Can you love Jesus and reject His Word?

Andy Stanley, pastor of Atlanta’s North Point Community Church which averages 36,000 people per week across 6 campuses, recently presented a 3-part series of messages. In the series, he teaches that the Old Testament and the New Testament contradict each other, and that Christians should not ask “What does the Bible say?” but “What does the New Testament say?” or “What does Jesus say?”, and that we should not look to the Old Testament or the Ten Commandments for Christian norms.

An instinctive reaction might be to simply label Stanley as a dangerous false teacher. But to be able to respond graciously and effectively, it’s helpful to try to understand his motivation, and show that a stance that honors the entirety of God’s Word answers his concerns more effectively than his proposal, which actually has been shown to empty the churches faster, rather than stem the tide of youth exiting the church...keep reading

Matt Waymeyer "The Pastor's Mandate"

I've posted this before. But it's always relevant, and perhaps especially now.

James White - China, Union Theological Seminary etc

White discusses some issues I've been following.

Dealing With the Best Arguments

One thing I find frustrating re eschatology debates is when someone attacks another system's worst proponents and/or arguments. Along the same lines is the broad-brush questioning of motives for belief in a particular view. Obviously in this case I have the pretribulational rapture in mind.

One of my favorite pastor-writers (Sinclair Ferguson) had a woeful chapter on Christ's return in his otherwise reasonably good book "Ichthus." It was dismissive at best. Dr Ferguson ought to have dedicated more time and engaged his friend John MacArthur's eschatological arguments, rather than scooping from the bottom of the barrel. Or at best, left the matter alone.

It's tempting for all of us to take shots at other views on eschatology by attacking the worst examples of its defenses. It's far better to engage the best arguments while not being dogmatic. And let's not blithely impute motives to people who disagree with us. Some of us have studied the different views. We tentatively hold to what we believe (e.g., the rapture) because that is our best understanding of how Scripture informs us -  not because we "fear tribulation."

Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics

The Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics now has a dedicated Website. Note also that it has a blog section. Many thanks to Mike Stallard for getting it set up.