Posted on 01/10/2006 10:06:56 AM PST by Terriergal
***Warren's sermons may be pablum for the spiritually filled, but they are often filled with milk for the spiritually weak and hope for the spiritually dead.***
The milk is found in Scripture. Not Warren's pontifications.
It is a broad term that ought to apply to any Christian who believes that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. I use it to describe myself, even though I am not a legalist or a KJV onlyist or a baptism by immersion onlyist.
When used in a media context it is often used as an attempt to smear Christianity in general with a vision of toothless, stupid, illiterate snake handlers and Holy Rollers. IMO Christians ought not to join in the denigration of Christianity by calling everyone who has a more conservative view of scriptures than themselves, fundamentalists. We are all (or at least we all should be) fundamentalists.
Truthfully, I know that Rick is far more conservative than he says publicly.
I suspect that Warren's problem is most likely tied to the fact that since he has become successful in his ministry he has surrounded himself with yes-men who nod at his every statement and encourage him to be non-confrontive. Being nice and being stupid are not signs of apostasy. They are perhaps signs of compromise. Who among us is not guilty of that?
no doubt. When you think of church as entertainment, when the entertainment value goes, why go?
So why have a sermon at all?
Why not just play a tape of Alexander Scourby and pass the bread and wine?
Sometimes, I think they use fundamentalist to describe anyone who believes in the death and resurrection of Jesus as real things...
Roger that ~ Onward Christian Soldiers!
>>It suddenly occurred to me that I was teaching our church to love the things of this world, through ideas like worship that's designed to sound just like secular music.
I made the mistake of regarding worship as an 'experience' rather than a heartfelt act of obedience; I should have asked God how He would like us to worship. Looking back on things now, I see that I was using the word "relevant" to mean - almost anything worldly that would get people to come to church. I confess that I disregarded the bible's commands to avoid worldliness, and did the opposite by using worldliness as "bait" for the unchurched.<<
That sums up the issue entirely. The seeker-sensitive churches use worldly means to attract. Praise the Lord for showing this man the truth!
What a testimony that is.
he and his wife are one of the few missionaries in Nepal. He has help start 19 churches and a Bible college.
Why is he a nut?
Warren formulates a thesis, and then finds snippets of Scripture to back him up.
Not exactly sound preaching from the Word.
Where is that written in most Christian books that have a different theme?
In any case, the issue is getting folks through the doors to hear the gospel, or getting the gospel to them so they can hear the gospel.
Good to see you too!!
I have the MA study Bible and it is a WOW .
I also like to read Gills commentary which you can find on line.
Revelations warns us of being just that kind of church.. even with the warnings we do not hear it huh ?
"It's up to him to be clear about what he means if he says something like this."
Yes. But as with Rush Limbaugh, if you are constantly talking and there are detractors just looking for error, they will find it. This guy is not Jesus, nor is he even the apostle Paul. He is a mere man with some good ideas and some not so good ideas. And even then, I am not the final arbiter on which is which. If someone has a problem with something he says, they should ask him to explain what he meant and then see what he has to say.
For this one man, you seem to have set the bar too high. He WILL fail you, for he is not the Christ. He is merely a flawed human being as are we all.
This is not about MONEY, it is about a watered down gospel being preached that saves no one, but endears the pastor to people without teeth that want to be reassured and entertained.
All "movements" can become extreme, but you do not throw the baby out with the bath water .
Fundamentalism was an attempt to bring a very stray church back in line with the fundamentals of Christian doctrine. The mega church movement is about building A CHURCH not the church. That is not a fundamental of Christianity.
indeed !
We are called to be fishers of men.
Any fisherman worth his salt will either use a lure or a net or both.
I suspect you are closer to the men that began the movement of fundamentalism than you may think
The term itself is borrowed from the title of a four volume set of books called The Fundamentals published in 1909. The books were published by the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (B.I.O.L.A. now Biola University), and edited by R.A. Torrey, who was a minister affiliated with the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Initially the project was funded by Lyman Stewart, president and cofounder of the Union Oil Company of California (currently known as UNOCAL), and cofounder of B.I.O.L.A. The books were a republication of a series of essays that were sent by mail to every minister in the United States. They were called "The Fundamentals" because they appealed to all Christians to affirm specific fundamental doctrines such as The Virgin Birth and bodily Resurrection of Jesus. This series of essays came to be representative of the "Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy" which appeared early in the 20th century within the Protestant churches of the United States, and continued in earnest through the 1920s.
"but endears the pastor to people without teeth"
Our church has a very active ministry to people in nursing and convalescent homes. They really look forward to our pastor's visits.
When you use a stick of dynamite you bring the fish to the surface but they are dead on arrival.
It's like the old joke:
Why will Presbyterians be raptured before Methodists?
Because the dead in Christ shall rise first.
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