Originally posted on The Olive Branch Report
My Comments on this: This is so sad to see, yet another public figure in the Church decrying the Word of God. According to Gungor, the Bible book Genesis is only figurative, a bunch of stories. This is an extremely dangerous position to take. I note as well that he is now involved with New Age guru Rob Bell, how sad that someone who should know better would turn away from the pure words of truth in Christ and become involved with someone who follows another way that has nothing to do with Christianity or God.
Then there is talk of God as our mother…sounds like a move towards the “divine mother” if you ask me…demonic in nature and having nothing to do with God.
I am disappointed to note the involvement of singer Nichole Nordeman in this unwise endeavor as well.
It greatly saddens me that more people with every passing day express their disbelief in God’s Word. The victories of the prince of the air are mounting up. Folks such as Gungor casually toss aside a part of God’s Word but then claim to believe in God. How absurd…what God exactly would that be, the one made up to suit your own needs?
Read the below post, Gungor has clearly moved from Christianity to mysticism and New Age beliefs.
Scriptures below in red were my additions.
Greg – Publisher The Olive Branch Report
An award-winning worship leader continues to generate controversy after revealing that he no longer accepts the Genesis account of creation as being literal.
Michael Gungor and his wife Lisa, who in 2006 formed a congregation called “Bloom” in Denver, are known for their the Dove Award-winning and Grammy nominated worship music, such as Beautiful Things, Say So and Dry Bones. In 2013, they won an award from the Independent Music Awards for their live performance album A Creation Liturgy.
But in 2012, Michael Gungor, the son of pastor and author Ed Gungor, revealed in a blog post entitled A Worshiping Evolutionist? that he had concluded that the Genesis account is only figurative.
“I guess I’ll have to come out of the closet and admit…no, sorry kid, I don’t believe in a literal six-day creation,” he wrote.
“[I]n my Christian school growing up, we’d all snort and chuckle when a scientist in a documentary would mention evolution or talk about how this sort of animal existed millions of years ago,” Gungor said. “But now that I am a songwriter, I see this whole thing as absolutely absurd. Genesis is a poem if I’ve ever seen one.”
Upon posting the blog link to Facebook, fans were divided, with some expressing support and others feeling deep disappointment.
“Beautiful,” one follower named Alex wrote. “I think it is imperative that we remember that the Bible was inspired by God, yet written by human hands, trying to understand life just as we are today.”
“[Creation] matters for one reason alone: If there were no First Adam, how could there be a Second One?” added another named Jon.
“The fall of man and Christ’s death/resurrection have everything to do with each other,” chimed in Ben, who likewise disagreed with Gungor. “If Genesis is a poem (not literal) then the gospel might as well be, too.”
But earlier this year, Gungor revealed his thoughts even further, explaining in a blog post entitled What Do We Believe? that he “has no more ability to believe” in Genesis as being literal.
“I have no more ability to believe, for example, that the first people on earth were a couple named Adam and Eve that lived 6,000 years ago,” he wrote. “I have no ability to believe that there was a flood that covered all the highest mountains of the world only 4,000 years ago and that all of the animal species that exist today are here because they were carried on an ark and then somehow walked or flew all around the world from a mountain in the middle east after the water dried up.”
2 Peter 3:5-6 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed
“I have no more ability to believe these things than I do to believe in Santa Claus or to not believe in gravity,” he continued. “But I have a choice on what to do with these unbeliefs. I could either throw out those stories as lies, or I could try to find some value in them as stories.”
Now, Gungor is involved with a collaborative project called The Liturgists, which features controversial author and speaker Rob Bell, singer Nichole Nordeman, writer Rachel Held Evans and others, who characterize themselves as being “decidedly Christian in practice.” One of the EP’s, entitled God Our Mother, explores moving past seeing God in the masculine, but also as a motherly, comforting figure.
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils
“God our Mother/Leading us into peace/Drawing and comforting all those in need,” the song rings out.
Also included is an apophatic meditation that asks listeners to contemplate “who is God?”
“This meditation will consist of a series of phrases. The first will be a positive statement. Something like ‘God is our Father.’ … The second phrase will be a negation of the first: God is not our Father. The word father applies to a human male who either raises a child, contributes sperm for conception, or both. This is not the case with God,” it outlines.
“The third phrase will then negate the negation: ‘God is not not our Father,’” the meditative piece continues. “To the mystics, we perhaps are now present with God. Here in the lack of any understanding. Here in the murkiness of mystery, when we have stopped making an idol of God with our concepts and language… we are finally just present with the great ‘I will be who I will be.’”
Word of Gungor’s direction continues to sadden some Christians.
“He seems confused about what the word of God is and what he believes,” wrote one commenter. “It is impossible to believe only ‘part’ of the Bible. You either believe it all as truth and God’s word or none of it.”
Photo: Facebook/Gungor/Mary Caroline Man
SOURCE: Christian News
About the author: Greg is a strong believer in Jesus Christ and is also a political analyst, author, and is the Editor-in-Chief for the National War Council. By day he is a self-employed non-emergency medical transport driver, as well as being an author and blogger. His articles are first published on Inspirational Christian Blogs, and I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ! His articles have been widely published on many well-known conservative websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so leaving all links intact and crediting the author and the website that the article appeared on.
Greg is the author of the newly released book: Spiritual Darkness is Destroying America and the Church
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Simply because Mr. Gungor does not accept the Genesis account as “literal” does not mean he is “decrying the Word of God” as you note in your comments. No where does Mr. Gungor express “disbelief in God’s word” as you imply, just a difference in interpretation.
The Bible reflects inspiration from God written through a lengthy process from oral traditions to the written word, all being carried out by very human writers and scribes. Interpretations of Scriptures, especially of the OT, were consistently debated thousands of years ago in the practice of midrash, a method of discussing and interpreting Scriptures with volumes of commentaries dating back thousands of years acknowledging the quest for gaining a deeper understanding of God’s word. Disagreement was not blasphemous or suggest a lack of “faith”–simply a different perspective and interpretation.
The Genesis narrative, specifically the first eleven chapters, represent a challenge to support in a purely literal context. The creation narratives (two side-by-side narratives) and various challenges in the flood story suggest a writing that was not singularly written by Moses at one sitting (especially considering Moses was “literally” in a wilderness where writing and recording this quantity of narratives would have been significantly challenged.)
Belief that the Torah was written in full totality and completeness by Moses and perfectly retained and never subject to being edited, altered or added to over thousands of years represents much more of a challenge to accept. That is not disbelief–that is the reality of an amazing, inspired book written over 2,000 years ago.
Attempting to place the limitation of “literalism” on God’s word may be the most unfair practice considering Christ almost exclusively spoke in parables…a teaching practice far from a “literal” method of sharing God’s Word.
And, choosing to interpret the Scriptures differently (as many Biblical scholars agree with Mr. Gungor) does not in any way remove “truth” but simply reflects an interpretation that differs with some, while agreeing with others.
The Bible is not as black-and-white as many try to impose in their own expectations. A difference in opinion is just that–not a reason for ridiculing a fellow follower of Christ and suggesting they are not reflecting suitable Christian behaviors. When someone speaks of absolute certainty regarding the Bible–from Genesis to Revelation– I am reminded what God demands from each of us: faith. And faith requires the presence of doubt–not knowing everything, a lack of factual, absolute certainty–something the Bible offers readers unapologetically, evidently as God has intended.
Hi Luke, Actually Yes it does mean Gungor is decrying God’s Word. Either one believes in God’s Word as being inerrant or not – you cannot claim that this or that part of God’s Word is correct, but another part of it is not. To do so is to claim that God Himself is less than perfect – do you not see this? This is warned of in the Bible even, in the last days men will refuse to hear sound doctrine.
Do you really think God incapable of preserving His Word? Let me ask you a question: did men write the Bible or did God inspire men through the Holy Spirit to write the Bible? If you say men wrote the Bible, you are saying God allowed men to speak for Him directly as this IS the Bible we are speaking off – remember Jesus said He refused the testimony of men. If you say God inspired men to write the Bible – then you cannot claim that parts of it are correct and some are not.
This picking and choosing what a person believes of the Bible is exactly what Satan desires to see happen. The more one doubts God’s Word the better for the ruler of this world. Why do people not see this?
The “flood story” is not a story – it actually happened. There is plenty of evidence to support that. Go to Answers In Genesis – lots of info there. The real problem here though is refusing to accept God’s Word as the truth, nothing I say will convince you otherwise as to the truth of the Word, you have to believe for yourself. People cannot claim to believe the Bible but then claim that parts are untrue. That is like to calling God a liar, like saying God is not capable of preserving the Words He wanted to for us. Either we believe that God is omniscient and omnipotent – or we do not.
God bless
Greg