Is John Piper popular because he makes Christianity look intelligent?

It's an interesting question, one I certainly did not see coming, but one that has now arrived

in the inbox from a listener named Jean.

Dear Pastor John, hello and thank you for your incredible ministry to the world.

I was recently watching a few atheists online go back and forth trying to answer this question.

Why is John Piper so popular?

As you can imagine, the interchange proves that none of them really know you or the gospel

you preach.

Nevertheless, one point from their comments back and forth did strike me.

One of these atheists said, and the others quickly agreed, that your popularity is owing

to the fact that you make Christianity look intelligent.

That's an interesting point.

I'm wondering how much you think this is true.

I think we can all name ample examples of Christians online and on television that do

and say really dumb and immature things, but you actually do make Christianity look appealing

to the intelligent.

What concerns would you have for the people who do follow you because you make Christianity

look smart?

The first thing to say is that we need clarity on the meaning of popularity.

Every listener must be aware.

After 30 seconds of thought, the John Piper is not popular because in those 30 seconds,

they would surely realize that he is totally unknown to 99.87% of the world's 7.5 billion

...