Original article posted here.

From my first days at Marshall University, I met people who said they were Christians, but that they did not believe all of the Bible.  This view has never made sense to me.  How do they know which parts are true?  How do they know which parts are reliable?  For some odd reason, they feel they can hold to a proper view of Jesus Christ without ever believing what the Bible teaches us about Jesus.  For them, they approach the Bible with scissors and “snip and cut” away things they do not like.

These people are creating their own religion, not embracing the true religion of Christianity.

Eliminating parts of the Bible started by people who used very broad strokes to divide the Bible into parts.  First, they said the New Testament is trustworthy, but the Old Testament is not and is “done away with.”  These scholars want to talk about the “love” of the New Testament and somehow feel it is incompatible with the law giving, holy God of the Old.

First rule of thumb, when you don’t understand God and you start eliminating attributes of God based upon your misunderstanding, then you are in trouble.

The problem they faced is that Jesus and Paul both taught the trustworthiness of the Old Testament, both relied heavily on the Old, and both revered it.  Jesus trusted the Old Testament and condemned people for not believing Moses and the Prophets (Luke 16:31).  Constantly, Jesus pointed people to the teachings of the Old Testament; it was an integral part of his ministry.  Jesus essentially taught that if you eliminate the Old, you have ripped the heart out of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But that is not all, these scholars soon discovered the New Testament was too much like the Old.  They had to eliminate this dogmatic force in the New Testament that strongly imposed an orthodoxy into the early church.  They surmised that not even Jesus imposed an orthodoxy so later authors should be condemned and even eliminated for their dogmatism.

Their focus centered upon Paul, for he expressed a strong dogma of orthodoxy and expressed the highest view of Scripture found in the New Testament (II Timothy 3:16).  Scholars then attacked Paul with full force, claiming he changed the New Testament and early Christianity, and that he disagreed with Jesus. They acknowledge that Paul was “dogmatic” in his “orthodoxy,” but they claimed Paul was the opposite of Jesus who was “loving” and less controversial –someone who would NEVER be dogmatic.

Yes, you read that correct.  They thought Jesus was less controversial and dogmatic than Paul.  Jesus, the same person who was crucified partially because of his dogmatism, exclusive claims, and narrow way to heaven, was being remade by liberals despite the evidence.  He overturned the temple tables, he embraced the narrowness of the Old Testament religion, spoke more on Hell than any other person, and had frequent allusions to pain and suffering to those who did not believe, but they believed he was less dogmatic.

The liberals tried to make him into being a Santa Clause type figure who is less awesome and more impotent.  Jesus somehow was morphed into some strange and awkward 20th Century view of love that “inspires,” but is not awesome.  This is not the Jesus of the Bible, it was a fictional creation they nicknamed “Jesus.”

The liberals were faced with a problem.  They could close their eyes and ignore all the evidence to say Jesus held to a 20th Century view of ‘love ,’ or they could just eliminate more of the Bible.  After All, they have already eliminated Paul, Hebrews, James, Revelation, and the entire Old Testament, why not eliminate even more?

They brought out the scissors again to tell the world, “what Jesus actually said?”

Of course, they didn’t touch major pieces of the Bible like the Lord’s Prayer.  Of course, something as innocuous as what I repeat in church and at dinner regularly must certainly be clean enough to be included in their assessment.  Or is it?

In fact, so controversial was the Lord’s Prayer that they concluded the only thing Jesus definitely said in the entire prayer was “Our Father.”

To them, “Who art in heaven” was too controversial because it means there is a separation of God and man.  “Hallowed be thy name” couldn’t be tolerated because “Holiness” is too connected with the cultus of judgment and Old Testament.  “Thy kingdom come”  calls upon a universal kingdom that is unlike what we can have on earth.  So on and so forth, they found reasons… plenty of “good” reasons to doubt Jesus ever said these words because it didn’t fit in their imaginary Jesus.

This is absolutely ridiculous.  It is crazy.  It is insane.  It is heretical.

So what evidence do they present?  When I tell you, you will not believe me.  These academics and scholars showed us all how to engage in proper exegesis by simply supporting their conjectures by saying, “We don’t think Jesus is like that.”  Well, I don’t think they are right.  If that is the force of their argument, we will get nowhere fast.  Then they retort, “This is not the Jesus we know.”

They are right, this is not the Jesus they know because the Jesus they know is a fictional person.  The real Jesus said the entire Lord’s Prayer, was accurately portrayed in the Gospels, had his teachings properly expounded by Paul and Hebrews, and was spoken of by Moses and the Prophets.

These people are fooling themselves if they think they know more about Jesus than Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.  They are foolish to think they know more about Jesus than Paul, the author of Hebrews, and Jesus’ own brother.  In a mere few words, they loudly proclaim, “I am arrogant enough to think I know more about Jesus than all these people combined–combined.”

If the Bible is merely inspiring, the Bible is no different from Shakespeare, Michael Buble, or when I pass a local ice cream joint in town.  In each case I am inspired to read, sing, or get fat.  The Bible, to them, is inspiring and gives us some sense of emotional high for a short term period.  That is not Biblical inspiration.  Inspiration is reading the Bible and knowing these are the words of God perfectly ordained, perfectly preserved, and perfectly kept so that when reading it, I am more than being “inspired,” but I am coming face to face with God himself.

If your view of Christianity is this liberal view, you are not only wrong, you are not a Christian.  Instead of cutting the Bible, open it up and read it.  Only then can you come face-to-face with the real God of this Universe.