Shame On Warren, Hybels & Others

[T-Bone]

Rick Warren responds to inaccurate newspaper report


Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 3/2/2012 5:00:00 PM

Pastor Rick Warren has released the transcript of an interview with The Christian Post in which he refutes a recent newspaper report that his church is "partnering" with mosques and proposing a set of principles that conflict with orthodox Christianity.

Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, has responded specifically to a February 23 story in the Orange County Register that claimed he believes Christians and Muslims worship the same God, is "in partnership" with an Islamic mosque, and agreed "not to evangelize each other" while working on shared social service projects.

"All three of those statements are flat out wrong," Warren says in the interview transcript, made available Friday afternoon on Ed Stetzer's LifeWay Research blog. "Those statements were made by a reporter, not by me. I did not say them ... I do not believe them ... I completely disagree with them."

The well-known Southern California pastor takes issue strongly with the article's statement that he had agreed "not to evangelize."

"... Anyone who know me and my 40-year track record of ministry [knows] that I would never agree to 'not evangelizing' anyone! I am commanded by my Savior to share the Good News with all people everywhere, all the time, in every way possible! Anyone who's heard me teach knows that my heart beats for bringing others to Jesus."

Warren also describes the accusation that he promotes "Chrislam" -- a Christian-Islam mixture -- as "the lie that won't die."

On his blog page, Stetzer attributes much of the misunderstanding surrounding the OC Register article to secular newspapers' inability to "get the nuance we often use in Evangelical Christianity".

Great to hear that...did he or did he not sign the document in the OP?

I am not aware either way.  I do know that a very good friend of mine spent time with him for several hours the other day in a meeting with just a few others, no press, no one who would be an apologist for him, no one who would have spoke publicly on his behalf and he was upset about what had been reported in error in the story above. In other words, his disdain for the article was private as well as public.....not just for public consumption.

Again, I am glad to hear him make the statement in response to the article you posted.  My problem is with him or anyone else signing the document in the OP...my article states that he did sign it...it would be good to find out if it is factual.

T-Bone.....the following letter to the Saddleback congregation may or may not answer some of the questions as to his point of view....on a few things. I know nothing more than what is printed here.....and of course many bloggers who do want to believe the worst about Warren and Saddleback and who wouldn't retract something they reported negatively but found later to not be true. I even had a prolific so-called discernment blogger tell me that another, Ingrid Schleuter, would sometimes get things wrong and go over the top but because Warren's errors were so egregious it wasn't really a big deal. It used to bug the crap out of me....until it just made me laugh. (Although when I hear these type of reports and I haven't been around there in awhile it is a little disconcerting until the truth is made known. I know that compromise is always a danger for any of us.).


ON RESPONDING TO FALSE ACCUSATIONS


March 10, 2012

Dear Saddleback family,

A week ago a reporter published an article in the Orange County Register about Saddleback Church that contained many errors and false assumptions:

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

I looked at the OP. I had vaguely remembered this. It's from 2007 fwiw. I don't know Warren's view on it today. There were some pretty good evangelicals on there but looked like most were Fuller Seminary faculty and mainline denom people.

Oh noes! Not Fuller Seminary faculty and mainline denom people! The horrors!   :-*

You're actually right...Mainline denominations are dominated by neo orthodox theology.
Fuller Seminary is no longer a strictly evangelical school, in fact  some there did sign a no prostelizing Muslim agreement. Fuller also has capitulated on the inerrancy debates...they are legitimately Neo-evangelical.

Which is why Warren was so quick and blunt in distancing himself from them.

 

[bruinboy]

Rick Warren responds to inaccurate newspaper report


Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 3/2/2012 5:00:00 PM

Pastor Rick Warren has released the transcript of an interview with The Christian Post in which he refutes a recent newspaper report that his church is "partnering" with mosques and proposing a set of principles that conflict with orthodox Christianity.

Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, has responded specifically to a February 23 story in the Orange County Register that claimed he believes Christians and Muslims worship the same God, is "in partnership" with an Islamic mosque, and agreed "not to evangelize each other" while working on shared social service projects.

"All three of those statements are flat out wrong," Warren says in the interview transcript, made available Friday afternoon on Ed Stetzer's LifeWay Research blog. "Those statements were made by a reporter, not by me. I did not say them ... I do not believe them ... I completely disagree with them."

The well-known Southern California pastor takes issue strongly with the article's statement that he had agreed "not to evangelize."

"... Anyone who know me and my 40-year track record of ministry [knows] that I would never agree to 'not evangelizing' anyone! I am commanded by my Savior to share the Good News with all people everywhere, all the time, in every way possible! Anyone who's heard me teach knows that my heart beats for bringing others to Jesus."

Warren also describes the accusation that he promotes "Chrislam" -- a Christian-Islam mixture -- as "the lie that won't die."

On his blog page, Stetzer attributes much of the misunderstanding surrounding the OC Register article to secular newspapers' inability to "get the nuance we often use in Evangelical Christianity".

Great to hear that...did he or did he not sign the document in the OP?

I am not aware either way.  I do know that a very good friend of mine spent time with him for several hours the other day in a meeting with just a few others, no press, no one who would be an apologist for him, no one who would have spoke publicly on his behalf and he was upset about what had been reported in error in the story above. In other words, his disdain for the article was private as well as public.....not just for public consumption.

Again, I am glad to hear him make the statement in response to the article you posted.  My problem is with him or anyone else signing the document in the OP...my article states that he did sign it...it would be good to find out if it is factual.

T-Bone.....the following letter to the Saddleback congregation may or may not answer some of the questions as to his point of view....on a few things. I know nothing more than what is printed here.....and of course many bloggers who do want to believe the worst about Warren and Saddleback and who wouldn't retract something they reported negatively but found later to not be true. I even had a prolific so-called discernment blogger tell me that another, Ingrid Schleuter, would sometimes get things wrong and go over the top but because Warren's errors were so egregious it wasn't really a big deal. It used to bug the crap out of me....until it just made me laugh. (Although when I hear these type of reports and I haven't been around there in awhile it is a little disconcerting until the truth is made known. I know that compromise is always a danger for any of us.).


ON RESPONDING TO FALSE ACCUSATIONS


March 10, 2012

Dear Saddleback family,

A week ago a reporter published an article in the Orange County Register about Saddleback Church that contained many errors and false assumptions: