Monday Morning Insights

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    Rick Warren:  “I Always Own Up To My Mistakes”

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    On his mistakes:
    “Without a doubt, I make mistakes all the time.  I always own up to mistakes that I actually do. I just won’t own up to mistakes that weren’t really a mistake.”

    On him being spiritually mentored by Robert Schuller and Norman Vincent Peale:
    “I’ve only met Robert Schuller twice, I believe. I’ve never had a one-on-one conversation with him. Not once. So how do I even know him?...I’ve never even read a book written by Norman Vincent Peale.”

    On his preaching style:
    (He recently took two and a half years to preach through the book of Romans)
    “People don’t know this...They think I’m teaching on stress every week.”

    On his calling:
    “People don’t understand that I am fundamentally, foremost an evangelist. It’s what I care about. I don’t care about politics, I don’t care about political correctness, I don’t care about what established groups want me to do. I care about getting people into heaven.”

    On why he had a founder of a homosexual rights group speak at Saddleback:
    The speaker was “trying to build bridges of love to different groups of people so that Jesus Christ can walk across into their life.”

    On being a pawn:
    “I’m willing to put up with the misunderstanding. I’m willing to have people go, ‘Ohh, he’s such a politically naive guy.’ Or, he’s a pawn to be used.”

    On his enemies:
    “I’m to love my enemies. That means I’m to love people who are totally opposed to me.”

    On his apology:
    “I do apologize, because I apologize for anything done in the name of Christ, that Jesus would disavow.  I think Jesus would have disavowed the Crusades. Because the Crusades were largely about territorial land and not even about a personal relationship with Christ.”

    On the environment:
    “I don’t even care about that debate so much as I care that Christians should be at the forefront of taking care of the planet.  And actually, you tell me which side you want to be on, and I’ll tell you which reports to read. OK. I can show you noted scientists who tell you we are near disaster, and I can show you noted scientists you say there is no problem at all.  I didn’t sign on to say, I believe all things that the radical environmentalists believe. Not at all. I just thought Christians ought to be saying, We care about the planet too.”

    On blogs feeding the fire of criticism against him:
    “A lot of Christians then took and read that stuff, reported it on a blog, blogs copy blogs copy blogs copy blogs. And it’s kind of like spreading a feather pillow, you can’t get all the feathers back.”

    On how he responds to criticism:
    “The general policy is, as much as possible, you don’t respond.”

    FOR DISCUSSION:  What do you think?

    WorldNetDaily, who has not been kind to Rick Warren in the past, ran a recent three part series on Warren last month in which Rick answers his critics. I think Warren does an excellent job with his responses. (I'm sure some here will disagree). Take a read, and let me know what you think...

    Comments

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    1. Rich Kirkpatrick on Thu, January 03, 2008

      I LOVE this guy, even if I am not in 100% agreement with all that he has or will do—that means I must like myself, too.  Rick Warren has trail-blazed and has paid the price of having critics for actually doing what he says and meaning what he means.  I just do not get the personal attacks against him.   It is so easy to poke but much harder to do something positive.  This is where Warren shines.  So, I say to the critics of Warren since he has a policy of not responding and I don’t. “grow up hair!.”;-)

    2. Brian on Thu, January 03, 2008

      Once again I find myself thanking God that I am not RW, Billy Graham, or in the spotlight at all.


      The targets on their backs just get bigger all the time, making it easier for the immature to hit them with their arrows.


      I also find myself thanking God FOR guys like RW and BG.  May God continue to use them to reach many for Christ and challenge the church to get their eyes off themselves and onto those without Christ.

    3. joshMshep on Thu, January 03, 2008

      If you’re looking for the full interview, here’s the links:


      Part 1


      Part 2


      Part 3


      Great highlights. I highly respect Pastor Warren and get irritated by the constant blog negativity. He has some nice lines above (“blogs copy blogs copy blogs…”)  That’s very interesting about not responding to critics.


      peace,


      -joshMshep


      Colorado Springs


      http://www.myspace.com/joshmshep

    4. Peter Hamm on Fri, January 04, 2008

      Go Rick!

    5. Shawn Holmes on Tue, January 08, 2008

      I believe Jesus said that the world would know us by our love for each other.  I can handle the attacks by Non-Christ-followers but the attacks from fellow Christians is just absurd.


      1 God,


      1 Love,


      1 Way- Jesus!


      See ya in the funny papers!


      Shawn

    6. Tony Peters on Thu, January 17, 2008

      Rick and his books have changed my life and the way I lead the Church I oversee. For that I am so thankful to him.


      As for the critics who don’t even know Rick, you will one day be called to give an account of your abuse…. if you don’t repent soon enough.


      Tony P

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