MARTY SAMPSON, HILLSONG
Posted on 08/13/2019 9:05:24 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Marty Sampson, the worship music writer who recently revealed he is “genuinely losing” his faith, clarified that while he hasn’t “renounced” his Christianity, it’s nevertheless on “incredibly shaky ground.”
Sampson, known for penning lyrics for Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United, Delirious and Young & Free, responded to a Christian Post op-ed titled “Reaching out to a Hillsong leader who is renouncing his faith." In it, columnist Michael Brown said he prays Sampson “would have the integrity of heart to seek the truth earnestly, with humility and passion, and that all others with questions will put those questions on the table.”
After emphasizing he truly wants answers to his questions, Sampson admitted he’s “struggling with many parts of the belief system that seem so incoherent with common human morality.”
“If most of humankind had a choice, would we not rid the world of the scourge of cancer? Or sickness and disease? Why doesn’t God do such a thing? Of course there is an answer to this question, but the majority of a typical Christian’s life is not spent considering these things,” he wrote. “Questions such as these remain in the too hard basket.”
The artist, who has been with the worship team at Hillsong since he was 16, clarified he wouldn’t say he has “renounced” his faith but would say “it’s on incredibly shaky ground.”
“I have and continue to analyze the arguments of prominent Christian apologists and biblical scholars, and am open minded enough to consider the arguments of atheist debaters and debaters from other religions,” he continued. “If the truth is true, it will remain so regardless of my understanding of it. If I search it out, surely it will become even more clearly seen as the truth that it is. Examining a diamond more closer reveals the quality of the diamond. As I am still breathing, I am still learning.”
Despite his long history with Hillsong Church, Sampson emphasized his thoughts are his own and do not represent any church, adding, “If anything all I have ever received from Hillsong is support and the opportunity to follow my own mind, and they have always taught what I perceive to be sound Pentecostal doctrine.”
“You cannot have well-educated opinions without educating yourself well,” he concluded. “This is a window into my thought processes at the present time.”
Sampson made headlines this week after announcing in a since-deleted post on Instagram, “I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me. Like, what bothers me now is nothing. I am so happy now, so at peace with the world. It’s crazy.”
"Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send four billion people to a place, all ‘coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it," he wrote.
The "All I Need Is You” writer said he’s “not in” anymore and desires “genuine truth."
"Not the ‘I just believe it’ kind of truth.Science keeps piercing the truth of every religion. Lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of God. Got so much more to say, but for me, I keeping it real. Unfollow if you want, I’ve never been about living my life for others.”
“All I know is what’s true to me right now, and Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point,” he concluded.
In his CP op-ed, Brown challenged Sampson’s claims that “no one” is talking about challenges to the Christian faith, discussing difficult intellectual issues, or engaging the apparent contradictions or interpretative problems in the Bible.
He also encouraged Sampson, “Don’t be afraid to ask your honest questions and to follow the truth where it leads.”
“I’ve done that for the last 47+ years, being challenged by rabbis from my earliest days as a believer and having done all my academic studies in secular institutions. As a result, I love the Lord with all my heart and with all my mind. He is the God of truth, and His Word is truth,” Brown wrote.
“So, don’t be afraid to ask your honest questions and to follow the truth where it leads. Just don’t do it superficially, and be sure to seek God first and foremost. And let’s pray for Marty’s repentance, restoration, and more.”
Responding to a comment on whether he really is seeking answers or is just making excuses, Sampson said, "I really do want answers. I don’t want judgement. If it comes however, who am I to judge?"
Sampson has both written and sang worship songs with various Hillsong legends from Darlene Zschech to Joel Houston and Brooke Ligertwood. Some of his most recent popular songs include “Forever" and “Came to My Rescue."
He sounds like a naive 13 year old girl who’s never cracked open a bible.
Marty has already cashed in.
He now realizes that he will have to give up his gig with the band if he renounces his faith. That brings him far too much money and attention to give that up.
“Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send four billion people to a place, all ‘coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it,” he wrote.
His comments about suffering in the world are key here. It is likely because he was fed a steady diet of charismatic signs and wonders nonsense that he is now so disillusioned as he discovers that we do not have the power to heal everyone or to create a paradise on Earth. I’ve seen friends of mine who were deeply into the “name it claim it”, positive confession “gospel” become utterly crushed, doubting their faith, simply because they ignored what God actually said and created a self-centered, fantasy version of Christianity. When bad things ultimately happened to them, they couldn’t handle it because they were led to believe that the Christian life was all rainbows and unicorns, and was about their own “power” to make whatever they desired happen.
This guy should renounce the distorted false “gospel” he was taught at Hillsong, and embrace the true Gospel.
I get turned off by all the christian self- help books, I never read them.
I wish the gentleman the best. However, I’m inclined to agree with the comments from Mr. Brown: Mr. Sampson’s comments sound like he’s never paid attention to anything going around him in his life, never read a book or a newspaper or a general-interest website.
Oh ye of little faith. Something go wrong in your life and you abandon it.
I kinda wonder how Christ looks from where he’s been standing.
Along similar lines, I’ve been thinking about this message “from Jesus” about Judas, who is a spiritual curiosity for me:
I had opened so many ways for him to take, all leading to Me, but no sooner had he started one than he came out of it when he would realise I had laid it for him, for to sin he added rebellion, heaping abuses in his heart for Me, his God, when he realised that My Kingdom was not an earthly kingdom in earthly glory;I understand that inner battle and have lost it more than a few times myself.he shut his heart and cut out our bonds and estranged himself immediately from Me;
his sense of what is righteous or not was darkened and obeyed the ruler who governs the air;
Thank YOU, Holy Spirit, for helping me with my faith and belief.
“And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.”
“He sounds like a naive 13 year old girl who’s never cracked open a bible.”
EXACTLY!!!!
“Sampson admitted he’s “struggling with many parts of the belief system that seem so incoherent with common HUMAN MORALITY.”
Common HUMAN Morality is warped at best in contrast to an Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Perfect, Righteous, Holy God. God gave the best of Heaven when he sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty of SIN.
Common Human Morality!? What we think is “right” and “just” is as a filthy rag compared to The Holy God.
Isaiah 64:6 King James Version (KJV) 6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
I have bad news for him,....It gets worse before it gets better. Another bad news,....he may have to die for his faith. All of the Apostles except John died a violent death. John spent his life in prison.
I KNOW their is a God because He talks with me, answers my prayers, has proven Himself over and over. I teach Sunday school and have Bible study in my home on the Sabbath. Reading and studying the Bible strengthens my faith and proves that the Holy Spirit wrote every word.
My advice to this individual would be to pray for more faith. Pray for a divine appointment. Pray for an encounter with Jesus. Pray that scales from his eyes would be removed. There are many things he could do if it's not too late. IMO, he doesn't read his Bible and relies on others,(who might be weaker than he is) to explain the faith. He probably has sin in life that he needs to repent from. I know many people today that go to church, have been "saved" for many years, but the morals of today are clashing with their life in Christ so they are confused trying to adopt today's morals into God's morals. They may know a homosexual and they are "good" people and they can't resolve the dichotomy of them burning in Hell from a loving God. They must be taught about the sovereignty of God. We are too busy calling Him "Daddy" and preaching Grace to understand that He is a Just Judge. We don't get to bargain with God. God is good, all the time, but that doesn't mean you will win the lottery and cure cancer. Our life here on earth will be forgotten in a millisecond when we are called home. This is NOT our home. All of this will burn in the end. If we are still living for today on earth, we will never want to go home. God says to "Fear Not!" I've asked people before if the Antichrist had your child with a sword on his neck, would you take his mark to save them? I'm hoping to open their eyes as to the commitment they are making to Christ when they take His name. I had one tell me that God would give him grace to take the mark and save his child. I quoted to him "If you deny me before men, I will deny you before the Father. There are also verses in Revelation about dying a horrible death with plague and burning in hell, but he didn't know these things. He had spent his life in church and was a deacon, but didn't understand this. He later went to seminary and is a preacher today. That is what's wrong with Christianity today.
If he had a real encounter with God to be saved, nothing could cause him to fall away.
Has he ever read the Book of Job? Among other lessons from that book, one would be that God is probably not going to give man a detailed explanation of His ways. He is still God, the creator of man and everything else, though.
“Hillsong Barney and the Spasmodic Xylophones”
“was about their own “power” to make whatever they desired happen”
Which is actually witchcraft, not Christianity.
If we could help ourselves, we wouldn’t need Jesus :)
Interesting.
So....gay, I guess. Whatev..
"for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; . . Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit." 1 Thess 4:1-8
Where did it say he’s gay?
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