Andy Stanley Says Christianity Doesn't Hang By The Thread of the Bible

More demonic attacking of Scripture, this time by Andy Stanley, as Bud Ahlheim from Pulpit And Pen reports:

You don’t need to “repent and believe” to be “a part” of Andy’s church. There’s no need to be born again, or even profess to be. As with last week’s message, Stanley reaffirms that you don’t even need the Bible.

“Christianity does not exist because of the Bible. It is the other way around. The reason there is the Bible is because of Christianity. And this is one of the concepts that so many people outside our network of churches have a hard time understanding.”  Andy Stanley

Pointing to the audience before him, Stanley says, “I think that you get it.” Why do people in Andy Stanley’s church understand his denial of Scripture as a valid presuppositional apologetic intended to bring back to church membership people who left church because they were obviously not Christian to begin with?

“Because you’re above average intelligence if you attend one our churches, okay? You get this.”  Andy Stanley

His straight-faced delivery of this line, gathering some chuckles from the crowd, yet reflects Stanley’s response to the critics who have challenged his denial of Scripture. He and his Northpoint crowd know something others don’t. “But at some point,” he says, “we need to grow up and see this the way it actually is. And the great news is that Christianity does not hang by the thread of the Bible.”

~End quote. Pulpit And Pen blog

Wrong, Stanley!

1Pe 1:23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, "ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, 25 BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER." And this is the word which was preached to you. (Peter is quoting Is. 40:6-8).

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.'"

Stanley's in "good" company though:

Michael  Patton of Credo House and author ofThe Theology Program (is your church using this program?):

Quote:

I believe that the Scriptures could contain error and the Christian faith remain essentially in tact. Why? BecauseChristianity is not built upon the inerrancy of Scripture, but the historical Advent of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Christ because man, lived a perfect life, died an atoning death, and rose on the third day not because the Scriptures inerrantly say that these events occurred, but because they did in fact occur. The truth is in the objectivity of the event, not the accuracy of the record of the event. 

Let me take this one more step further. The fact is that we don’t even need the Scriptures in order for Christianity to be true.Remember, the Christian worldview is Christocentric (centered around the Advent of Christ), not bibliocentric (centered around the Bible). 

Not only is it true that Christianity is not dependent upon inerrancy, inspiration, and recording of the events, but it is also not reliant upon our knowledge of the events.

~ "The Inerrancy and Sole Authority of Scripture Attacked by Peter Enns (former Westminster Theological Seminary Professor), Greg Koukl (Stand To Reason), and Michael Patton (The Theology Program)"

As to Stanley's flattery of the intelligence of his audience:

Rom 16:17  Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

Rom 16:18  For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.