Popular Evangelical Author Says We Should “Make Love” To God!

Fight For Truth

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Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real

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Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video. So Anne Voskamp is a popular female evangelical speaker and teacher.

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She has written several Christian books, including the wildly popular New York Times bestseller entitled, quote,

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One Thousand Gifts, A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, end quote. She has also partnered with RightNow Media, which is a massive evangelical media platform that has also partnered with big names like Francis Chan, Matt Chandler, Tony Evans, JD Greer, and many, many more.

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This year, she even gave a message at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in California. All of that is to say, this is not some obscure teacher that no one cares about.

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She's being platformed by some of the biggest evangelical organizations in the country right now. But of course, as usual,

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Big Eva fails to do their homework. You see, Anne Voskamp has some of the most concerning teaching that you will find anywhere, and that's what today's video is about.

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So without further ado, let's go ahead and analyze Anne Voskamp's disturbing statements about what she calls making love to God.

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The following quote is from Anne's book, One Thousand Gifts, which I mentioned earlier, and it says this, quote,

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I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God. God makes love with grace upon grace, every moment, a making of his love for us.

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Couldn't I make love to God, making every moment love for him? To know him the way

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Adam knew Eve, spirit skin to spirit skin, end quote. So we're going to break this statement down point by point, and let me show you how dreadfully unbiblical this truly is, and where it all comes from.

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Let's begin with the first statement, quote, I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God, end quote.

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Notice first the romanticism behind this bizarre comment. She could not discover how to make love to God in Topeka, Kansas, or Phoenix, Arizona.

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No, she just didn't get it, she didn't understand it, until she flew to Paris. And Paris is, of course, widely considered one of the most romantic and artistic cities in the entire world.

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The city's name is virtually synonymous with love and romance. The writing of Anne Voskamp, in other words, sounds more like a romantic fantasy novel for desperate housewives than it sounds like anything resembling biblical truth.

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This is the whole Jesus is my boyfriend theology that has become so prevalent in the Church.

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And it's highly irreverent. Jesus is not your boyfriend. And he's not just a kind and gentle figure either, he's multifaceted.

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There is more than one aspect to his character. First John 4, 16 says this, quote, God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him, end quote.

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So we know that Jesus has a very loving character, there's no doubt about that. And, of course, this kind of love is completely different from the kind that Anne Voskamp is referring to, but let's table that just for a moment.

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I think these fantastical and pie -in -the -sky writers like Anne Voskamp have forgotten that Jesus has more than one title.

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Second Timothy 4, 1 calls Jesus the judge of the living and the dead. First Timothy 6, 15 calls

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Jesus the king of all kings and the lord of all lords. Jesus is not your high school sweetheart.

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He's your king and your lord. Anne Voskamp seems to be too emotional in her writing to understand this.

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But let's move on to her next point and dive in a little deeper, shall we? She goes on saying this, quote, God makes love with grace upon grace, every moment a making of his love for us.

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Couldn't I make love to God, making every moment love for him, end quote? To answer both of your questions,

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Anne, I would say no and no. If you'll notice something important, my friends, I want you to focus on when she said, quote, every moment a making of his love for us, end quote.

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This statement shows us that this love -making doctrine is not simply a single, overly emotional, poetic writing that she went a bit too far with.

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Rather, she is actually describing her overarching theology in this statement, or at least that's what it seems to be.

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She says that literally every moment is an example of God making love to us. Every moment affirms this idea.

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As I said, this isn't just a single poem gone wrong. It's actually how she sees the entire Christian life, according to her own words.

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And it's how she's teaching other people to see their Christian life. Her metaphor of making love to God is so deeply flawed, it's hard to even refute.

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It's really difficult to disprove something so foolish, but I'll try nonetheless. My opinion is that this mystical, evangelical writer is trying to refer somehow to the relationship of Christ and his bride, that is, the

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Church. This analogy is offered in Ephesians 5, so go ahead and read that passage if you're interested. And 2

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Corinthians 11 says this, So there's a metaphor here of the

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Church being a pure virgin, the bride of Christ. But it is just that, a metaphor. Christ does not want to actually have sexual relations with the

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Church. What a disgusting and blasphemous idea. To think this way is to misunderstand everything the

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Bible says about marriage and sexuality. The truth is that, as Ephesians 5 indicates, marriage is a live -action parable of Christ and his

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Church. The husband, Christ, lays his life down for the wife, that is, the Church. And the wife submits in everything to her loving husband.

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That's Ephesians 5, 24 -25. But that's as far as the metaphor goes. Neither this passage nor any other has any statement that suggests we would make love to Christ.

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Rather, 1 Corinthians 6, 16 says, He who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her.

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For as it is written, the two will become one flesh. So this illustrates that when a man and a woman have sex, regardless of their relationship, they are becoming one flesh with each other.

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Sex is a part of the metaphor in that it demonstrates oneness and represents unity. At the end of all things,

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Christ will have perfect oneness and unity with his bride. But again, he will not have sex with her.

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Because sex was only a small reality that pointed to the greater and more complete reality of the

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Church being joined to Christ. And Anne Voskamp has such a human and fleshly mindset that she takes this metaphor much too far.

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And in doing so, she has utterly lost the true beauty and meaning of Christ's love for his Church.

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It's very sad. So with that said, let's move on to the last statement she makes, which is really absolutely gross.

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She writes, quote, In my opinion, ladies and gentlemen, with this last comment,

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Anne's writing has moved from the category of the bizarre to the category of the plain disgusting. Again, it seems that Anne is not aware that the oneness demonstrated by Adam and Eve's physical intimacy is only significant in that it points to the greater transcendent reality of Christ's intimacy with his

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Church. She can't get out of her human mindset. And so everything she writes has this distinctly human, carnal, and sexual tinge to it.

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She talks about us making love to God with our spirit skins touching. What on earth does that even mean?

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The cringe factor here is off the charts. It's gross. It's appalling language.

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But beyond that, there's a fundamental mistake that's happened when you take a good biblical analogy and run too far with it.

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Let me explain. Let me give you a few examples that illustrate this. Romans 5 .5 calls Jesus, quote, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah.

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Now, should we read this and think of Christ's power, his majesty, and even his ferocity? Yes, that's the whole point.

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But should we read this and also think that Jesus is a big hairy cat with long teeth? No, that would be taking the analogy too far.

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In John 10 .9, Jesus says, quote, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

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End quote. When we read that Jesus is the door, should we then think that Jesus is the way by which we enter

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God's kingdom? Yes. But should we also think that Jesus is a big wooden rectangle with a doorknob on his face?

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No, that would be taking the analogy in an unbiblical and weird direction. And for the third and final example,

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Matthew 5 .30 says, quote, And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.

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And Jesus continues saying, it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to depart into hell.

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End quote. Should Christians read this and think that conquering your sin is more important than temporary sinful pleasure?

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Yes. Should we think that glorifying God is the central purpose of our bodies? Yes. Should we read this and understand the importance of going to great lengths to avoid sinful temptation?

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Again, yes, a million times yes. But should we start cutting off our limbs every time we sin?

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Absolutely not. That would be taking this hyperbolic statement much too far. So with that said, all of those examples are being brought up for a particular reason.

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To demonstrate that the Bible has plenty of analogies, and colorful language, and parables, and hyperbolic language, and all that literary jazz.

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But you have to read the Bible with sound exegesis, and with good context in mind, to rightly understand these things.

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You can't just take a thought and run with it outside the bounds of Scripture. That would be unbiblical. And that's precisely what's happened with Ann Voskamp here, and it happens with many other evangelical writers.

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So in conclusion, Ann Voskamp has been heavily involved with several big evangelical organizations, including

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Right Now Media and Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, just to name a few. But the theology that she's promoting is a dangerous mixture of mysticism and emotionalism, all rolled up into one big pile of complete nonsense.

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The people of God do not make love to him, and God does not do that to them. We do not make love to God. Rather, we make love within the confines of heterosexual marriage as a small metaphor of God's greater love for us and his unity with us in heaven.

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If your church has this kind of overly emotional and mystical teaching that they're pawning off as sound doctrine, you need to find a new one.

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And please, let's all pray earnestly for Ann Voskamp and for other teachers like her that they would repent and have a better understanding of the truth of God's Word.

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Thank you so much for watching. If you liked that video, please like, comment, share, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so that you never miss another one.

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And until next time, fight for truth, never surrender, and keep your eyes open. Thank you, and God bless.