Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Do not add to his words,
lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. (Proverbs 30:5-6)
God is not a liar. What He says He does. His Word is absolutely true. The problem with people wanting to pick and choose what they want to believe in the Bible, is that it puts us in the position of judging which parts are true. The reality is, as Jon Courson points out, that God’s Word judges us, not the other way around.
The Bible itself claims to be the Word of God, wholly inspired. Even though there were over 40 different writers from every walk of life (shepherd, kings, farmers, fishermen, tax-collector, tent-maker, doctor, priests, prophets, etc.) who wrote the 66 books over a period of 1,500 years, it is amazingly consistent with the same focus throughout: redemption of sinful man through Jesus, the Messiah, Savior. See what Paul, Isaiah, and Jesus had to say about God’s Word:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8)
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10-11)
But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)
On one of my visits to Washington, D.C., I saw Thomas Jefferson’s version of the Bible that is in the Smithsonian American History Museum. It is called the Jeffersonian Bible, and it is full of holes, where Jefferson literally cut out any parts with which he disagreed. Jefferson was a deist, which is basically someone who believes that there is a higher power who started the world, but who is not interested in the day-to-day affairs of men, and who certainly does not desire a personal relationship with men.
How convenient to take out portions of the Bible that don’t fit our preconceived ideas or any thoughts that rankle or aren’t PC. Jesus promised that we would know the truth and that it would set us free (John 8:31-32). He said the truth, not a truth. There is one truth, and we can know it. It’s called the Bible.
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