Robert Schuller’s ministry has been famous for many years, and he’s got a plethora of quotes available online. Here’s one:
“Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.”
Nothing wrong with that. In fact, along with being clever, it’s true when held up to the Scriptures. Here’s another:
“If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.”
Not bad, right? It’s just good life advice. But being lulled by a couple of quips is where things can get dangerous.
"To be born again means that we must be changed from a negative to a positive self-image – from inferiority to self-esteem, from fear to love, from doubt to trust."
What in the world is that gobbledygook?! Is being born again (Jesus’ term, by the way) really about changing our outlook? Is it about self-image, or is it about God making us spiritually alive, God turning spiritual blindness into sight, God making a heart of spiritual stone into a living thing? Is it about self-esteem or is it about being called, regenerated, justified, sanctified, adopted, forgiven, redeemed, restored, united with Christ, and a part of God’s worshiping people forever?
How about this spurious quote:
"The classical error of historical Christianity is that we have never started with the value of the person. Rather, we have started from the 'unworthiness of the sinner,' and that starting point has set the stage for the glorification of human shame in Christian theology."
That’s a snarled theological mess, and shows that Schuller has no grasp on the overall message of the Bible or the trajectory of grace. Yes, we are created in God’s image. But sin violently marred that image. To deny the unworthiness of the sinner is to spit at the foot of the cross. God addressed human shame by punishing his own Son as a substitute, thus restoring our fellowship and relieving our consciences. For Robert Schuller to be on record with such ideas (and there are many, many more like it) puts everything he ever said into question. True believers of the Bible and the Lord Jesus should strenuously separate themselves from anything spilling out of the Crystal Cathedral.
But how should we feel about the financial woes of that ministry? Mixed emotions, I think. It’s ironic that a you-can-do-it, believe-it-and-it-will-come-to-pass theological system is caving in. Frankly, I’m thrilled about that because it shows what a cruel and empty theology it is. But the world lumps Christians together, so we can grieve over not only the muddying of the gospel, but the sullying of the name of Christ.
I believe what we should be praying for is redemption: of the ministry of the Crystal Cathedral itself, of the people who have been led astray, and of the message of the gospel as the world looks on.
