“ Great Sermon! ” Alfred - yes, James White has a two-part point-by-point rebuttal of Stanley's 8/28 and 9/4 sermons (while playing it) on his Dividing Line which is excellent. He makes the same points I have indicated below plus many others. History is repeating itself - Spurgeon went through the exact same thing in 19th century England - pragmatic churches that eventually degraded into full-blown liberalism. We now see where England is today.
“ Great Sermon! ” Thanks for the reminder of the 9/11 tragedy. It was just before 10 p.m. here in Japan when I came home from an English lesson at our church. I first thought the TV was showing some odd special effects from a science fiction movie. After the repeated showing of the attacks on TV we had no idea what would happen next and what the world would be like when we woke up in the morning.
“ Great Sermon! ” Thanks guys for standing up for the centrality of the Bible. Three thoughts:
1. His easy-believism theology is driving his thinking - he does not consider that maybe the reason people are "de-converting" after growing up in the church and running into college professors is because they are looking for an excuse to disbelieve - that their hearts were never changed in the first place, and are therefore inclined toward believing the skepticism.
2. He is capitulating to the skeptics and assuming there is no way to be able to be taught how to defend a Christian worldview (with the Bible as the central authority) in Sunday schools - I agree there is a lack of this teaching in many churches but that does not mean it is the Bible's fault.
3. He loses his credibility by being so wrong about the facts of church history. The early Christians had a Bible - the Septuagint, and yes they knew how to read it. How did the early church fathers defend against early theological heresies without Scripture? Your comments about the development of the canon and how Stanley misconstrues it are spot on.
“ Great Sermon! ” "A little leaven leavens the whole loaf."
If a single man had written a book foretelling the time and manner of Jesus's coming and Jesus had come in conformity with these prophecies, this would carry infinite weight.
But there is much more here. There is a succession of men over a period of 4000 yrs, coming consistently and invariably one after the other, to foretell the same coming; there is an entire people proclaiming it, existing for 4000 yrs to testify in a body to the certainty they feel about it, from which they cannot be deflected by whatever threats and persecutions they may suffer. This is of a quite different order of importance. Blaise Pascal
“ Andy is a false teacher ” Years ago he allowed a man who left his wife for another man continue to serve in his church , and then his dad Charles allowed him to come on his program to teach, at that time I called the program and told them I would no longer be watching Charles Stanley because he allowed his son to conduct a service and failed to reprimand him according to scripture, both false teachers
“ Great Sermon! ” Well said! I too disagree with sitting down during the national anthem, however, acknowledge his right to do so. You guys bring up great points, especially our need to remain gospel centered in our approach to this and other issues. Thank you!
“ Great Sermon! ” Good discussion. I believe there is nothing wrong with personal "rules" or "fences" as long as you don't go beyond Biblical authority to bind another's conscience. I think Paul's guidelines in Romans 14 are excellent counsel in how you straddle this line among "gray" areas. I agree that it is wrong to flaunt Christian liberty and this is one of the issues I have with the YRRs - (and I am a Reformed Baptist). Not that they exercise appropriate Christian liberty but that they make a big deal out of it. I do agree that flaunting it sets up a general cultural aversion to personal holiness and may cause others to stumble. I also feel for pastors because they have the burden of wanting to not be extra-Biblical in their counsel to others, but at the same time try to protect them from worldly influences. It is difficult because it is not always clear where the line is. I think "The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards" is an excellent read for anyone interested in the issue of setting up personal rules or standards.
“ Great Sermon! ” Why must we continue to live in our fantasies? I can't believe we got Christians kit gloving Marilyn Manson. Have we gone insane??? This is a man who wants to be remembered as the one responsible for putting an end to Christianity. He quit the church of satan because according to him it was not "satanic enough." In a day when the spirit of anti-christ is becoming more brazenly manifest, he doesn't need any help from Christian libertines looking to "set the record straight". Wake up folks. I was in the music industry and happen to know that that stuff is real and not just gimmicky. And even these are gimmicks, the target audience was not meant to be Christians armed with spiritual ketchup and Heinz 57 sauce for their "meat sacrificed to idols."
“ Great Sermon! ” This is so thought-provoking! America not only has "lost boys", but "lost girls" who are stunted in more ways than one. No conflict, no work, no sacrifice, no commitment, no problem (so they think)! Thanks so much for this message!
“ Great Sermon! ” Very good sermon,
The " whosoever's", are blessed to hear this. I appreciate your ability to state, both Calvinists and Arminian's can disagree and be Christian. I'm afraid that too often, I've stumbled into a conversation with a five point Calvinist and when disagreement comes, I feel like if you can't be persuaded, the Calvinist decides name calling and gracelessness is their last word.
“ Great Sermon! ” Thank you Bro Sean, for explaining being a Christian.
I'm sending your message to serval who think they are Christians ❤️. God Bless You.
“ Great Sermon! ” I live in a small town with one Baptist church and after 50 years of attending they are still trying to feed us make milk. I have had to study on my own and now I don't feel like I have anything in common with the people. No one wants to discuss anything that is deeper than surface knowledge. The church is in trouble because they are not feeding the sheep.....still trying to get the numbers up!
“ Great Sermon! ” What you all do at Berean is special. So few pastors teach scripture. Most simply choose a verse or passage and only then will try to quickly read a commentary and then throw together a message. I have read commentaries on up coming passages that will be preached, only to have the pastor basically regurgitate what I read the night before the service. To me that means that the pastor did not put much time or thought into what they are teaching. I thinking that many pastors today do not know how to teach.
“ Great Sermon! ” My best friend who was a faith brother in Christ, began to question the authority of the bible. He had reoccurring dreams that he that was new revelation from God but I was something that was outside of scripture. For 3 years he went down a path that he thought was drawing him closer to God but all the while was causing him to arrive at conclusions that were contradicting scriptures. Long story short....this message just answered my prayers for my friend, and opened his eyes to once again see the truth of God.
“ Giving Thanks for What We Know ” Hey, guys, it kinda sounds like you're patting yourselves on the back for what you know when you talk about what you would or wouldn't do. Are you forgetting that, like Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the rest of us, there was a time when you didn't know anything? You had to be taught. Taught how to feed yourself, dress yourself, read, write, think about things (Are you going to jump off of the bridge because everybody else is doing it?), rethink some things (Was that fight really worth the discipline you're now getting?), etc., etc. Don't take credit for what you were taught, for the knowledge that came your way. Give thanks for what you know. Could be Alton Sterling and Philando Castile didn't get that kind of knowledge.
“ Church unity ” Firstly, I agree, Black lives matter is not a biblical group. Aside from that it doesn't matter what we do as Christians, attend your church prayer meetings, podcast, post our thoughts on social media...etc, when we fail to address the unity issue between races, cultures, and class lines, we are impeding the witness of Christ and we are limiting the reflection of the glory of God. There is much opportunity for us to embrace the differences of many people in churches (apart from sin). And we can greatly utilize each difference to glorify God in unity. The harsh truth is this issue has not been solved by Gods people, an evident truth seen on Sunday's in many Churches throughout America and until it is dealt with in our churches, it will never be dealt with in America's streets. In the Bible Paul speak greatly about these divisions that were going on in the church in his day, Jews and Gentiles were divided but the cross united them, we must keep in mind we represent the same cross today through the gospel of Jesus. Are there differences amongst us? Of course and so will there be in heaven, but oneness of purpose doesn't mean sameness of being. That requires us to recognize the unique differences each individual brings to the table for the glory of Christ. All of the rest are moot po
9/14/16 6:52 PM
