Evangelists stand for three main ideas.

Question: What do evangelicals stand for?

Rick Warren: I’m an evangelical Christian, which means I believe three things.

First I believe that the Bible is the Word of God. I believe there are allegorical parts to it. There are literal parts to it. There are poetic parts to it. There are narrative parts to it. But I believe it’s all the Word of God.

Second, I believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be. He claimed to be the Son of God, and I’m betting my life that He’s right. Okay, everybody bets their life on something. I’m betting my life that He was not a liar.

And then the third part is that we are called to share the good news with other people. I do not believe in coercion. I do not believe in theocracy. I believe, in one sense, free market religion. And that is may the best idea win – that we must treat each other with respect, and everybody has a right to share what they believe. And you have a right to try to persuade me, “Hey, don’t you think this is right?” And then I have a right to try to persuade you. There should be no coercion. I believe that God gives everybody a choice to accept Him or reject Him. And if God gives me a choice to accept Him or reject Him, then I’ve got to give everybody else that same courtesy.

Recorded on: December 11, 2007