Andy Stanley, the pastor of North Point Community Church in Georgia, recently announced that Christians need to “unhitch” the Old Testament from their understanding of the faith. By this he means to instruct people to ignore the Old Testament and focus solely on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, especially in evangelism. This statement was part of a sermon series encouraging those who’ve left the church to reconsider Christianity.
He says,
Jesus’ new covenant, His covenant with the nations, His covenant with you, His covenant with us, can stand on its own two nail-scarred resurrection feet. It does not need propping up by the Jewish scriptures.
The Bible did not create Christianity. The resurrection of Jesus created and launched Christianity. Your whole house of Old Testament cards can come tumbling down. The question is, did Jesus rise from the dead? And the eyewitnesses said he did.
Now, the resurrection is the central tenet of Christianity. If it didn’t happen, we have no hope (1 Corinthians 15:12–19). But “many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3, KJV) demonstrate that this event ...
