Andy Stanley, Can You Love Jesus and Reject His Word?

Andy Stanley, pastor of Atlanta’s North Point Community Church which averages 36 000 people per week across 6 campuses, recently presented a 3-part series of messages in which he taught that Christians should not ask ‘What does the Bible say?’ but ‘What does the New Testament say?’ or ‘What does Jesus say?’, and that we should not look to the Old Testament for Christian norms.
An instinctive reaction might be to simply label Stanley as a dangerous false teacher. But to be able to respond graciously and effectively, it’s helpful to try to understand his motivation, and show that a stance that honours the entirety of God’s Word answers his concerns more effectively than his proposal, which actually has been shown to empty the churches faster, rather than stem the tide of youth exiting the church.
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