Emergent Monday: Bible? What Bible?

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; (2 Timothy 3:16)

Except when emergent superstar Andy Stanley is in da house. Then the bible must be kept under wraps, hidden from view, and never quoted. Well... you can quote from the bible, but you can't say where the quote came from. For those of you that haven't heard the name Andy Stanley, he's the son of Dr. Charles Stanley and the man who called atheist apostate Barak Hussien Obama our "Pastor In Chief". Although you don't hear a lot from him, Andy Stanley is a heavy hitter in the Emergent Church. While he claims to not be a part of the Emergent Church Andy Stanley has been a conduit for New Age contemplative poison to infiltrate the church counting cult leader Steven Furtick and counts New Age preachers Bill Hybels and Louie Giglio as friends.

Andy Stanley is a master communicator, but if you don't get lost in the drone of words you'll find out he's not a master at theology. When Jesus commanded us to love each other (John 13:34), Andy Stanley instead stands in front of thousands of people and preaches the joy of hate:

"Hey, if you're new to church or Christianity, you will love this guy, because Paul hated Christians. If you hate Christians, Paul's your guy. Paul hated them so much he wanted to put them in jail. I bet you know Christians you wish you could have arrested." (Andy Stanley)

In a sermon Stanley told his congregation of a couple with a young daughter who divorced when the wife discovered that the husband was in a homosexual sexual affair with another man. The woman then insisted that her former husband and his gay partner move to another congregation. They didn't leave the congregation but moved to another location in the same North Point goat pen megachurch. There the gay couple volunteered together as part of a “host team.” The woman later told Andy Stanley that her former husband and his partner were now involved as volunteers in the other congregational location.

Stanley then explained in his sermon that he had learned that the former husband’s gay partner was still married. Stanley then explained that the partner was actually committing adultery, and that the adultery was incompatible with his service on a host team. Stanley told the two men that they could not serve on the host team so long as the one man was still married. He later told of the former wife’s decision not to live in bitterness, and of her initiative to bring the whole new family structure to a Christmas service. This included the woman, her daughter, her former husband, his gay partner, and his daughter. He concluded by telling of Christ’s death for sinners and told the congregation that Jesus does not condemn them, even if they cannot or do not leave their life of sin. (Source) 

Am I the only one that's missing something here? Does anyone else notice that there's at least one more sin that should be addressed? What happened to the command "Go and sin no more" (John 5:1-15) (John 8:3-11) Or maybe

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:1-2)

Silly me! These come from the bible, which appears to have been outlawed in Andy Stanley's presence. In a recent interview with Christianity Astray Today Andy Stanley informs us that he intentionally assumes that people in his congregation are are biblically illiterate, so therefore he doesn't reference his bible quotes. He may quote the bible, but he won't say "The bible says..." or give an actual bible verse. Having looked at Mr. Stanley's theology I can understand why: North Point Church is starving the sheep to feed the goats. 

Mr. Stanley says it’s more effective for pastors and ministers to say things like “Paul says” or “Jesus tells us” when preaching God's word and that avoiding saying “the Bible says” because this can help keep skeptics engaged in sermons. My question to Mr. Stanley is:

WHY ARE THERE SKEPTICS IN YOUR WORSHIP SERVICE???

As I've said before, if that statement makes Christian worship service sound like an exclusive club, that's because it is. We go out into the world to spread the gospel to the unbelievers, we come together in a Christian worship service for worship, education, edification, support, correction, love and fellowship. Unless moved by the Holy Spirit an unbeliever wouldn't, and couldn't understand what is going on.

And if you were upset by that you're really going to need a crying towel now because I'm going to state the obvious: by holding back the bible Andy Stanley is denying the very word of God. 

If Mr. Stanley stood in front of a congregation and said "that Paul fellow said we should read scripture in public until he returns" that would cause a LOT of confusion because Paul's not coming back, a believer would know that an unbeliever probably would not, but it is in the Bible and if Mr. Stanley had let the believers in his audience (in this case a more descriptive word than congregation) know the reference they would know that this was Paul telling Timothy that he was headed back to him and was giving Timothy instructions on what to do while he was enroute. (1 Timothy 4:13) But Mr.Stanley's flock wouldn't know this unless they were actively reading the bible, and since Mr. Stanley is not actually encouraging that the bible be read, his flock in all probability will never find out. What Mr. Stanley said was accurate but the context was wrong. He's now got an audience waiting on the Second Coming of Paul. This is called "starving the sheep"

Now if for some reason Mr. Stanley got in front of his audience and said "A long time ago King Lemuel said that wine is fine, so is hard liquor." this is technically true, but theologically a lie as in Proverbs 31:5-9 there are special conditions to be met for either, but could a new believer even find that? No matter, it sounds good, whoo hoo! Let's Party! This is called "feeding the goats"

What can you call someone who considers themselves a preacher but considers the Bible and "Unnecessary Roadblock" to Christianity. He freely admits that no one has ever been offended when he says "The Bible says..." but he tells other preachers not to say "The Bible says..." because it may turn someone off. (Hint to Mr. Stanley: if someone is turned off by you saying "The Bible says..." in a Christian worship service, they're only there for the loud music and the coffee)

If the bible is a stumbling block in a Christian worship service, it's not the bible, it's the teacher... or lack thereof that is the stumbling block, and a proper church with proper church discipline would correct that. And Mr. Stanley has just qualified himself as a 'lack thereof' by being embarrassed to share with his flock the actual word of God.

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

BTW Mr. Stanley, this was said by that Jesus guy you mention on occasion

It was written down by some fellow named Mark

Chapter 8

Verse 38

Hope you didn't trip over that.