I just started a book called "Doctrine, what Christians should believe" by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears. In a chapter called "God speaks" this quote about Thomas Jefferson caught my attention:"When we say plenary, we mean there are no parts of the Bible we don't believe, don't like, or won't teach or preach or obey. We cannot be like Thomas Jefferson, who brazenly sat down in the White House with a razor in one hand and a Bible in the other and cut out the portions he rejected, asserting his own authority over the authority of the Lord.
And we cannot be like those who are more subtle than Jefferson and simply ignore parts of the Bible as primitive, dismiss them as outdated, or explain them away with human reasoning. Paul shows us the proper attitude towards scripture: "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 competent, equipped for every good work."
I'm saddened by how many theologians today are in agreement with Thomas Jefferson. For me I would not bother with the Bible if it didn't tell the whole truth or waste my time on a Bible with possible falsehoods. The Bible is either the Word of God or it is not. Why would a Christian settle for anything less?
This reminded me of a quote by St. Augustine where he said, "If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself."
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