Hey, you could go far in Saudi Arabia or Iran or Pakistan. Do you think women should be publically flogged or stonned to death for really bad sins like taking charge of the household? What about theives - should they have their hands cut off? Do you think those who don't agree with you should be jailed or killed or just condemned to everlasting hell?
Boy, I'm sure you think there is just not enough hatred and condemnation in the world. And you are doing your part to add more. Right? You just call it setting the rest of the world straight...
I've heard that old song and dance so many, many times. And while your proclaiming your spiritual superiority - Rick Warren is helping people with AIDS and persuading folks in Rwanda to forgive horrendous crimes. Perhaps the irony is lost on you...
I've not involved myself in the various criticisms of Warren much. Attended Saddleback once to check it out.
But in this particular case, he is giving the pulpit to a man who is worse than a heathen...someone who espouses a leftwing pseudo-Christianity that is quite hostile to biblical Christianity, dangerous to the country, and destructive to anyone who gets sucked in by it.
If I was a member of this particular local body of believers, I would be having a serious chat with the pastors.
To see error and turn a blind eye is not unity and is not love; in fact, the Bible states that to do so is evidence of hate. A father that does not rebuke a child in error hates his son according to Pro 13:24. When God rebukes and disciplines us, we are told not to despise this because it is the evidence that God loves us. If God ignores our sins, then we know that we are not His children (Heb 12:5). The same is true when we see fellow believers stray from the truth or get caught up in false teaching; we express love toward them by confronting the problem with a spirit of reconciliation. Fear of rejection is not evidence of love for perfect love casts out fear.
Neither would I go far in Saudi Arabia, Iran or Pakistan in that I'm legally prohibited from advocating against the very things that you suggest my rebuke of Rick Warrens theology is on par with. In fact, the very laws that allows the heneious actions to take place prohibit me from proselytizing saving grace by Jesus shed blood on the cross. Proselytizing the Gospel in those countries is a capital offense.
Neither am I proclaiming spiritual superiority above that of Rick Warren, although I do rebuke his flawed doctrine. I believe Rick Warren to be quite sincere, and have no reason to doubt that he is in fact saved. He is nevertheless not promoting the faith with a doctrine that is pure and True to the Word of God. His works, while commendable, are immaterial with respect to the flawed doctrine that he promotes from the pulpit. Missionary work is very commendable, but the focus of missionary work should be winning souls for Christ. This world is dying, and the people that live in it are already dead. Reforming dead men is a futile task. Reformation shouldn't be the objective, but that of spiritual regeneration. Because regeneration and subsequent indwelling of the Holy Spirit begets reformation through sanctification.
Scriptural unity is founded upon sound doctrine and a local church cannot have true unity without building its foundation on the truth of God’s word. A good example of this is explained in Eph 4:11-16. This passage is filled with a lot of great doctrine. Keep in mind that it is the responsibility of leaders to teach sound doctrine to the church so that the body can have unity of purpose in ministry and not be tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine that becomes popular at the moment. The body is unified when it is edified by love based on sound doctrine (or the truth of scripture); however, division is caused by false doctrine (Rom 16:17-18). Keep in mind that Rom 16:17 is a command.
We are commanded several times in scripture to identify those who teach contrary to the doctrine delivered through scripture and avoid them. Also keep this in mind that doctrine either creates unity or causes division. Sound doctrine creates unity among those who honor scripture and false doctrine creates division. The Bible tells us that, by God’s divine power, we have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. This has been delivered to us through the scripture. While there may indeed be a small handful of grey areas that are not fully explained, the majority of scripture is crystal clear and leaves little room for disagreement. When it comes to doctrine and how we are taught how to live and have fellowship with God, I believe all of scripture is clear. The only areas that are cloudy are a few minor points where we only see a snapshot of a situation one of the apostles are addressing. When it comes to godly understanding, salvation and knowing God, the Bible gives us clear understanding and sound doctrine.
Many believe erroroneously that we should never judge doctrine or determine what is right or wrong. Scripture pulls no punches in dispelling this misunderstanding, in fact, there can be little doubt that we are not only called - but outright commanded to judge doctrine and guard what is acceptable in the church (II Tim 4:1-5). The primary commands found in this passage: preach the word, convince, rebuke, exhort, teach, be watchful, endure, do the work, fulfill your ministry. For some reason it is difficult for people to accept the fact that we are called to rebuke and convince people who are contrary to the word. We are commanded to do these things because there is a right and there is a wrong. It is true that one day God will sort it all out; however, God has given us a charge to hold to truth and defend the truth here and now. How do we be watchful and stand firm even when the time comes when sound doctrine is not popular even in the church?
First off, it is necessary to define what it means to judge. People often misinterpret the word "judge". In our culture, the word "judging" has become synonymous with the word "condemnation". Even people who do not believe the scriptures will quickly quote one phrase of Jesus anytime their ideas or actions are questioned: Jesus said, judge not lest you be judged. Did Jesus teach that we are not allowed to judge? Quite the contrary. The teaching of Jesus as well as the rest of the New Testament commands us to judge. Even the passage quoted above is completely out of context. In Matthew 7, Jesus is rebuking hypocritical judging. We all will be judged by the same measure we judge by; in other words our very words will be our own witnesses against us.
When judging, some will continue on to condemnation, but that is not the meaning the scripture puts on judging. There is a difference between judging and being judgmental. Scriptural judging is to evaluate an action, doctrine or idea and determine if it is right or wrong (Jno 7:24). The word ‘judge’ is the Greek word ‘krino’ which means: to pick out, separate, approve and to evaluate between right and wrong. This is not condemnation but rather, it is an evaluation between two options. We are called to evaluate and make a judgment between right and wrong based on a righteous standard. There is only one right way to judge - a righteous judgment. Every other judgment is according to human standards. If I am the source of judgment, I will judge based on personal preference.
Why do many, many people label things as evil or sinful that the scripture does not identify as sinful? It is simply human nature to label something as wrong if it does not appeal to my personal taste. This goes for music, style of teaching or preaching, clothes, hair styles and any number of things that have been used to create judgmental statements over the years. Some believe it is a sin to wear working clothes to church even though in the book of James, the scripture states that when we evaluate someone based on clothing, we have "become judges with evil thoughts". Evaluating something as right or wrong based on personal preferences is equal to judging according to appearance and is condemned by scripture.
Our command is to judge with a righteous judgment. It is absurd to say that we are not allowed to judge. Life itself is a non-stop series of judgments. Every decision we make is a judgment. When it comes to spiritual matters, we must have something greater than ourselves to make a sound judgment. Simply put, righteous judgment is judging according to scripture. In truth, I am not doing the judging at all but instead am looking at the judgment God has made and evaluating how an action or doctrine aligns with what God has already revealed. In John 12, Jesus said that He does not judge because those who reject the word already have that which judges them. The word is the judge, our role is to evaluate whether something is in agreement with the Word or is in disagreement with the Word. The time will come that the word will be the final judgment against all who reject truth; however, we are also commanded to test and prove what is acceptable on this side of eternity.
We are to judge ourselves first: Mat 7:1-5; Rom 2:1; I Cor 11:31-32
Do not miss this important point in Corinthians - our judgment is adopted from God. We judge so that there will not be condemnation. A person who is judgmental or condemning points down at those they feel are in error. In reality, we cannot lift ourselves up while using righteous judgment. Righteous judgment does not point down but reaches out. When we see someone walking outside of God’s word, we reach out with the desire to draw them back. Righteous judgment is pleading with someone to walk in the faith we are experiencing while reaching out a hand of encouragement (II Cor 5:20).
We are commanded to test: I Jno 4:1; I Tim 4:1; I Ths 5:21
If we obey Jesus’ command and judge with a righteous judgment, we will not be one of those led astray by deceiving spirits. Keep in mind that false teaching would not be deceiving if it did not sound good. Satan always wraps his lies in truth. The lie mixed into truth is still a lie - in fact, even the whole doctrine becomes a lie. The Bible is filled with warnings to ‘beware, be on guard’, and to watch out for deception. In truth, false teachers will do everything they can to look like they are teaching truth until they have gain the trust of the sheep. At this point they will slip bits and pieces of deception into the doctrine and use the trust that has been built to gain a foothold in which to begin the slow shift of doctrine away from the truth. This is the sign of the last days - deception will be common and the people of God will not hold to sound doctrine but will allow themselves to be led by the false teachers. The difference between the word of God and the deception Satan used to entrap Eve was one word.
We are commanded to approve: Phi 1:9-11; Rom 2:18-20
We are commanded to expose: Eph 5:6-9; Eph 5:10-11; Gal 1:6-9
We are commanded to confront: II Cor 11:12-15; Tit 1:7-11; 1 Tim 6:3-5; Eph 5:11; II Tim 3:16-17; Tit 1:13; Tit 2:15
The fact that the Bible teaches this principle so many times in so many books suggests that would be a matter of critical importance.
Confrontation is not a negative reaction in and of itself; however, we can make it negative. The apostle Paul confronted Peter when his doctrine swayed from the truth (Galatians 2:11-21). Peter and James were intimidated by the Jewish leaders that were pressuring them to conform to the Jewish law and mix this with grace. Their error was causing many immature Christians to be confused and a division began in the church. Paul confronted Peter for the purpose of reconciliation and correction concerning the doctrine of the truth. We know that this criticism was received since Peter later acknowledged Paul had wisdom from God and stated that Paul was his beloved brother (2 Peter 3:15). A false teacher will be threatened when evaluated against scripture but a wise man will not. The Bible says that if you rebuke a wise man, he will love you but a scoffer will hate you (Proverbs 9:8). Rebuke in love is not harsh and confrontation done in a spirit of reconciliation is profitable. However, if a teacher values their philosophies over scripture, they will hate the person who points out the discrepancy.
We are told that to disregard is disobedience: II Jno 1:9-12
This passage addresses false doctrine and tolerance to allow it to be taught. Keep in mind that the majority of churches during this era met in people’s houses. I believe this is what John is addressing when warning that if we receive or greet him. Many receive false teachers and provide them a platform to communicate their message. To say that we do not agree but allow it to continue puts us squarely in the middle of the warning of verse 11, we will share in his evil deeds. The Bible also warns that teachers will receive the greater judgment; therefore, we will also be judged for their sins if we allow this to go unquestioned.
God does not give us the liberty to allow doctrine contrary to Christ to go unchecked. Doctrine is the evidence that someone is of God or not. If someone’s doctrine contradicts the scripture, they are not of God regardless of their works, ministry or any other method of evaluation. The doctrine is the sole standard of measure we are given.