It is said that Thomas Jefferson would tear out pages in the Bible that he did not agree with. I wonder why. I am sure that personality plays into this but I tend to be apathetic when I read something that I do not agree with. I shrug it off as something I am not going to worry about. I am confident in my salvation and I know that I am going to Heaven. God knows that I will not be able to get everything right and will continue to sin throughout my life on earth. I suppose I choose some of what I will get wrong. Of course, I could just go look for another interpretation. I have heard, "It is my impression that this passage is saying..." too many times (I have used it myself). It seems as if there is at least two interpretations for nearly every passage. I can just find one that does not make me feel uncomfortable or challenged. This reminds me of my Revelation class...
I have been in this class for a semester, nearly everything I have learned can be summed up in two sentences: Jesus is coming. Be ready. I have learned a ton of interesting facts about the first century and the early Christians, but not a whole lot that would apply to my life today. There are four main views for interpreting Revelation with a lot of smaller branches under that. The prof continues to say, I am not in any one group - do not put me in a box. I can totally understand that. I do not want to be put in a box. I am tired of people who are in one of the boxes getting mad at people in another box. How can they truly look at the others and say, "You are wrong. I have figured it out." I understand human pride but I would hope that common sense would come in there somewhere. But I am also frustrated with those of us who straddle all the boxes picking out bits and pieces that we want from each, knowing that we will only know the whole answer later. Why can there not be just straight forward answers?
I almost admire Jefferson for his ability to be decisive to actually know which parts of the Bible he disagreed with adamantly enough to actually tear them out.
