“A lot of people just don’t believe it. And I understand that. Maybe the thought is, ‘Hey, maybe they had to come up with some myth about Jesus to give him street cred, you know, later on.’ Maybe that’s where that came from.“It’s interesting, because Matthew gives us a version of the birth of Christ, Luke does, but Mark and John – they don’t even mention it. A lot has been made of that….“You’ve heard me say some version of this a million times, so this will be old if you’ve been around for a while. But see, if somebody can predict their own death and then their own resurrection,
I guess we will wait to hear Eddie give us the rest of the story…that would be fair.But if the guy is really adding a question in the mind of his church regarding the virgin birth – that would be sad________________
“Anyone who listens to all three [sermons in the series] will know that I stand firmly within the orthodox Christian tradition regarding the incarnation of Jesus — including the birth narratives as presented [in] Matthew and Luke.”–Andy Stanley–One should hear the complete sermon before they pull a couple of quotes out in order to attempt to destroy a brother. Context is a good thing.www.patheos.com/blogs/newwineskins/imwithandy/christianindex.org/andy-stanleys-approach-virgin-birth-different-not-wrong/
I’m not going to destroy Andy Stanley.He may do that for himself with such comments.I am very concerned with the doctrine of Christ’s virgin birth.It is a pillar of the gospel and not up for debate________________Charles A. HutchinsSenior Pastor SPWCCongregational Church of Godwww.spwc.church
Hmmm…Eddie has left the building. I wouldn’t hold my breath________________More of Him…less of me.twitter.com/camiracle77www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=691241499&ref=name
Hmmm…Eddie has left the building. I wouldn’t hold my breath. He’ll be back________________
If that is really what Andy is saying regarding the virgin birth – and that is the impression I got as well – it is really sad.Minimizing the virgin birth – what will preachers think of next?<sigh>At least I can count on Joel Osteen________________
Since you failed to read the articles I provided, here is a snippet by a man who was just like you in his assessment before he understood the context:Earlier this week I wrote an editorial titled: “Andy Stanley’s approach to the virgin birth.” I questioned his approach to this vital doctrine of our faith because he seemed to minimize the importance of this miracle. You can read that editorial here.Pastor Stanley was kind enough to contact me and said the sermon I referenced was the first of a three-part series. He then asked if I had heard the other two sermons, to which I replied I had not. He indicated the series was actually an apologetic for the virgin birth of Jesus.Since his contact I have listened to the two additional messages and want to issue an apology for writing an editorial that was not altogether accurate.In the second message Stanley affirmed that God needed Christmas to demonstrate His love for us. He proclaimed, “God sent His Son to pay the price that we owe in such a way that once we embrace the truth of the story we would never ever doubt God’s love. We needed to see it to believe it. He had to be with us so we could know He was for us.”In his third sermon the North Point pastor declared that we needed the virgin birth. He stated, “No one was expecting a virgin birth. It is not critical to the storyline of God sending a Messiah to the Jewish people.“In fact, this was a weird idea. It was a kind of Greek leftover – from Greek mythology. In Greek mythology the Greek gods were always mating with Greek, beautiful, human females in order to have these God-person creatures like Hercules and Helen of Troy whose father was Zeus. The whole idea of gods mating with humans to create these god-human creatures was not Jewish. It was Greek. It was pagan.“Nobody was expecting the virgin birth. It was not critical to the story of the Messiah coming to deliver the nation of Israel; and making this up doesn’t help the story.”Stanley continued, “For Matthew to have manufactured the storyline doesn’t help the story. It hurts it. It’s weird. Nobody is going to believe it. The Messiah doesn’t need to be born of a virgin. Nobody is going to believe that. The only reason this story made it into the narrative is because it is true.“The reason people rallied around Jesus was not because of the virgin birth, but the resurrection. After his death there was not a group of people who said, ‘Well, I think we can keep the dream alive because of the virgin birth.’ Nobody said that because after He died they expected Him to stay dead.
You are choosing to NOT listen in favor of making a ridiculous statement that has NO BEARING on him, his sermon in its entirety and without just reading Tom Sterbens accurate light on this and PB’s accurate report. To post, merely getting the sensational headline, without going to the core of the matter is just sick, anti-Christ, religiously demonic crud…the devil is your biggest fan________________Live an epiK life!Discover More…www.refocusing.orgA Mission in Formationwww.bluewaterinthekeys.com
Hey! Don’t shoot me.I read it in the AJC.Shoot them. If he has corrected his error, then good for him________________Charles A. HutchinsSenior Pastor SPWCCongregational Church of Godwww.spwc.church
My humor is too subtle________________
I don’t claim to know a lot about Andy Stanley, but from what I know it seems to me that he is saying to the unsaved that they should come into salvation and they will worry about what he considers to the lesser details later. Am I right?If so, then he needs to make sure he knows for sure what the lesser details are. Many consider the virgin birth of Jesus to be an essential doctrine. If he is laying a foundation, he needs to make sure that foundation is solid. What seems to be less in importance can shed light on the bigger picture.
So, there were A LOT of stories in the AJC. If you’d even READ that story and were not just trying to stir up the devil, you wouldn’t have posted. It’s of NO KINGDOM VALUE to incite negativity against a brother who is getting it done.It’s despicable. As I said, the devil is your greatest fan. Revel in it.This story was in the AJC as well, why didn’t you post it? It has MORE RELEVANCE.Why Americans refrigerate their eggs but Europeans don’t http://www.ajc.com/news/local/why-americans-refrigerate-their-eggs-but-europeans-don/BTZbaJBifoynaM5tMb283N/________________Live an epiK life!Discover More…www.refocusing.orgA Mission in Formationwww.bluewaterinthekeys.com
I am reading the comments here and noticed Phil’s comment most of all. I think that is the harshest i have read from Phil.I do not know Andy, I have heard him on his dad;s program years ago. Charles was one of my favorite TV ministers as I was losing my hearing, I could understand him best.I am doing something I haven’t done in years, I just opened a can of Van Camps Pork and beans. I like ’em. Probably some don’t.sorta like preachers, some I don’t care for, but as long as they are reaching folks I never could and in ways I would never think of, God Bless ’em.I do understand where Sheepdog is coming from. Read some headlines and statements that are out of context, and our mind goes a wandering and wondering!The comments have made me think though…… ________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
Well folks it’s hit the Facebook fan now.The bottom line is the man said what he said.If he has come forward and corrected his misstatement then I say.NACHO GRANDE!ps someone give phil a valium ________________Charles A. HutchinsSenior Pastor SPWCCongregational Church of Godwww.spwc.church
He did NOT make a misstatement!! He is creating avenues of faith for skeptics.(Also my last word.________________Live an epiK life!Discover More…www.refocusing.orgA Mission in Formationwww.bluewaterinthekeys.com
Eddie will get over Trump winning the election, he has left before. He will want to tell us about all his marathons and come on back.We ain’t much but we are all you got.
He is creating avenues of faith for skeptics.________________Charles A. HutchinsSenior Pastor SPWCCongregational Church of Godwww.spwc.church
Well Tom ol son, maybe the Sheepdog just ain’t edumacated enough to understand such deeeeeeep thoughts. ________________Charles A. HutchinsSenior Pastor SPWCCongregational Church of Godwww.spwc.church