"Christianity does not rise or fall based upon our ability to prove that the bible is without error." - Andy Stanley
Strawmen arguments - one of the favorite ploys of the false teacher. No one of sound doctrine is making this argument. It is not our job, nor Andy Stanley's, to PROVE anything! Get over yourself! Pastor, if you approach your work as trying to convince someone, you will fail every time! Your job is to present the gospel and let the Holy Spirit draw the lost, period, full stop. I did not believe in the inerrancy of scripture and then was saved. That is asinine. The things of God were foolishness to me UNTIL I was saved. THEN, I realized by faith that God cannot be wrong and therefore, the bible is inerrant. The absolute truth of scripture is a godsend for us! It clears up all of the murkiness of the world. It removes all of the carnal shades of grey we like to coat our lives in. Christianity rises and falls by the insidious teachings of wolves like Andy Stanley because here is where faith gets shipwrecked. The lost do not need a history lesson. They do not need to understand how the records of the period when Jesus walked the earth were much closer to the actual events then other widely accepted historical facts. This is what was always wrong with people like Ray Comfort trying to debate atheists without "using the bible." Our entire faith is based upon Christ and John 1:1 declares He is His word! People like Andy Stanley and Bill Johnson have spent their ministries trying to dismantle the authority and inerrancy of scripture because deep down they hate the word of God because it exposes them for the frauds they truly are.
"People were following Jesus 300 plus years before the bible was ever assembled." - Andy Stanley"
Another staple of the false teaching style of Andy Stanley is to make folksy, right sounding arguments that if you just dig a little deeper you see are silly. The first point is that we do not follow Jesus because of the bible. We follow Jesus based upon the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to make us born again. It is the belief in the work of Christ and the cross that saves us. It is from that point on that we learn hopefully about the scriptures to further develop us and grow us into the likeness of Christ. Before we were saved, we sought our answers from the world and after, we ought to be pursuing them within the word of God. The entirety of what is today called the bible was written within one generation of the life Christ lived on earth, so the preaching of the gospel was first or secondhand information, not hundreds of years removed. Even Peter referred to the writings of Paul as scripture just 30 years after the crucifixion:
"Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." - 2Peter 3:14-18 (ESV)
As they do the other scriptures. Beloved, the notion that the early church was freewheeling it without the grounding of the word of God is simply inaccurate. Be very very wary of folksy arguments in sermons designed to get you to disbelieve. Realize how dangerous these teachings are. They will lead to untold amounts of people basing their belief that they are saved upon carnal wisdom and the logic of man. Dear Lord, forgive us. The final quote is probably the worst however:
"Is there a case to be made for the inerrancy of scripture? Absolutely and if you give me three weeks of your undivided attention, I can make that case. But is this view of the bible essential in order to be a follower of Jesus, no." - Andy Stanley
The final trait of Stanley false teachings is to try and parse what he just said so he can claim cover from criticism. Those that are in the business of defending heretics will declare, see, he said that there is a case for the inerrancy of scripture! In context of course, this declaration means nothing. Once again, we see Andy insisting that he must convince you of something that can only be gleaned supernaturally through God. The apex of this horrible teaching is his declaration that we do not need to believe in the inerrancy of scripture to be a follower of Jesus and that is blasphemous heresy. Jesus Himself declared quite matter of factly - why do you bother to call me Lord if you do not do as I say. We can only assume Andy's response would be that he believes one of the gospels is a true statement of events that actually happened. Realize that his statement here essentially says that one can be a follower of Christ but not believe anything He actually said! He will be producing a congregation filled with people who do not actually believe that all scripture is God-breathed and useful for training in righteousness. A church filled with people who claim they follow Christ; they just do not have any faith in what He has said. Wow.
