Religious hipster pastor, Andy Stanley, son of former Southern Baptist pastor Charles Stanley has a new book out entitled Irresistible. Andy began his religious career by distancing himself from many of his father’s doctrinal positions, even though it was daddy’s notoriety that put Andy in the spotlight of popular contemporary religion.
In his new book, Andy’s thesis is that if we are going to reach this generation we’ll have to distance ourselves from the Old Testament. His belief is that the Old Testament presents the anger of God and we don’t need to know about that. In his book he states, “The Ten Commandments have no authority over you. None. To be clear: Thou shalt not obey the Ten Commandments.”
Andy doesn’t know what to do with such New Testament Scriptures as 2 Timothy 3:15-16, And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
His solution is simple; Let’s not be too concerned about what the Bible says, let’s just love. He says in his book, “If we love well, all is well. Period. That’s it. Love well and you’re in the Light.”
Marvin Olasky reviewed Andy’s book in his article in World magazine, referring to “Stanleyism” as “mere sponge cake.” Olasky rightly pointed out to Andy that the New Testament also makes plain the wrath of God against sin and evil. He wondered how Andy seemed to have missed that. I would say that Andy is more a student of pop psychology than a student of the Word of God. False prophets are ever more popular in this post-modern culture, but none-the-less, they are still false prophets.