Andy Stanley defends deconstruction of Christianity while taking veiled shot at John MacArthur?

Andy Stanley’s Comments on Abuse, Church, and Deconstruction

Hello, in this video, I just wanted to cover the most recent sermon put out by Andy Stanley. There's a few clips in there that are getting some attention. For example, the Dissenter website says that Andy Stanley made veiled reference to discredited Julie Roy's narrative about John MacArthur.

So apparently he's taking a shot or two at John MacArthur. There's another statement where he seems to tell people who are deconstructing their faith like, hey, good job deconstructing your faith. That's not such a bad thing.

So let's play some of the sermon, and then I'll comment.

The Abuse Scenario and the Veiled Shot at John MacArthur

As your mom went to your priest or your mom went to your pastor and said that your stepfather was abusive, and the priest or the pastor said, well, you have to go home and you have to submit, and this is what the Bible says, and this is what God wants you to do, and it almost killed her.

She'll never have anything to do with organized religion again, and neither will you. And who could blame you?

All right, so that's the clip that supposedly was directed at John MacArthur. The Dissenter says, if you've been watching the attacks on Grace Community Church, Pastor John MacArthur, over the last several years, you've probably been aware of the smear campaign against him perpetuated by Julie Roy's.

Roy's alleged that John MacArthur purposely and knowingly sent a wife and her kids to a known abuser to be further abused and did so because of his patriarchal religious convictions. And of course, they're saying that that claim by Julie Roy's was misleading, if not completely untrue.

Andy Stanley continues.

Deconstruction, Apostasy, and Rejecting Biblical Authority

I understand why you threw baby Jesus out with the bathwater, because your church tradition and the theology you were handed and your church experience made it impossible for you to distinguish between the two.

And that happens all the time. But a lot of people don't leave the faith. They just leave church, right? They deconstruct. They deconstruct their faith. And this may be you as well. And again, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

So it's not necessarily a bad thing to deconstruct your faith. Do you know what that means to deconstruct your faith? It means that you no longer believe the things that you were taught. Now, if he said that you're deconstructing your Mormon faith and you turn to the true gospel, hey, okay, that's one thing.

But that's not what he's just talking to kind of Christians in general that, oh, you're.

Deconstructing.

That's not such a bad thing. Hold on a minute. Deconstruction is apostasy. That's what it means to turn away from the faith. You are deconstructing the things that you believed about Jesus and why he came to die on the cross and rise from the dead.

What he's talking about is the Bible, basically. We all know that Andy Stanley has a campaign to downplay and attack the authority of scripture. And when he says it's not such a bad thing to deconstruct your faith, that's what he.

Means.

Questioning Faith, Organized Religion, and a God of Your Own Making

The whole organized religion and the church tradition, it just didn't seem to line up. And now you're kind of in no man's land a little bit. You had to step away from organized religion and kind of catch your breath to figure out what is fundamental and what's not, what is essential and what's not.

How do you determine what's essential? How do you determine what's fundamental? If you're not basing it on the Bible, how do you determine this? What's the standard?

I can't be a Christian or I can't be that kind of Christian because I don't think Jesus.

Would treat people.

Oh, because you don't think. So it's based on your feelings, basically, is what it is. That's what it's about. You and the God you have fashioned in your own mind. This is for Andy Stanley's followers, people who listen to him.

It's what you think about God, not what the Bible says about God, not what we know about Jesus from scripture. It's about what people think and how they feel. That's idolatry. Create a God of your own making, in your own mind.

That way.

Encouraging Deconstruction and Creating Doubt in the Next Generation

I don't think Jesus is going to send my brother to hell. He's one of the finest people I know. I just have to step away and think about this. You know what needs to be left behind. And if you know what needs to be left behind, look up here.

Good for you.

So Andy Stanley is basically applauding people who are deconstructing their faith. He says, good for you. Why would he say that? Here's why. Because a lot of people in this country, hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, were brought up in traditional evangelical Bible believing church where the Bible is preached as the word of God.

That's their frame of mind about what Christianity is based on what the Bible says. Andy Stanley wants those people to deconstruct and then follow him because what he's teaching is not in line with traditional Christianity.

So I think that's why Andy Stanley is saying, hey, you're deconstructing.

Great.

Good for you. Because he knows that those are the types of people that he's winning over.

And this is something that we are really trying to do a good job of when it comes to our high school ministry and our high school seniors in particular. Traditionally, traditionally, the church hasn't left space for people's faith to grow up or the church hasn't created space for people to question their faith.

Is that what a church, is that what a pastor seeks to do to create space for people to question their faith? Is that what the church is all about? Creating doubt. That's what Andy Stanley is all about.

They deconstruct their faith. And this may be you as well. And again, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.