Andy Stanley: Throw Away The Bible!

HammondCheese

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If Charles Stanley, his father and my former Pastor, were dead, he would be rolling over in his grave...

The extent of the absolute heresy of Andy exposed in this sermon is mind-blowing to those who don't know him...


https://youtu.be/jmoTAtH3zus
 
Well, that's 40 minutes I can't get back.

The "meat" starts around 29 minutes.

His apparent rejection of the authority of the Scripture is odd, but not following this guy, I'm not sure if it's just part of the "act" for this series.

Tarheel will like it, I'm sure.

What's really hilarious is that for him to show how unimportant the Bible is, he spends the majority of his time quoting the Bible.
 
Izdaari said:
What rejection of the authority of Scripture? I must have missed it.

We're not surprised.
 
Twisted said:
Well, that's 40 minutes I can't get back.

The "meat" starts around 29 minutes.

His apparent rejection of the authority of the Scripture is odd, but not following this guy, I'm not sure if it's just part of the "act" for this series.

Tarheel will like it, I'm sure.

What's really hilarious is that for him to show how unimportant the Bible is, he spends the majority of his time quoting the Bible.
I have known Andy for nearly 30 years, and I can assure you this is no act.  He really sums up his view of God's Word at the 31:30 mark of this video when he alleges, "The Bible did not create Christianity.  Christians eventually created The Bible."

The driving force behind his position is the statement he makes just prior to the aforementioned... "The foundation of your faith and mine is not a book. It's an event." (referring only to the resurrection of Christ)  At the closing of this video in his hypothetical conversation between Peter and today's leading atheists, he goes as far as to claim Peter had zero faith until he "saw" the resurrected Jesus.

Not only is this erroneous concept of 'faith' the antithesis of the Hebrews 11:1 definition of 'faith" (the evidence of things NOT seen), but it reveals a theological cognitive dissonance on his part.  If Salvation is the result of witnessing the event of The Resurrection, and God's Word is not our final authority, how does Andy or anyone else not present in Peter's day have saving faith at all?

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God...

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 
By the way, the entire premise of this 3-part series along with his fairly recent book, 'Irresistible', is to remove the one thing that he believes keeps people from coming to church and/or "giving Jesus a chance".

And that "one thing" is The Bible.

He presents the case that it is time for us all to "unhitch from the Old Testament" and, for all intents and purposes, see the New Testament as nothing more than a storybook that gives historical accounts of events based on the experiences of its writers.

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It's troubling to see how far Andy Stanley has fallen. Years ago, I remember watching him give a talk a his Dad's church. I believe he was then the youth pastor. He seemed so solid. He is proof that a church background isn't enough to save a person from error.
 
HereIStand said:
It's troubling to see how far Andy Stanley has fallen. Years ago, I remember watching him give a talk a his Dad's church. I believe he was then the youth pastor. He seemed so solid. He is proof that a church background isn't enough to save a person from error.
Unfortunately, he never held a position from which to fall.  He was my "Singles Ministry" leader when I turned 18 at First Baptist Atlanta, and he was the same then.  He rarely opened the Bible in his sermons when he filled in for Pastor (Charles) Stanley...

He has been at war with his Dad from a young age... And his influences have always been secular educators and atheists as you can see in this video.  He is enamored by them and has a ministry that is reactive to their position rather than being rooted in the Word of God.

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I understand where he is coming from, even though I don't take it as far as he takes it.

Belief in "The Bible" is not mandatory for Salvation.  Belief in Christ and his resurrection are.  "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the Dead, thou shalt be saved." 

We should stop focusing on proving a 6 day creation, Jonah and the Whale, or Noah's Ark (sorry Ark Encounter...)  In essence, we should not make "belief in the Bible" the cornerstone of our interactions with the World.  I believe that "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" but that message is rejected by most unbelievers. 

What they can't disprove is that Jesus lived, was crucified, and was resurrected.  No body was ever found.  No apostle ever recanted his appearances even under threat of death.  In Paul's day, many witnesses to the resurrection were around. 

Many people reject Christianity because they don't think that Adam rode a dinosaur or that Eve was tricked by a talking snake.  We tell them that if they don't believe in a Worldwide Flood, a 965 year old man, or the Exodus from Egypt, then they can't' be saved.

Faith in Christ (and his resurection) along with the influence of the Holy Spirit will lead people to become Bible Beleivers.  Don't spend your time arguing "the Bible" with unbelievers, focus on Christ and him crucified.
 
cpizzle said:
We tell them that if they don't believe in a Worldwide Flood, a 965 year old man, or the Exodus from Egypt, then they can't' be saved.

Good post and I agree.  My thoughts about Stanley was that was where he was headed (although poorly), but HammondCheese says otherwise, so I'll defer to him as he has a personal connection.

While I've never heard anyone require any sinner to believe the things you posted, I have had one who refused to believe the "God raised Jesus from the dead" (as you also state in your post), and according to scripture, could not at that moment be converted.

 
So belief in the inspired, inerrerant and infallibility of the  the word of God is no longer a fundamental of the faith. Who knew? What's next? The Diety and Virgin birth  of Christ?



 
While it is true a lost person cannot know or affirm every position the Scripture takes...that does not necessitate creating a false dichotomy between Christ and the Scriptures. We share Christ with the lost, that does not mean we disregard or even minimize the inerrant, infallible Scripture.  This kind of preaching borders on the nuclear option of having to act like all Scripture is not important and the requirement of a lost person affirming the whole of Scripture, which of course they cannot. This is creating an issue where there is no issue. Andy is good at that, as are many "hip" preachers.
 
If you're talking to me that's apples and oranges. Not knowing about the flood and denying it is two different things












 
My point (and I believe Andy Stanley's point as well) the is that Christians should not focus our efforts on proving the Historical Accuracy of the Bible and get more serious about bringing people to Christ.  A 6 day creation is something I discuss and debate with seasoned Christians, not with the lost world who still finds foolishness in the "preaching of the cross."  If someone doesn't believe a prophet can live 3 days in the belly of a whale, I don't try to convince them otherwise.  Can they disprove Christ?  Can they honestly deny the resurrection?  Once they accept that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (according to the scriptures...), then their faith in the Bible will begin to grow.
 
"So belief in the inspired, inerrerant and infallibility of the  the word of God is no longer a fundamental of the faith. Who knew? What's next? The Diety and Virgin birth  of Christ?"

Honest question:
Can a person be a Christian and believe in Theological Evolution?
Can a person be "right with God" and believe that Job is an allegory intended to teach a lesson and not a historical character?
Would you deny church membership to someone who believes the Earth is "billions of years old?"
Would remove someone from your church if they believed the number of people who left Egypt during the Exodus was a few thousand instead of over half a million?
Can someone take the Lord's Supper and believe that Jonah was a folktale that teaches a great truth about obedience and having mercy on others?
 
The position held by Andy is not that unbelievers must believe every story in the Bible is true in order to be saved...  Rather, the reason why unbelievers are turned away from Christianity is because it is associated with The Bible... Particularly, the Old Testament...  So he apologizes for The Bible as a whole and claims we do not need it at all, all while failing to recognize its author is God.

He completely disregards "the Law and the Prophets" (O.T.) as being remotely applicable or significant once the Resurrection took place.  However, the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies is tied directly to the Law and the Prophets!  Without these prophecies, the Resurrection of Christ would mean nothing to the Jews in that day or later to the Gentiles...  Not to mention it would strip Jesus of His deity.

But Andy claims otherwise...  He believes that the event of the Resurrection stands alone.  Not just for Salvation, but in all aspects of the Christian life.  We have no foundation of any kind in, as he calls it, "the The Bible." (that's not a typo)  He claims that the Old Testament no longer holds any value at all and that even Jesus and the Apostles felt the same way.  However, both Jesus and the Apostles quoted and referenced "the law and the prophets" throughout their ministries - including references to Creation, Noah, Jonah, etc.

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Can a person be a Christian and believe in Theological Evolution?
Yes. I am and I do.

Can a person be "right with God" and believe that Job is an allegory intended to teach a lesson and not a historical character?
Yes, and I think that's probably right.

Would you deny church membership to someone who believes the Earth is "billions of years old?"
Of course not, because I believe that.

Would remove someone from your church if they believed the number of people who left Egypt during the Exodus was a few thousand instead of over half a million?
No. I really have no idea how many, and I don't think it matters.

Can someone take the Lord's Supper and believe that Jonah was a folktale that teaches a great truth about obedience and having mercy on others?
Sure. I have no idea if Jonah was literally true. It could've been, but would've required a miracle. I believe in miracles, so it's possible. It also works for me as an elaborate parable.
 
Izdaari said:
Can a person be a Christian and believe in Theological Evolution?
Yes. I am and I do.

Can a person be "right with God" and believe that Job is an allegory intended to teach a lesson and not a historical character?
Yes, and I think that's probably right.

Would you deny church membership to someone who believes the Earth is "billions of years old?"
Of course not, because I believe that.

Would remove someone from your church if they believed the number of people who left Egypt during the Exodus was a few thousand instead of over half a million?
No. I really have no idea how many, and I don't think it matters.

Can someone take the Lord's Supper and believe that Jonah was a folktale that teaches a great truth about obedience and having mercy on others?
Sure. I have no idea if Jonah was literally true. It could've been, but would've required a miracle. I believe in miracles, so it's possible. It also works for me as an elaborate parable.

Are you Smellin's wife?
 
cpizzle said:
I understand where he is coming from, even though I don't take it as far as he takes it.

Belief in "The Bible" is not mandatory for Salvation.  Belief in Christ and his resurrection are.  "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the Dead, thou shalt be saved." 

We should stop focusing on proving a 6 day creation, Jonah and the Whale, or Noah's Ark (sorry Ark Encounter...)  In essence, we should not make "belief in the Bible" the cornerstone of our interactions with the World.  I believe that "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" but that message is rejected by most unbelievers. 

What they can't disprove is that Jesus lived, was crucified, and was resurrected.  No body was ever found.  No apostle ever recanted his appearances even under threat of death.  In Paul's day, many witnesses to the resurrection were around. 

Many people reject Christianity because they don't think that Adam rode a dinosaur or that Eve was tricked by a talking snake.  We tell them that if they don't believe in a Worldwide Flood, a 965 year old man, or the Exodus from Egypt, then they can't' be saved.

Faith in Christ (and his resurection) along with the influence of the Holy Spirit will lead people to become Bible Beleivers.  Don't spend your time arguing "the Bible" with unbelievers, focus on Christ and him crucified.

If we can  believe that Jesus could and did raise himself from the dead in 3 days it makes sense to believe in what happened in the Old Testament.
 
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