Although Andy Stanley is a well-known and articulate communicator, sadly he has chosen to continue teaching ideas that undermine the complete truthfulness of Scripture and often clearly contradict the explicit statements of the Scripture.

Stanley has demonstrated a failure to teach the breadth and depth of Scripture in a manner that is reflective of one who is serious about the truthfulness of Scripture for some time now. He has continued to make statements that are inaccurate, degrading of small church pastors, and generally problematic, as well as handling clear biblical themes such as homosexuality without the clarity afforded in Scripture.

Given his speaking abilities, it appears that his omissions of the Scripture’s clear denunciation of homosexuality emanates from a deliberate choice of words rather than merely a misspeak. Listen to his message, When Gracie Met Truthy.

Therefore, the elders of Trinity Baptist Church withdraw authorization for the use of any of his materials by ministries of Trinity Baptist Church. Additionally, we do not support the use of his material by any member. We encourage members to avail themselves to the host of excellent study materials available by men and women who teach within the parameters of Scripture’s claim of complete truthfulness (John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16).

As is the tendency of those that travel similar theological trajectories, he has now moved into declaratively and unambiguously denying the reliability of the Scripture and undermining the clearest teachings from the Scripture. He is espousing the very things that we fought for twenty- five years in the Conservative Resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention to expose and remove from our seminaries. Andy’s father, Charles Stanley, was one of the key leaders of the resurgence and a stalwart for the inerrancy of Scripture, which is precisely what Andy undermines.

In his message, The Bible Told Me So, he explicitly:

1. Denies the reliability of the Old Testament

2. Misrepresents the relationship of Scripture to the Trinity

3. Misrepresents the relationship of faith and Scripture both historically and contemporaneously to the point that one’s experiential relationship to the resurrection is sufficient

4. Utilizes language that is essentially the same that liberalism uses to undermine the Scripture, e.g. focus on Jesus, the resurrection, and Scripture as the record of God working rather than being the Word of God.

5. Denies what the Scripture explicitly says, such as when the Scripture says that the walls of Jericho fell and Stanley says the walls of Jericho did not fall.

Regarding #4, if one is unfamiliar with the language used by liberals in our Convention for many years, one might miss the gravity of what he is saying. Of course, this is as dangerous, maybe in some ways more dangerous, as his explicit denial of the truthfulness of everything Scripture says.

Following is one biblical critique here and another biblical critique of his statements that will aid you in understanding the seriousness of his statements. The first critique is the more extensive critique of the two, and then there is an article by Al Mohler discussing Andy Stanley’s sermon.