The Christian Post's top 10 most-read stories of 2023
7. Andy Stanley and his troubling message as spiritual shepherd of the flock
Dr. Richard Land, executive editor of The Christian Post, reacted to what he characterized as an “unbiblical” comment made by Pastor Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, who asserted that “a gay person who still wants to attend church after the way they’ve been treated” has “more faith than I do” and “more faith than a lot of you.”
Land, a former head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, took issue with Stanley’s suggestion that God “did not answer the cry of their heart when they were 12 and 13 and 14 and 15.”
“When God did not answer ‘the cry of their heart,’ is he saying that God was wrong in not accepting their sexual orientation, or is he saying that God should have answered their prayer by changing that orientation?” asked Land, who is also president emeritus of Southern Evangelical Seminary. “Either option is blasphemous.”
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Land added: “When people of whatever background, behavior, or orientation come to God, they must come without reservation, forsaking all to follow Jesus as Savior. We throw ourselves on His mercy and trust Jesus and Jesus alone for salvation. He is Lord and Savior, and we come on His terms, not ours — it is not a negotiation.”
“I fear the Rev. Stanley has drifted farther than he is aware from the biblical foundations of his youth, and all of his Christian brothers and sisters should pray for him, and all the Christians whom he influences, without ceasing,” he added.
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Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
