Andy Stanley and Mass Deception

I know you agree that they were all written in the 1st century. What i'm saying is that Stanley definition of the Bible of being "all 66 books leather bound together" is him playing semantics to try to make his point of undercutting the Scripture. He does't say the canon was not fully recognized until the 4th century (true) he says there was no Bible until the 4th century. I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself well. Sorry about that since we are on the same side of this debate.

 

break it down for me, how is that true in your mind?

 

Again. You quote out of context. Again, here is Stanley's belief. After this, I am out. I have no desire to chase your floating finish line.

“The real story is the handful of Southern Baptist professors and writers (not so much preachers) who seem to have nothing else to do but listen to bits and pieces of my messages,” he said in his statement to The Post. “Anyone who listens to all three [sermons in the series] will know that I stand firmly within the orthodox Christian tradition regarding the incarnation of Jesus — including the birth narratives as presented [in] Matthew and Luke.”

 

What does HE think about these issues then?

 

Not according to Jesus or paul!

 

There are some that we MUST agree with to get/be saved, such as death of Jesus, resurrection, Jesus is God, but things such as full inspiration is vital and important, but to me falls under SHOULD be held!

 

So I took the time this morning to read and resond to his response. But I will say that I think Jared Wilson does a much better job at respond 3 Nagging Problems with Andy Stanley’s Approach to the Bible

My Response:

1 he never defines what the “traditional approach” is just dismisses it out of hand.

Given that he doesn’t define it I’m left in a bit of a quandry but I’m going to assume that he is talking about exegetical preaching of the word of God. But studies show the fastest growing churches are those that do just that and are conservative in their theology.

Theology Matters: Comparing the Traits of Growing and Declining Mainline Protestant Church Attendees and Clergy

The Hot ‘New’ Church Growth Method

The mission as laid out in Scripture of a Pastor is to “Preach the Word.”

1I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3For the time is coming when people will not endure sounda teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,4and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 2 Tim 2:1-5


There will always be people who won’t listen to sound teaching, but that doesn’t change a Pastors mission to Preach the Word.

Oh this makes me see red. Equating the Bible with the Quarn. The Quran is a book written by a dead man. The Word of God is living and Active. It is the Word of God that brings Faith to people. The Word of God is sufficient, it doesn’t need help.

16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,17that the man of Godb may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Heb 4:12

14How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?c And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:14-17

Jared Wilson over at the Gospel Coalitions says it so much better: "This is really important. Don’t miss what Stanley is unintentionally revealing here. He is saying that the Bible has the same effect on the lost as the Quran. There is zero room here for the actual reality of the Bible as God’s living Word. There is zero room here for the supernatural reality that the Bible carries a weight with lost people they don’t often expect it to! But this inadvertent nod to materialism and pragmatism is certainly expected from those with a proven track record of treating the Bible like an instruction manual rather than as the record of the very breath of God. If we truly believed the Bible was the very word of God, inspired by the Spirit and still cutting through to the quick, dividing joint and marrow, we wouldn’t for a second save it for special occasions. And we certainly wouldn’t equate its potential effectiveness with the Quran’s."
3 Nagging Problems with Andy Stanley’s Approach to the Bible

I’ll tell you why it bothers me: Because this is a blatant attack on Sola Scriptura. This is a blatant attack on the Power of the Gospel. This is a blatant attack on the Living and Active word. You are depriving a lost word of the Power of God’s word when you don’t use it. As I quoted above Faith comes by hearing the word of God.


To be continued

 

He quotes Acts 10:34-43 here, and apparently never looked at the cross references. The beginning of Peter’s speech here has 9 references to the OT in the first 3 verses. He sandwiches his message in the authority of Scripture by alluding to the prophets at the beginning and calling back to them at the end.

Final Thoughts
Andy Stanley shows that he doesn’t trust in the sufficiency of Scripture. He can say all he wants about believing it is inerrant, but that is irrelevant if he doesn’t treat it as inerrant and sufficient. His actions betray his words. The Word of God is clear (see what I did there) that Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. No one will ever be argued into the Christian Faith. We never see Jesus, or Paul, or Peter getting into philosophical arguments about the facts of Scripture. They throw them out there and let them stand.

We should follow their example and let the lion out of its cage. The Bible can handle it.