Problems With Rick Warren's Statements In His Beliefnet Interview

While people may agree with what Rick Warren said in his interview on Beliefnet, there's a lot I certainly disagree with. He is slick and unless you listen carefully and know what else he has said, you may be fooled into thinking he's not that dangerous.

The quotes of his are in italics and then I respond.

That if God wanted to…, communicate to ants, he would have become an ant. If he’d wanted to communicate with cows, he would have become a cow. But he wanted to communicate to human beings so he became one of us.

Scripture says: Heb 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ came to do three things. He came to have my past forgiven, you get a purpose for living and a home in Heaven. That’s the big difference between Christianity and other religions. The difference between Works and Grace or Do and Done….That’s the big difference between Christianity and other religions. The difference between Works and Grace or Do and Done.

Note he didn't talk about glorifying and worshipping Christ Jesus for forever (Eph. 1). Its all about Self. He also didn't mention Scripture.

Warren has said:

“I happen to know people who are followers of Christ in other religions.” —Rick Warren Aspen Ideas Festival, The Aspen Institute, July 6, 2005, “Discussion: Religion and Leadership,” with David Gergen and Rick Warren

“...You may be Catholic or Protestant or Buddhist or Baptist or Muslim or Mormon or Jewish or Jain, or you have no religion at all. I’m not interested in your religious background. Because God did not create the universe for us to have religion. He came for us to have a relationship with him.” —Rick Warren United Nations, Interfaith Prayer Breakfast, September 2005

Rick Warren said on Hannity’s show this year, on how to get to heaven: “Give as much of yourself as you understand to as much as you understand about me and then keep growing in it.”

To the question (the question itself reveals a wrong view of unbelief as if its merely a mistake, but I digress): So why wouldn’t he if we get to the gates of heaven and say “I didn’t believe in you. Boy do I have egg on my face,” as it were. “It was a horrible mistake.” Why wouldn’t he forgive that too?

I think that it’s not just a matter of knowledge. I think God’s gonna take care of a matter of… I don’t know about people who don’t know. I really don’t know. I know that the Bible says that Jesus is the way to heaven. I do, I do know that.

To not believe in Jesus Christ means no entry to heaven. To not know means no belief. Its simple. God has indeed revealed Himself to all people and no one is without excuse to worship Him.

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

But again, he is like Graham and Schuller: “I happen to know people who are followers of Christ in other religions.” —Rick Warren

Warren goes on to say:

And we believe that when God speaks to us that’s called inspiration. When Satan speaks to us that’s called temptation. And when I’m talking to myself and I think it’s God, that’s delusion.


Inspiration is not God talking to us. Inspiration is God speaking. Its not about us.

2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Mat 4:4 But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Men are not inspired. HIS Words are inspired. There’s a difference. As John MacArthur points out:

"And just as a footnote, the Bible does not say that the writers were inspired. Paul does not say that. Peter does not say that. What is inspired is the Scripture. The men themselves were not inspired in the sense that they had some supernatural ability which they could use at any point to produce Scripture. The only time they were ever inspired was when God gave them His Word. The rest of the time they spoke independent of any inspiration. And so the Bible knows nothing technically of inspired men, only of inspired words, of God-breathed words."

Warren's source of temptation is also a problem. Scripture about temptation :

Jas 1:14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

I do accept the Bible as a standard of authority and I judge my experience by it not vice versa.

So Scripture is merely “a” standard of authority for Warren. Its certainly not THE standard for him. That's why he can say there are people in other religions that are saved. God says HIS Word is THE Standard:

Is. 8: 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Heb 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Warren goes on....

But going back to this thing about heaven and getting into a perfect place. Let’s say we got a scale of 1 to 100. Let’s put Hitler at zero and Mother Teresa at 100 OK. And Steve you’re at 85 and Larry’s at 65 and I’m at 45. The truth is, some people are better than others, there’s no doubt about it. Some people are more moral than others, they’re nicer, they’re less selfish, less self-centered, things like that. But the truth is, nobody makes [it] to perfection… And so somebody’s got to make up that difference. And that’s the gift I believe Jesus came to – to make up the difference between my zero and my 100 or my 45 and 100 -- somebody’s got to make up that difference.

No one makes up the difference. This smacks entirely of humanism. This assumes there’s some good in people, and what, Jesus makes up for our lack? He’s actually using man as the standard….if someone is 10% good, Jesus adds 90%? Nope. Jesus did NOT come to add to our goodness. This is a denial of the doctrine of Justification which necessitates our total sinfulness.

Scripture says:

Rom 3:10 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;
Rom 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
Rom 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."

Eph 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
Eph 2:2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--
Eph 2:3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.



Rom 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
Rom 4:5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,


Rom 4:7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."

I think my first question[to God when he gets to heaven] would be the question of suffering. I think it’s the unanswerable question. I know why there’s evil in the world. I don’t understand why so much suffering happens to so many innocent people.

For the believer, I think our question will be, “Why did you save me, a wretched sinner?” because we will see His perfect holiness. The question of suffering is really a veiled accusation against God. It demeans His justice and it denies Man’s worthiness of suffering. There is no such thing as innocent people. As Romans 3 and Eph. 2 says, we are ALL born as enemies of God. For the true believer in Christ Jesus Christ, Scripture warns:

1Pe 4:13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

For the believer, suffering is GOOD because it causes us to rely more upon the Lord (see also 2Cor. 1):

Jas 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Also, suffering is a result of the sin that entered Creation. The poor we will always have with us, Jesus said. Injustice occurs because of sin. All kinds of suffering (and let’s be clear, “suffering” is not doing without a larger house or better job, or being fired from a job because we were not good workers, or being rebuked for sin) happen because man is sinful and also because sometimes people make bad decisions.

We know that evil exists because God gives us a free choice. In order for love to be love, it has to be volitional, it has to be voluntary. I can’t say “I love you” unless I have a choice to not love you. He could have made us all puppets. We would have been marionettes. He could have put us on strings and we’d pray five times a day and we’d have no choice.

Since when is love defined by free will? We are born hating God (Rom. 3:10-18), then Scripture goes on to say:

Rom 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
1Jn 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God defines love by what HE did, not that we loved Him. Scripture, as already shown, tells us we were hating God, disobedient to Him, refusing to worship Him. Love is defined by who HE is and what HE did.

Because of our total depravity we cannot love God until we have first been justified and saved, and THEN HE pours HIS love into our hearts, so that we can then love Him.

As for “marionettes” Scripture says:

Php 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Without God working in my will and then helping me do it, I will not do His good pleasure. This is about the believer—how much more the unbeliever needs HIM!

The greatest gift God gave us is also our greatest curse, which is the free will. We are made in God’s image, the Bible says, which means we have the ability to love him or not love him, to reject him or not reject him.

God’s “greated gift” is a curse? Where is that in Scripture? The Bible states that ALL God does is good. HIS gifts are all good:

Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Mat 7:11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

1Ti 4:4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Rick’s view of God’s “greatest gift” which is also accursed apparently, is very man-centered. Scripture says we do NOT have the ability to love God or not reject Him. Instead it says we are born hating HIM:

Rom 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Eph 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
Eph 2:2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--
Eph 2:3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

1Co 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

There is no such thing as being neutral toward God and sin, ever, for any person.

In addition, Rick says we are made in the image of God therefore we can choose to not love Him---how is the choice to sin "being made in the image of God"? God has no choice to sin. Heb 6:18 "so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie...." 1Jn 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." Warren doesn't make sense. But his statements sure reveals his strange view of God.

No body works correctly – we all have problems with our bodies. The weather doesn’t work correctly – tornados and hurricanes and stuff like that. It’s the result of living on a broken planet. That’s why we’re to pray “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” ‘cause in heaven it’s done perfectly.

God’s will is not done most of the time on earth. When people go, “oh, that hurricane must have been God’s will” – baloney! That wasn’t God’s will. God’s will is not done most of the time. If I go out and get drunk and run over a pregnant mother and kill her and her baby, that’s not God’s will, that’s my will.

Well then the baby, according to Warren, goes to heaven. How is that bad? His theology makes no sense.

Contrary to Rick’s god, the true God of Scripture takes credit for the weather, as it is His tool to do His bidding:

Exo 9:18 Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

Job 38:22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?

Psa 78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost.

Psa 105:32 He gave them hail for rain, and fiery lightning bolts through their land.

Psa 148:7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, 8 fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word!

Because God is Sovereign and Creator, He does as He wishes with the weather. The Flood is a good example of this, as is the drought of three years during Isaiah’s time. God’s is actively bringing about His plan---His plan revealed is called prophecy. It seems that Rick has issues with this.

God is truly in control of His whole creation:

Ps. 33: 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. 9 For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. 10 The LORD foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. 11 But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.

Dan 2:20 Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. Dan. 2 21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;

Warren also said:

And I think that one day, everyone of us is gonna stand before God and he’s not gonna say, “What religion were you? Were you Jewish? Were you Christian? Were you Buddhist? Baptist?” I don’t think he’s gonna say, “What church did you go to?” I think he’s gonna say first thing, first, “What did you do with my son who I sent to earth? Did you ever really get to know him? Did you even check him out? Did you trial test faith in him?” You know, “What did you do?” It’s about a relationship not a religion.

Remember, Rick has already stated:

“I happen to know people who are followers of Christ in other religions.” —Rick Warren Aspen Ideas Festival, The Aspen Institute, July 6, 2005, “Discussion: Religion and Leadership,” with David Gergen and Rick Warren

“...You may be Catholic or Protestant or Buddhist or Baptist or Muslim or Mormon or Jewish or Jain, or you have no religion at all. I’m not interested in your religious background. Because God did not create the universe for us to have religion. He came for us to have a relationship with him.” —Rick Warren United Nations, Interfaith Prayer Breakfast, September 2005

Also, Rick signed the unity letter to the Muslims, declaring that Christians and Muslims worship the true God.

On page 34 of his PDL book, Warren says, “God won’t ask about your religious background or doctrinal views. The only thing that will matter is, did you accept what Jesus did for you and did you learn to love and trust him?”

Which Jesus? Which God? Accept what, exactly, about Jesus? If God asks people if they "checked out Jesus" and they rejected Him (this assumes people are neutral, and not born haters of God, HIS enemy), will God then be obligated to welcome them into heaven? After all, they could answer yes (Rick has challenged people to give "Jesus a 60 day try").

And the second question is gonna be the question of, “What did you do with what I gave you? The talent, the ability, the resources, the network, the opportunities, the health, the freedom?” And we are going to be evaluated and judged NOT on our relationship to other people, in terms of, ‘well he did better and he did worse,’ but what did you do with what you were given. So, a retarded person, who does not have mental capabilities will be judged on a totally different scale. In fact the Bible says that people who don’t even have the ability to acknowledge God or to accept Christ, that they’re safe. They are safe. That’s why I believe babies automatically go to Heaven. Every baby does go to Heaven.

He gave no Scripture for this either. There is NONE. He's lying.

Scripture tells of only one way to be justified and to be saved: by faith in Christ Jesus alone. See Rom. 4 & 10:9-10.


Rom 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."


He doesn’t believe that all men are born sinners, hating God (Eph. 2; Romans 3,5).


Eph 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
Eph 2:2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--
Eph 2:3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Rom 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

1Co 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.



His view would also seem to diminish the seriousness of abortion against babies; certainly if all babies go to heaven when they die, then abortion is a good thing. After all, when they grow (whatever his magical age number is, where they suddenly go from guaranteed heaven to hell), then most of them will go to hell (the broad road to damnation is wide and many are on it).

Rick Warren is a theological mess. Moreover he’s a snake, because saying a lot of things that sound ok, he’s pulled the wool over many eyes. I suggest reading a few articles:


http://www.bereanbeacon.org/articles_pdf/rick_warren_purpose_driven.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9EzMWZoag John MacArthur on PDL’s lack of the biblical Gospel and assurance of salvation based on error.
Side by side comparison of what Warren says versus what Scripture says, throughout the PDL book: http://www.cicministry.org/berean.php
http://www.biblebb.com/files/purpose.htm various articles and comments on PDL