Posted on 07/09/2023 5:07:46 PM PDT by Morgana
In the final part of this eight-part series on what one must believe to be a Christian, Stanley flat out argues that we must not insist that Christians believe in the inerrancy of the bible in order to be a Jesus follower, saying that demanding potential converts believe the bible is true and without error is an unnecessary obstacle to them coming to Christ.
(In) every generation, new and novel ideas (like biblical inerrancy) get woven into certain expressions of the Christian faith and into certain traditions, new and novel ideas. Some are harmless, some, we’ve discovered, are a little bit harmful. And oftentimes, these new and novel ideas get elevated to the status of doctrine, or dogma, or ‘these are essentials, you got to believe this’. And if you reject some of these new and novel ideas, you’re not even considered a Christian anymore. You can’t even be a part of that faith tradition, you can’t be a part of that church.
And they elevate these new and novel ideas to the point where they’re at the same level with the deity of Christ and you know, some of the things that we all know are essential.
And when this happens, when non-essentials begin to characterize or define a group of churches or church or denomination, thoughtful, honest people of faith, thoughtful, honest people sometimes feel like ‘you know what, I gotta I gotta step back from my church, I’ve got to step back from my faith tradition, I’ve got to step away from my denomination, I still believe in God. And I, I still believe in Jesus. But I’m not sure that approach is the approach.’
His goal is to draw people back by giving them a pass to not believe the parts of the bible they don’t agree with.
If you left the Christian faith because of anything in or about the Bible, if you’ve walked away from faith or you’re considering walking away from faith, because of anything in or about the Bible, I want you to pay so close attention. Because at the end today, I want to invite you back.’
Pointing out that he studied under Norman Geisler, author of the book ‘Inerrancy,’ Stanley recalls that after he received blowback for preaching his infamous sermon series Who Needs God, resulting in evangelical leaders “saying some not-so-nice things about me,” Norman Geisler called him up to encourage him, telling him, “That’s good apologetic preaching. People just don’t understand apologetics, and they don’t know what the bike is. You need to keep going.”
Stanley explains his apologetic:
The bottom line in terms of what a person must believe about the bible in order to be a follower of Jesus, it’s really this simple: you just have to believe that Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John are reliable accounts of actual events. That’s it. …because if you do, then you will also believe that Jesus, who claimed to be the son of God and our king, and everything we’ve stated in this series follows from that one idea.”
He notes that Christian apologists always build their case on the resurrection of Jesus, not the inspiration of the Bible, and that “our faith does not rise or fall on an errorless text” or a bible without error, but rather Christianity rises or falls on the identity of Jesus. He further notes:
When you watch a Christian apologist, somebody’s contending for the faith, debate and atheist, christian apologists always build their case on the resurrection of Jesus, not the inspiration of the Bible. Because these educated men and women understand the foundation of our faith isn’t an errorless text. It is the event of the resurrection.
“There is no single modern view of inspiration that is essential to following Jesus, and when the church elevates a specific definition of inspiration in order to make it the litmus test for who is or isn’t a Christian, that’s a problem.
This is tragic…when a specific view of inspiration is elevated to the status of doctrine, the bible becomes an obstacle to faith to some.
As we’ve said so many times, the foundation of our faith is an event that launched the movement that assembled the Bible.
He rejects the idea that “an error in any part of it undermines the credibility of all of it” saying that “the ‘all or nothing’ view is mistaken, and it is unnecessary, and it creates an unnecessary offramp of faith for some people. It sets people up for an unnecessary crisis of faith.”
“So is the Bible important? Extraordinarily important. But while the Bible is not the foundation of our faith, it is certainly extraordinarily relevant to our faith. But, and this is my point, this is what I want you to hear today. There is no single modern view of inspiration that is essential to following Jesus. I want to read that again. There is no single modern view of inspiration.”
Earlier this year Stanley said “these four ancient first-century documents that depict the life and teaching of Jesus, if any one of these, not even all of them, if any one of these is a reliable account of actual events, even if it’s mostly reliable, then if that’s true, then you need to, and I need to sit up straight and pay attention.”
Stanley previously preached in 2016 in his Who needs God sermon series:
“If the Bible is the foundation of our faith, it’s all or nothing. Christianity becomes a ‘fragile house of cards’ religion. Christianity becomes a fragile house of cards that comes tumbling down when we discover that perhaps the walls of Jericho didn’t. … What your students have discovered, and if you read broadly, you’ve discovered, it is next to impossible to defend the entire bible. But if your Christianity hangs by the thread of proving that everything in the bible is true, you may be able to hang onto it, but your kids and your grandkids and the next generation will not.”
He concludes with a discussion from Acts 15 and the edict from James to the churches, calling inerrancy an obstacle to belief like circumcision was, and it must not be insisted on.
“(James) says, Therefore, having heard both sides, it is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Why would we make it unnecessarily difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God?
Why make something that is not an essential to their faith an essential which becomes an obstacle? He’s talking about his own Bible.
‘James, are you saying that God’s law as as revealed through Moses is a potential obstacle to faith in Jesus?’ And James and Peter and Paul would say, ‘Yeah, let’s not make it difficult, we should not make it difficult.’
And we shouldn’t either. The Bible should never be an obstacle to someone’s faith and decision to follow Jesus.”
Bonus: The end result of Stanley giving his congregants, church leaders, and pastors permission to reject biblical inerrancy:
As a protestant, I always thought it was interesting that other protestants would argue that a bible assembled by Catholics would be considered perfect.
The inspired Word if God has errors?
Of
Stanley and AI go perfectly hand-in-hand. Can’t stand that hypocrite POS. The Lord gives a very harsh word for those who claim to know Jesus…His warning at the end “depart from me for I never knew you.” YIKES!!! Those are stinging words from God Almighty.
“ALL Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2Timothy 3:16,17
Rabbi Tovia Singer points out the many, many, many errors of the New Testament.
https://www.youtube.com/@ToviaSinger1/videos
2 Timothy 3:16. Just for the fools, I guess.
This guy is laying down pavement for the wide road, and leading a crew to hell while doing it.
“As a protestant, I always thought it was interesting that other protestants would argue that a bible assembled by Catholics would be considered perfect.”
It never dawned on all of you were your holy book and entire religion even came from? When I was protestant I knew. I knew books had been thrown out of the bible that is one of the reason I was drawn to the Catholic Church. I believe it was wrong to throw anything out of the Bible.
Define “inspired word of God”. Is your pastor inspired? why do we not staple his sermon notes to the end of the bible?
And Paul, when discussing the length of men and women’s hair, was invoking Hippocrates, who was found to be grossly in error on the subject.
I see it this way: The bible is not “the” Word of God but, rather, it “contains” the word of God. Start with the stuff in red and then look to the Old Testament.
I’ll bet he does believe in Andy Stanley inerrancy, though.
Define “all scripture”. And define “God breathed” focusing on the meaning of the original koine Greek words used.
The church didn’t create the Bible.
We received it from the prophets and apostles who were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
In the same way that Israel knew what is canon, so does the NT church.
Satan’s first message, “hath God said?” More direct line from Satan to Andy Stanley than judaizers to Biblical inerrancy.
The Bible should never be an obstacle to someone’s faith and decision to follow Jesus.”
What does God say on the matter?
Rom_11:8 As the Scriptures say, “God has put them into a deep sleep. To this day He has shut their eyes so they do not see, and closed their ears so they do not hear.”
I know people who read the book and it was a map they understood, thereby taking paths in the directions that Jesus would prefer for them.
I know people who took directions that Jesus would prefer for them, and along the way, these people encountered the book and began to connect the dots between their paths and the lessions in the book.
Well said.
Interesting indeed-—
I 👍 agree.
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.