I write this to present my case against this writing of Bob Enyart. I think it is unscriptural and does not correctly teach us how to deal with people, and how it is causing needless division among believers. I don’t present this to “whine” as some will surely say, but to try to make people think about what they are doing to other people. I’ll show that the gospel is one of love, not rudeness for the sake of rudeness. And we can love and be harsh at the same time, but one must be careful doing it.
I think this article Mr. Enyart wrote is partially correct. He asserts that Christian churches today are too polite and nice. I agree that is true, but only in some Christian churches, mainly liberal ones. Those are the churches that water down the gospel and make it more friendly and easier to take. They make church a warm cuddly place where everyone is welcome.
But that is not true of all Christian churches. Many good Bible believing churches are not afraid to preach the true gospel, the gospel that is offensive to unbelievers. They use an in your face style of preaching. When I went to Millersville Bible Church in Pennsylvania, that was the case. And those were the best sermons I ever heard. So Mr. Enyart is wrong to lump all Christian churches into this “Nicer than God” category, because it’s simply not true. That’s rebuttal number one.
Bob Enyart states that the church today is less offensive, rude, and sarcastic than God’s men in the Bible were and that no Christian would ever be caught dead mocking the wicked. Rebuttal number two comes in the fact that Lighthouse, who I believe to be a Christian, has no problem mocking the wicked. That literally makes Bob’s assertion of “No Christian would be caught dead…” false.
But seriously, why is it necessary for us to be rude, offensive, and sarcastic to unbelievers? The gospel is offensive not because of the manner in which people deliver it, but by its content. Unbelievers find it offensive because it forces them to give up their power over their lives. It forces them to give up the sin they love. And also, the Bible says unbelievers are blind to the truth, and God sometimes hardens their hearts, like the Pharaoh in Exodus. The nicest, kindest person can deliver the gospel and offend someone with it. Example: I’ve been accused on this board of being far too nice. I’ve delivered the gospel to people, and lived it for people to see, and I can only think of two people that I can directly see accepted Christ as a result of my witness. Just two! Most others were offended. Was it because I was rude to them? No. They were offended by the message, not the manner of delivery. So when Bob says Jesus was offensive and most people were offended by Him, I believe it’s because of His message and not Him. He was a kind man, a healer, one who invited the children to come to Him. Parents don’t let their children come to someone they know to be rude and offensive. Jesus was harsh at times, yes, but that was to the Pharisees. Calling them blind leaders of the blind is not rude; it was a simple statement of the truth. And the truth can offend sometimes. He said “leave them alone, they are blind.” Straight out of the Bible. But how do Enyartians put this teaching into practice? They gang up on people who disagree with Enyart’s teaching, insult them, call them names, act rude to them, EVEN IF THEY ARE CHRISTIANS! Their own teaching shows Jesus addressing UNBELIEVERS but Enyartians treat FELLOW BROTHERS IN CHRIST this way! This is inconsistent with what they are preaching, and thus they are mis-applying their own beloved teaching. They think they need to be rude and offensive to their own BRETHREN! This is not a good witness. So my rebuttal number three is that this teaching is being used by Enyart followers to rebuke fellow Christians; a gross misinterpretation of the teaching. If the followers fail to apply the teaching the way it was intended, perhaps the teacher failed to teach correctly???? Food for thought….
Now I agree that many other Christian radio programs are too nice and lovey dovey and gushy. What we need is a medium, a preacher like mine from Millersville Bible Church (you can get the sermons online) who will tell you like it is, but not be rude for the sake of being rude.
Bob Enyart cites a few OT examples of mocking. They were all used toward unbelievers, backing up my rebuttal number three. Why are you using this against fellow brothers?
Yes, there are a few examples of mocking, but there are far more examples of love, self-sacrifice, and straightforward telling of the truth. The bottom line is that rudeness is not just word choice, but the tone of delivery, and that cannot be conveyed in printed text. Thus, we don’t always know if the speaker had a rude tone or not. We can’t prove Jesus was being rude or not just by reading words on a page. And you attract more bees with honey than vinegar. Jesus’ harshest words was for the Pharisees. God mocked the wicked, the unbelievers, not those who are saved.
Mr. Enyart tells us time and time again that sometimes harsh words are needed. Yes, I agree, but SOMETIMES! Not all the time, and not just for the sake of using harsh words. Experience here has showed us that Enyartites are rude and harsh more than not, and they clearly enjoy it. This is not how a Christian should act. Gentiles are called dogs or swine. Again, unsaved people. And it says God hates wicked, bloodthirsty deceitful men….again unbelievers. Not how we are to treat believers who disagree with us on a minor point of doctrine. This “Nicer than God” stuff is being used as a license to mock and demean brothers and sisters in Christ and it’s wrong. There are nuggets of truth in the article by Bob Enyart, but they apply to the watered down liberal churches, not the Christian church as a whole as he asserts.
I bring up this example of a misuse of this teaching to show its fallacy, not to resurrect an issue that I consider to be water over the dam. I was posting on this board, minding my own business, just being cool with people as I always would, making friends, when out of nowhere somebody uses this article to say that I was “Nicer than God” and kissing up to anyone that would pay attention to me. Yes, followers of this doctrine think that anyone who is simply being a polite individual is violating Scripture. Being nice to people is kissing up? I was treating fellow Christians with respect. Now if I was attacked for that, then this person thinks that I needed to treat those people rudely in order to be in line with Bob’s teaching. That means I would have to be rude to fellow believers, when in fact the teaching tells us we are to be rude to unbelievers. Therefore the whole argument unravels because it’s not even consistent with itself. This shows a failure of the teacher to get his students to correctly apply the teaching.
Nicer than God is fundamentally antiscriptural, and it’s wrong. This isn’t to say everything Enyart teaches is wrong, but this article is a twisting of Scriptures, and it attacks Christian fundamentals at the core. I urge everyone who’s read this article and follows it to reevaluate it, and think of how we are to treat brothers in Christ.
That’s all I have to say about that. I hope to make people think at the very least. Jesus taught us how to love, and that is clearly one of His most important teachings. That doesn't mean we can't rebuke, but we are to rebuke brothers in love, gently at first. And while God mocked at times, he mocked out of extreme frustration after persistant sin and wickedness. We aren't to mock unbelievers in an attempt to get them to accept Christ. Would you accept Christ if Christians constantly mocked you? And if they refuse to accept still, leave them alone, as Jesus said, and as Enyart himself said. Lighthouse says he mocks because there's nothing left to do. That is wrong. Leave them alone. And follow the golden rule, treat others as you would want to be treated; that's Jesus teaching as well. And that is fundamentally in conflict with the Nicer than God teaching as well, giving us rebuttal number four.
I think this article Mr. Enyart wrote is partially correct. He asserts that Christian churches today are too polite and nice. I agree that is true, but only in some Christian churches, mainly liberal ones. Those are the churches that water down the gospel and make it more friendly and easier to take. They make church a warm cuddly place where everyone is welcome.
But that is not true of all Christian churches. Many good Bible believing churches are not afraid to preach the true gospel, the gospel that is offensive to unbelievers. They use an in your face style of preaching. When I went to Millersville Bible Church in Pennsylvania, that was the case. And those were the best sermons I ever heard. So Mr. Enyart is wrong to lump all Christian churches into this “Nicer than God” category, because it’s simply not true. That’s rebuttal number one.
Bob Enyart states that the church today is less offensive, rude, and sarcastic than God’s men in the Bible were and that no Christian would ever be caught dead mocking the wicked. Rebuttal number two comes in the fact that Lighthouse, who I believe to be a Christian, has no problem mocking the wicked. That literally makes Bob’s assertion of “No Christian would be caught dead…” false.
But seriously, why is it necessary for us to be rude, offensive, and sarcastic to unbelievers? The gospel is offensive not because of the manner in which people deliver it, but by its content. Unbelievers find it offensive because it forces them to give up their power over their lives. It forces them to give up the sin they love. And also, the Bible says unbelievers are blind to the truth, and God sometimes hardens their hearts, like the Pharaoh in Exodus. The nicest, kindest person can deliver the gospel and offend someone with it. Example: I’ve been accused on this board of being far too nice. I’ve delivered the gospel to people, and lived it for people to see, and I can only think of two people that I can directly see accepted Christ as a result of my witness. Just two! Most others were offended. Was it because I was rude to them? No. They were offended by the message, not the manner of delivery. So when Bob says Jesus was offensive and most people were offended by Him, I believe it’s because of His message and not Him. He was a kind man, a healer, one who invited the children to come to Him. Parents don’t let their children come to someone they know to be rude and offensive. Jesus was harsh at times, yes, but that was to the Pharisees. Calling them blind leaders of the blind is not rude; it was a simple statement of the truth. And the truth can offend sometimes. He said “leave them alone, they are blind.” Straight out of the Bible. But how do Enyartians put this teaching into practice? They gang up on people who disagree with Enyart’s teaching, insult them, call them names, act rude to them, EVEN IF THEY ARE CHRISTIANS! Their own teaching shows Jesus addressing UNBELIEVERS but Enyartians treat FELLOW BROTHERS IN CHRIST this way! This is inconsistent with what they are preaching, and thus they are mis-applying their own beloved teaching. They think they need to be rude and offensive to their own BRETHREN! This is not a good witness. So my rebuttal number three is that this teaching is being used by Enyart followers to rebuke fellow Christians; a gross misinterpretation of the teaching. If the followers fail to apply the teaching the way it was intended, perhaps the teacher failed to teach correctly???? Food for thought….
Now I agree that many other Christian radio programs are too nice and lovey dovey and gushy. What we need is a medium, a preacher like mine from Millersville Bible Church (you can get the sermons online) who will tell you like it is, but not be rude for the sake of being rude.
Bob Enyart cites a few OT examples of mocking. They were all used toward unbelievers, backing up my rebuttal number three. Why are you using this against fellow brothers?
Yes, there are a few examples of mocking, but there are far more examples of love, self-sacrifice, and straightforward telling of the truth. The bottom line is that rudeness is not just word choice, but the tone of delivery, and that cannot be conveyed in printed text. Thus, we don’t always know if the speaker had a rude tone or not. We can’t prove Jesus was being rude or not just by reading words on a page. And you attract more bees with honey than vinegar. Jesus’ harshest words was for the Pharisees. God mocked the wicked, the unbelievers, not those who are saved.
Mr. Enyart tells us time and time again that sometimes harsh words are needed. Yes, I agree, but SOMETIMES! Not all the time, and not just for the sake of using harsh words. Experience here has showed us that Enyartites are rude and harsh more than not, and they clearly enjoy it. This is not how a Christian should act. Gentiles are called dogs or swine. Again, unsaved people. And it says God hates wicked, bloodthirsty deceitful men….again unbelievers. Not how we are to treat believers who disagree with us on a minor point of doctrine. This “Nicer than God” stuff is being used as a license to mock and demean brothers and sisters in Christ and it’s wrong. There are nuggets of truth in the article by Bob Enyart, but they apply to the watered down liberal churches, not the Christian church as a whole as he asserts.
I bring up this example of a misuse of this teaching to show its fallacy, not to resurrect an issue that I consider to be water over the dam. I was posting on this board, minding my own business, just being cool with people as I always would, making friends, when out of nowhere somebody uses this article to say that I was “Nicer than God” and kissing up to anyone that would pay attention to me. Yes, followers of this doctrine think that anyone who is simply being a polite individual is violating Scripture. Being nice to people is kissing up? I was treating fellow Christians with respect. Now if I was attacked for that, then this person thinks that I needed to treat those people rudely in order to be in line with Bob’s teaching. That means I would have to be rude to fellow believers, when in fact the teaching tells us we are to be rude to unbelievers. Therefore the whole argument unravels because it’s not even consistent with itself. This shows a failure of the teacher to get his students to correctly apply the teaching.
Nicer than God is fundamentally antiscriptural, and it’s wrong. This isn’t to say everything Enyart teaches is wrong, but this article is a twisting of Scriptures, and it attacks Christian fundamentals at the core. I urge everyone who’s read this article and follows it to reevaluate it, and think of how we are to treat brothers in Christ.
That’s all I have to say about that. I hope to make people think at the very least. Jesus taught us how to love, and that is clearly one of His most important teachings. That doesn't mean we can't rebuke, but we are to rebuke brothers in love, gently at first. And while God mocked at times, he mocked out of extreme frustration after persistant sin and wickedness. We aren't to mock unbelievers in an attempt to get them to accept Christ. Would you accept Christ if Christians constantly mocked you? And if they refuse to accept still, leave them alone, as Jesus said, and as Enyart himself said. Lighthouse says he mocks because there's nothing left to do. That is wrong. Leave them alone. And follow the golden rule, treat others as you would want to be treated; that's Jesus teaching as well. And that is fundamentally in conflict with the Nicer than God teaching as well, giving us rebuttal number four.
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