In my view, Warren minimizes sin and judgment in order to appeal to “seekers”. He doesn’t defend traditional marriage. He seems to think that Christianity is about doing nice things for people, and making everyone feel good, instead of telling them the truth.
Well, Neil Simpson’s latest round-up has an article about Warren’s latest blunder.
Neil writes:
Rick Warren doesn’t understand the concept of unequally yoked. It isn’t just about not marrying unbelievers, it is about not partnering with them in spiritual enterprises. We should share the Gospel with Muslims, not do “ministry” together.
The post he links to at Slice of Laodicea cites this Washington Times article:
The Rev. Rick Warren, one of America’s best-known evangelical Protestant pastors, pleaded with about 8,000 Muslim listeners on Saturday night to work together to solve the world’s greatest problems by cooperating in a series of interfaith projects.
“Muslims and Christians can work together for the common good without compromising my convictions or your convictions,” Mr. Warren said during an evening session of the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) at the Washington Convention Center.
“I am not interested in interfaith dialogue but interfaith projects,” said the pastor of the 24,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., who is widely known for his bestseller “The Purpose-Driven Life.”…
My advice: Never trust Christians who think that Christianity is just about helping the poor. That is a peripheral issue, which some Christians focus on in order to avoid debates about the main issues of Christianity. The main issues are “Does God Exist?” and “Who was Jesus?”. Why people follow these left-wing social justice mega-church pastors instead of solid Christian scholars is beyond me. Just another reason why Christians should be fiscal conservatives.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
That is a provocatives statement but very practical. I might have put the word “just” in fron of “think” but I still support your sentiment.
Authentic Bible believing conservatives are the worst nightmare of Liberal Christians. We actually help the poor with our own money instead of advocating that the gov’t take it by force from others. Oh, and first and foremost we believe the whole Bible and share the real Gospel unapologetically.
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I’ll fix it, that’s what I meant.
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I think Warren for years has demonstrated he is a compromiser, and seems to be much more about his political aspirations than he is about preaching the gospel uncorrupted. He has always had a market-driven, “sinner-sensitive” and entertainment-oriented focus in his church. This is nothing less than living in the world and watering down the faith. His use and support of the horrid paraphrase “The Message” in his “Purpose Driven” propaganda has to make anyone wonder if he understands basic hermeneutics.
I have always considered Warren to be a teacher to avoid like the plague.
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Hi WK,
In answer to your blog post title, “No.”
It’s funny—when I was a freshman in high school (just four years ago), I was reading the Purpose Driven Life—as I often like to say, “before I knew better.” The man talks out of both sides of his mouth so often it’s a wonder he doesn’t get whiplash.
And yes, I do think he compromises too much. For example, with the whole “should I give the invocation @ Obama’s inauguration or not?” a real shepherd of the flock (I would go so far as to say a real Christian) would have immediately answered, “Heck, no!”
I of course think we should pray for our President–in the sense of that he gets saved and begins promoting righteousness—but it’s unbiblical, at least in my opinion, for a professing evangelical Christian to lend his stamp of approval, even implicitly, by blessing the new President’s agenda. A true Christian would have said, “No, because I will not associate with darkness and it’s my calling to avoid the very appearance of evil.”
Rick Warren is a blight on the face of Christianity and one of the worst compromisers the American body ahs ever seen. I pray God humbles him and that he begins to use his platform to preach Biblical Truth before it’s too late.
PS–This is my first comment on this blog, so hi!
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This was a great comment. Thanks, and do not be a stranger. Send me tips, too, please! We can’t have ECM doing all the work!
I totally would have turned down the invocation, or I would have accepted and then read out William Lane Craig’s opening speech and then challenged Obama to believe in God and become a Christian. (My personal view is that he is a committed activist atheist with a deep and abiding antipathy for orthodox Christianity)
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The main question you ask is why Rick is speaking at the ISNA conference? While I do not wish to offer an apologia for ISNA, I would refer you to multiple articles that describe the organization’s goals in reaching out to other faiths, including Judaism, and denouncing terrorism (Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the leader of the largest branch of American Judaism, addressed the convention two years ago; also see the AP story on July 1 by Zoll, and stories in the Christian Post, Church Solutions and even the Washington Times in the past week).
What I would like to clarify is Rick’s message and motive. You claim that Rick probably doesn’t have an agenda, but I would like to assert that it is his lifelong agenda that led him to accept the invitation to speak at ISNA. You may have noticed that outside of Saddleback Church, and Rick’s 30 year Purpose Driven Ministry to pastors, he does very little speaking to Christian groups of believers. Instead, he invests his time speaking to groups of unbelievers that most pastors never get the opportunity to share with. He carefully considers the opportunities that God has given him to address these audiences. These are folks that Jesus died for, but would never enter a church to hear the Good News. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Luke 5:31 (NIV) Rick believes strongly that if you want to actively demonstrate the love of Christ to others as He commands us to, then you have to reach out to a variety of audiences.
No one is ever convinced of God’s love by labeling, condemnation, or anger. Rick strongly believes that if we want to behave in a Christ-like example, we must not waste any time judging others (Jesus didn’t), but instead, do everything we can to build relationships of love and respect and trust with others.
In our secular culture, there are about a dozen different groups of influencers that we at Saddleback seek to serve and reach out to including those in academics, business, military, sports, health care, media, prisoners, entertainment, other faiths, and government. If we are to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission in the world, we must build bridges to all of these, and more. Just know the goal of every speaking engagement Rick accepts is always the same: The global glory of God.
We seek to build bridges of love – from our hearts to hearts of even those we may disagree with – so that Jesus can walk across!
The theme of the session at which Rick will speak is “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” a theme most appropriate for a message on perhaps our country’s most sacred day, Independence Day. Rick will bring a message appropriate to the values of the meaning of this day on what America and all Americans, not just Muslims or Christians, need to maintain our independence. Freedom and independence were at the core of our country’s founders and those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect this country across its history.
As a pastor, Rick intimately understands these values, particularly the value of religious freedom, and will fiercely advocate for them unashamedly in front of any audience.
But religious freedom means the right to practice the religion of one’s choice regardless of whether or not others agree with a particular religion’s tenets, and the freedom to associate for the common good of all Americans and for those less fortunate than us around the world. That is a value that is not only part of our heritage as Americans, but also a commandment of Jesus Christ.
I appreciate the opportunity to clarify Rick’s appearance before ISNA and would refer you to a recent issue of Rick’s “News and Views” in which he thoroughly discusses why he speaks to a variety of audiences.
http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/blogs/newsandviews/index.html
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I bolded a couple of your lines so that my commenters will be able to properly assess the most interesting parts of your comment, especially in view of Warren’s refusal to defend traditional marriage. Particularly the part where you insinuate that mere disagreement with someone’s religion is taking away their freedom to practice that religion.
I wonder if Rick will be bold in exhorting Muslims to consider the evidence for Christianity so that they can be saved from their sins? I don’t see any appeal to evidence or apologetics in his books, just appeals to emotions and felt needs. I admit it fills the churches to do that, but that wasn’t what happened in Acts 2, was it? I notice that his bestselling books are totally devoid of apologetics but filled to the brim with appeals to felt needs and emotional longings. Is that what Jesus was doing when he performed miracles to substantiate his claims to non-Christians? Appealing to their felt needs?
Consider this story from OneNewsNow:
Excerpt:
I wonder what Rick thinks about children being raised without a mother or a father? And I wonder what he thinks about Christian pastors like Stephen Boissoin, who are brought up on charges for expressing disagreement about what is morally right and wrong? And I wonder how he feels about Christians being prosecuted in court for quoting parts of the Bible that are no longer fashionable with certain groups of activists? I guess he has chosen his side, though.
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I have a feeling that Christianity, and Jesus Himself, has been often misunderstood. Christ IS love, no doubt about THAT, but Christ NEVER endorsed sin in the name of love. He forgave sinners and loved them, sure, but He NEVER shied away from pointing out a sinful life, when HE saw one.
I found the part that’s been made bold in Rebecca’s comment as the most common mistake Christians do. Jesus did not waste time judging people? Sure. He has a time when He will judge. But that’s not the point here. The point is, despite the fact Jesus did not judge, He did ask people not to sin and turn from their sinful ways, whether people liked Him saying it or not. The best example is the woman who was caught in adultery. He didn’t judge her but He did say, “Go, and do not sin”. Because He didn’t judge her there doesn’t mean He was okay with what she did. He certainly wasn’t okay with what she did! Christianity is also about speaking up against what Christ said was wrong as much as it is about we refraining from do it as well. I feel the compromise that is being made here is not about accepting other people, its more about being accepted by other people. No sir, thank you. Even if am rejected for calling a spade a spade, I’d still do it! Christ spoke of acceptance but He spoke of truth as well.
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