Posted on 12/09/2008 7:00:45 AM PST by Gamecock
As much as I appreciated what Rick Warren did in his faith presidential forum several months ago, his appearance last evening on one of my favorite programs, Hannity and Colmes, was disappointing. What Pastor Warren responded with to some of host's Allan Colmes simple yet important questions was not the biblical gospel of salvation or even a reasonable defense of the gospel.
One of his responses? "Try Jesus...?" As Colmes sarcastically quipped in response: "Like the book of the month club..."
Beloved, why can't evangelical leaders just speak the truth in love and give the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ without the sidebar fodder of feeling like they have to be funny; relate; be relevant; or make Jesus likable. Try Jesus? How disrespectful to the Lord. Heaven's dread Sovereign doesn't ask to be tried out like a new kind of food or gadget; He doesn't ask to be sampled - He demands to be worshiped, followed, obeyed and submitted to as Lord!
Now some might wonder: "Campi, is this kind of stuff really important today with our economy failing, people really hurting and feeling the pinch, wars still occurring, etc.?" Yes it is - and here is why. The gospel IS the key issue above all others. Not to diminish those other things for they are real concerns, but the eternal state of another's soul is the preeminent weight of all. Even if all around fails and we face some very difficult and trying times financially in our nation, the one true hope of all can never be depreciated or bankrupted - the hope of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? We are privileged, beloved, to go to a lost world with the hope of salvation and the forgiveness of sins in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is our hope as believers too. We need to encourage one another with this hope daily. We need to pray for each other like never before. We need to comfort one another with the words of Christ these days and to provoke one another with love and good works. So when a well-known pastor gets on a national news talk show and doesn't really present the true gospel when asked plainly - then it should matter.
Here is part of the transcript.
COLMES: All right. Let me ask you: you talk about, OK, so you think everybody needs a savior.
WARREN: I do.
COLMES: Well, what about those people who don't — you know, I happen to be Jewish. Not everybody — and Jesus, by the way, I have a lot in common with. Same religion.
WARREN: Absolutely.
COLMES: So not everybody necessarily goes that route.
WARREN: The thing is, Alan, I believe Jesus Christ came for everybody. I don't think he came for Christians. The Bible says take this good news to the whole world.
I don't care whether you're Baptist, Buddhist, Mormon, Methodist, Jewish, Muslim, or no religion at all. Jesus Christ still loves you. You still matter to God.
COLMES: True, and I think that's a wonderful message. But if you don't accept Jesus, if you're not something who goes that route religiously...
WARREN: Yes.
COLMES: ... can you find your way to heaven? Can you still be — go to the same place when it's all said and done?
WARREN: I'm not the authority on that, but I believe Jesus is. And everybody's betting their life on something. Jesus said, "I am the way." I'm betting that he's not a liar. I'm betting that he told the truth.
COLMES: What about — what does it say for all those people who do not accept Christ as their personal savior?
WARREN: I'm saying that this is the perfect time to open their life, to give it a chance. I'd say give him a 60-day trial.
(CROSSTALK)
COLMES: Like the Book of the Month Club.
WARREN: Give him a trial. See if he'll change your life. I dare you to try trusting Jesus for 60 days. Or your money guaranteed back.
COLMES: Really? You're going to give me the money back?
WARREN: Absolutely. Direct to me, Sean Hannity, FOX News Channel.
COLMES: But seriously, because I wonder. I mean, do you look differently upon those people like me who are not Christians but still don't believe...?
WARREN: I do not look differently on them. I think God...
HANNITY: He likes you more than I like you. He loves you. He tells you every time he's here.
COLMES: He's a good American.
HANNITY: Exactly.
WARREN: We're all created in the image of God. There's no doubt about that. There's not a person on earth that God doesn't love, but God wants us to learn to love him back.
And to me, God says, "I've given you this gift of grace, which means you don't earn your way to heaven. You don't work your way to heaven. You simply receive my gift."
And — and that means we need to unwrap the gift that God has given us, and your past can be forgiven. You can have a purpose for living, and you can have a home in heaven.
COLMES: Can you do all those things in other religions, too?
WARREN: I don't know how you would possibly do that. God didn't send 100 Jesuses; he didn't send 1,000. He sent one.
Considering that the 4th century ‘church’ lured converts by superimposing my Messiah’s faith and message onto the traditions and practices of sun worshipping, asking people to ‘try Jesus’ is just an insult to the injury and degradation that occurred long ago.
They’re afraid of the Truth.
The truth is that Jesus knows His sheep, they hear His voice, and they follow Him.
The others aren’t His sheep.
Like a friend said at church last week, “Like it or not, the Bible has a whole lot of “appointing” going on.”
:>)
Y’all are taking Warren literally when it obviously was not intended that way. In essence, he was saying, “Try Jesus. See if he’s true. You won’t have any regrets!”
Nor is that approach evil. God can do a lot with someone who is just honest with Him. If you go to God and say, “God, I’m afraid. I don’t know if you are real. But if you are, save me!”, then it will be like opening the door of a dark room. The light will flow in and fill the room, and what didn’t make sense before will begin to do so.
I’m glad a lot of Freepers weren’t around when I was a kid. You would have been so busy insisting I pass a theology test that I would have never been saved at all!
The day after my conversion, my theology was terrible. Nearly 40 years later, it is much improved...but I still don’t believe I would get a perfect score on a theology test given by God - except that the test He gives will be, “Jesus, is he yours?”
I was just messin with him.. He makes goofy statements like that often.
I just expected more from a pastor than that, but I haven't been impressed with most pastors and priests in a long time. Even Robertson, Falwell, and Hagee squirm and weasel when confronted with reading actual Bible verses. All of them have crawfished on abortion and homosexuality on national TV. If Warren keeps playing a pastor on TV, he too, will be destroyed. At some point he will be confronted with black and white, good and evil, right and wrong, and he will choose to ride the fence trying to help his book sales.
I’m no fan of Warren, but you are right. Joel Osteen would have blathered his ususal “I’m don’t know” version of the “gospel.”
I’m sure he means well but this is an insult to our Lord. God calls us to Him. We either answer the call or not. I suppose if he said, “God is calling, answer the call,” I’d be okay with that. Just like the scriptures tell us that He is at the door knocking.
Try it sounds too much like a bad commercial (try it you’ll like it).
Good Lord in Heaven, people!!
Rev. Warren was speaking in broad, easy to understand, terms. A lot of unbelievers happen to watch Fox News....not just Christians......If you want to turn people off from even the thought of contemplating the possibility that Christ is who he is suppposed to be in their lives, then by all means....lets break out the bibles and start quoting the hard scriptures......watch how many people eyes will glaze over and they will reach for the remote.
If you want the unchurched to at least consider Christ, then speak in terms that will not close them down to that thought.....then let God do the rest. Truth is Truth no matter how simply spoken
St. Paul called it baby food for a reason.
I suppose I’ll be criticized for this view, but I’ve been turned off by every preacher I’ve encountered. I can see value in direct ritual as is practiced in the Orthodox church, and in simple reading of scripture, but pep talks from a pastor/intermediary/coach/cheerleader, however well-intentioned... I just can’t see it.
Dead on. Bravo! The numbs of Christianity have long ago forgotten that we are a Jewish sect. IMHO we should occasionally try to act like it. Find a copy of When Christians Were Jews; That is, Now by Wayne-Daniel Berard, ISBN 978-1-56101-280-0. I think you'll find it fascinating.
“Beloved, why can’t evangelical leaders just speak the truth in love and give the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ without the sidebar fodder of feeling like they have to be funny; relate; be relevant; or make Jesus likable.”
Why do so many Christians feel there is only one way to present the gospel (which, by a strange coincidence, always happens to be their way.)
Paul changed the way he delivered the gospel, depending on the audience he was speaking to at the time. His Mars Hill speech was appropriate for the audence he was speaking to at the time (a group of Greek philosophers), but to many other groups of the day (especially Jews) would have not only be inappropriate, but actually insulting.
Have you never seen someone that has firmly resisted the gospel their entire life suddenly open up to it when it is presented to them in a different way?
There are many valid ways to expose someone to the gospel. Instead of condeming those that are trying to reach people via unconventional/non-traditional methods, we should be rejoicing that people are being reached through these methods.
I don't care whether you're Baptist, Buddhist, Mormon, Methodist, Jewish, Muslim, or no religion at all. Jesus Christ still loves you. You still matter to God.
I can see why Warren's joyful proclamation that "Jesus is for everyone" would really irritate naysaying Calvinists.
The idea that Jesus wants all men to be saved and not just the exclusive "predestined" really messes with their morbid, elitist theology.
When you cut out all the interruptions and crosstalk, it seems Warren was doing a pretty decent job under the circumstances. If he came on with a “trust Jesus or you’ll go to Hell” message, it would probably be the last time he was on the show (or any show of its ilk.) You’ve got to work with what you have, and work in the circumstaces you are placed in.
COLMES: ...so you think everybody needs a savior.
WARREN: I do.
WARREN: ...Jesus Christ came for everybody.
WARREN: ...Jesus said, “I am the way.” I’m betting that he’s not a liar. I’m betting that he told the truth.
COLMES: What about — what does it say for all those people who do not accept Christ as their personal savior?
WARREN: I’m saying that this is the perfect time to open their life, to give it a chance. I’d say give him a 60-day trial.
COLMES: ...do you look differently upon those people like me who are not Christians but still don’t believe...?
WARREN: We’re all created in the image of God. There’s no doubt about that. There’s not a person on earth that God doesn’t love, but God wants us to learn to love him back.
And to me, God says, “I’ve given you this gift of grace, which means you don’t earn your way to heaven. You don’t work your way to heaven. You simply receive my gift.”
And — and that means we need to unwrap the gift that God has given us, and your past can be forgiven. You can have a purpose for living, and you can have a home in heaven.
COLMES: Can you do all those things in other religions, too?
WARREN: I don’t know how you would possibly do that. God didn’t send 100 Jesuses; he didn’t send 1,000. He sent one.
To me this is a very dangerous philosophy. Let me try and explain before I am filleted. Many people try drugs, alcohol, sex, homosexuality, and many other things looking for something to make their lives better, something akin to "happiness". When evangelists say "Try Jesus, he will make your life better. He'll take away your problems and make you happy." People take them at their word and go ahead and give this "Jesus-thing" a try. Some evangelists even go as far as say that he will make you wealthy. But when the promises of persecution and suffering come they fall away from the faith. When things don't change for the better or their idea of "happiness" is not met they stop doing the "Jesus-thing" and consider themselves no longer Christians. They become bitter and feel as though they have been lied to, and rightfully so. Most have had what could be seen as false-conversions. In practice, this concept is manifest when many evangelists report thousands upon thousands of conversions but upon followup, very few new believers can be found attending regular worship.
Ray Comfort has a very good exposition on this teaching and I highly recommend that any believer take time to listen to the sermon entitled "Hell's Best Kept Secret".
Amen!!
God can, will, and does use all of His creation to draw His children to Him. Many of the pagan practices were just people who, having God’s law written on their hearts, were seeking truth, though they did not understand who and what truth is. God can, will and does use that genuine desire to know, worship and love Him to reveal himself. God’s creation is good, using any of it to bring people to know Him is not an affront to Him.
Pastor Warren’s challenge was to try placing your trust in Jesus. Those who look to this world for comfort, freedom and salvation will not find it here. His proposal was not like those who hawk wealth building programs. His proposal was that when one trusts Jesus, one finds relief from the burdens of this world so that no matter the conditions of this world, one is happy, content, peaceful and free.
Pastor Warren hasn’t learned to deal with a masterdebater like Combs.
The line Combs is using is very common...Make the opposing side state something that alienates most of the audience. The way to deal with it is to call him on it, then state what the fact is.
“The Truth is, all who reject Jesus are doomed to separation from God for eternity.”
The difference is that Combs tried to make Warren responsible for everyone’s condemnation, and the Truth is that everyone is responsible for their own eternity, based on their choice to accept or reject Christ.
He was quoting from Deuteronomy 6:16, "Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.