In the 18th century, the U. S. Congress once issued a special edition of Thomas Jefferson’s Bible. It was a simple copy of our Bible with all references to the supernatural eliminated. Jefferson, in selecting, had confined himself solely to the moral teachings of Jesus.
The closing words of this Bible are: “There laid they Jesus and rolled a great stone at the mouth of the sepulchre and departed.”
Thank God, our Bible ended with the news that “He is risen!”
There was a king in the Old Testament that did something similar to what Thomas Jefferson did but went a lot further. He had Jeremiah put into prison. Jeremiah had a message from god for this king so he got someone to write it down on a scroll. Here is what happened to it:
Jeremiah 36:20-24 (The Message) 20 “The officials went to the court of the palace to report to the king, having put the scroll for safekeeping in the office of Elishama the secretary of state. 21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He brought it from the office of Elishama the secretary. Jehudi then read it to the king and the officials who were in the king’s service. 22 It was December. The king was sitting in his winter quarters in front of a charcoal fire. 23 After Jehudi would read three or four columns, the king would cut them off the scroll with his pocket-knife and throw them in the fire. He continued in this way until the entire scroll had been burned up in the fire. 24 Neither the king nor any of his officials showed the slightest twinge of conscience as they listened to the messages read.”
I doubt there are any people today that actually cut parts of the bible out but they do it in other ways. They don’t believe that some of the things really happened or that what is in the Bible doesn’t apply to them. Below are some examples of comments I have read or heard:
“I believe God created everything but he couldn’t do it in six 24 hour days.”
“Moses didn’t lead the Israelites through the Red Sea, it was the Reed Sea which was just a few inches deep.”
“I know Jesus told us to do. But he doesn’t know my circumstances.”
“We’re under grace so we don’t have to obey the commandments.”
“I know the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and that the apostles were given spiritual gifts but they all died so the gifts died with them. There are no gifts of the Spirit today.”
“I know Jesus did miracles when he was on earth but he can’t do them now.”
People who say or think these types of things may as well cut all the references of them out of their Bibles. We cannot do that. Here is what the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:
2 Timothy 3:16 (The Message) 16 “Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another-showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes,
training us to live God’s way.”
So CUT IT OUT! Stop cutting out the parts of the bible you don’t believe or don’t understand!
By Dean Masters
Unedited redistribution authorized.