty that the new birth radically changes people, to the observation that many professing Christians are indeed (as the Barna Group says) not radically changed, to the conclusion that they are not born again. The New Testament unlike the Barna Group, does not defile the new birth with the worldliness of unregenerate, professing Christians.

And there it is--not merely man's opinion; it is all through the New Testament! We must hear this. Please secure a copy and read it. . . . Or wait for further posts. This resounds with my heart!