If you are lost and pull out a map, do you ignore the parts of the map that don’t fit with where you think you are?  Of course not.  If you did, you’d still be lost.  If you are typing in an internet address, do you decide for yourself which letters are really necessary, skipping the others?  Doesn’t work so well, right?

Which parts of the Bible are trustworthy and which parts are not?  The Jesus Seminar presumed to decide that question, as it pertained to the sayings of Jesus.  They black-balled a good portion of the Gospel accounts.  For example, in their lofty wisdom, they declared Jesus never said, “I am the way and the truth and the life…”  On what basis?  They began with the assumption that Jesus would never have referred to Himself.  In other words, they crossed out everything from the Gospels that did not conform to their own ideas.  It is no surprise that the portion of the New Testament they found to be authentic closely resembled their own thinking.  And was very short.

If you come to the Bible unprepared to let it challenge you and change you, it won’t.  If you ignore everything you disagree with, what’s left will simply look a lot like you.  God spoke about that kind of audacity through His prophet, Jeremiah:

“‘How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law of the Lord,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?
The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what kind of wisdom do they have?   (Jeremiah 8:8-9)