Al Mohler on “Andy Stanley’s departure from Biblical Christianity”

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As for ‘quieter middle space,’ depending on what you see as the poles in of the “culture war on LGBTQ” I believe there really is a quieter, and biblically faithful middle space. It doesn’t look like Stanley has found it, and Mohler doesn’t seem to be looking for it.

To me, some marks of this more biblical ‘middle space’ would be:

• Less fretting over one sin relative to all the others in the Bible.
• Less focus on what’s wrong with The People Who Are Not Us and more focus on what ails the people of God and our need for faithfulness in heart, mind and strength… ways we ourselves need to improve.
• Messaging that emphasizes the fact that we’re all sinners in need redemption, and the church is for sinners.
• Clarity that while the Bible clearly rejects lots of sexual behavior that society increasingly promotes, all of us humans are broken in multiple ways, and being broken is not a sin. The church is for broken people.
• Clarity that the exercise of political power and other forms of social pressure is not going to win the culture war. The only way to do that is to win the debate over how humans thrive (It’s certainly true that lots of genuine conversions to the faith would help with that.)
• Emphasis on the fact that Christian faithfulness means doing God’s will God’s way. How we run the race is more important than “winning” (especially since the latter is ultimately guaranteed already).

I’ve been reading 1 Peter a lot lately. It’s amazing how well it fits our times, though parts definitely align better with believers in places China, parts of Africa, parts of the Middle East, parts of India, where Christians are actively persecuted.

Still, it has so much to say about where our hearts should be in society that is increasingly hostile to our beliefs. (Surprise! It’s almost like the 1st century Roman world had bad sexual ethics and a generally low view of Christian beliefs.)

There are so many attitude words and conduct challenges directly linked to societal hostility to the faith… so it’s a great ‘culture war’ epistle. (If you have Logos app, turn the ESV audio reader on and listen to the epistle a few times while you commute, walk, do chores, whatever. It takes less than 20 minutes. I promise you’ll be blessed and challenged by it.)

I’ve been preaching through 1st Peter and I completely agree Aaron. Such a fitting book for today in our culture. One of the people interviewed on the DBTS blog related that Chinese believers often cite 1st Peter as a favorite book there. It’s helpful for us to back down from the sky-is-falling stuff while still being prepared for cultural shifts that may lead to persecution.

Before he died, Charles Stanley told his son "I couldn't be more proud of you."