Posted on 12/25/2016 2:33:41 PM PST by Gamecock
The pastor of one of America’s largest megachurches stirred up Christmas controversy after preaching that the story of Jesus’ virgin birth is not crucial to the Christian faith.
“If somebody can predict their own death and resurrection, I’m not all that concerned about how they got into the world,” Andy Stanley said in a Dec. 4 sermon at North Point Community Church, which draws 36,000 attendees across six locations in suburban Atlanta. “Christianity doesn’t hinge on the truth or even the stories around the birth of Jesus. It hinges on the resurrection of Jesus.”
For shame. So much for the Incarnation...
It’s not the birth. It’s the gospels.
Jesus brought Lazerus back to life to demonstrate the power of God. But ultimately Lazerus would die again.
Gods resurection of Jesus was permanent. Jesus still lives today
Docetism arising.
I can’t even imagine the anguish this must be causing his father, Dr. Charles Stanley.
Andy Stanley is right, and this comes from a dedicated evangelical Christian and tea partier.
It might be better phrased as, Christmas might be the holiest night of the year by tradition, but Easter is a far more significant Christian holiday.
But it’s the liberal media making such a big deal out of this, not us.
No, he is not even technically correct.
Amen!
It is Christ’s death and Resurrection that defines Christianity.
You are right on. The left posts this in the news on Christmas Day not to inform readers but to divide Christians and give progressives a reason to mock us over their winter Solstice dinner.
He’s correct in that it’s the Resurrection that is the main thing. Without the Resurrection, the Bible is just another nice story.
For sure.
If Jesus had an earthly father, He could not be the Son of God AND he would have inherited the sin nature, and could not have been without sin.
Thus He could not have been a spotless Lamb to pay for the sins of the world - one sinner cannot pay for the sins of another - only a sinless One can.
Yes, the resurrection is the PROOF of who He is, but the virgin birth is required for His sacrifice to have been substitutionary. Lazarus was resurrected - but that did not prove he was the Son of God.
So the resurrection is a vital necessity, but meaningless without His being born of a virgin.
Most solid theologians believe the sin nature is passed through the man’s seed, and NOT through the woman....not that women are sinless - they are not - it’s just that the sin nature passes only through the man. This has to be true or Jesus would have received the sin nature through Mary - who herself was perhaps the most godly woman to ever live - but not sinless.
Ready to be flamed by my Catholic brethren.......
If He had intended this we would have a Biblical fixing of the date.
I see you are using a computer, in defiance of the will of God. Nowhere in Scripture does God mention computers, or that we should use them. Or electricity.
Lazarus was resurrected by the power of God through His son, Jesus Christ.
It was taught to me that Jesus lived to an age of 33 or 34.
It is not just the event of the crucifixion that is salvific. It is the hypostatic union of a human nature with the Second Person of the Trinity that is salvific.
Each Christian is called, at his baptism, to recapitulate the stages of growth and maturity that Jesus recapitulated.
And if Jesus had not been conceived in the womb of Mary, but had descended full-grown from the sky, Christians would not share a mother with the Son of God.
“Serving up dung on plates of silver”. It’s been working for heretics for hundreds of years. Yum.
That would probably have more impact if you weren’t using one to chide me.
That’s nice. The Bible fixes the dates of his death and resurrection to the exact days.
Now backtrack 33 or 34 years and cite the Biblical source for the day he was born.
Now argue which date was more important, was it his birth date, or one of the two days, so crucial that they are exactly fixed and enshrined in The Holy Book?
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