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Without a doubt Thomas Jefferson is one of the most gifted men to occupy the presidency. However, there is another side of Thomas Jefferson that few people know about.
Did you know there is a book nicknamed “the Jefferson Bible,” composed by the man himself? Thomas Jefferson crafted a Bible that he lived by. He simply took the existing Bible, got out a razor blade, and cut portions of the Bible that did not adhere to his beliefs.
He removed the verses of the immaculate conception of Jesus Christ. He did not believe that Jesus was truly the Son of God, but a great man who gave us morals and standards to live by. He removed all of the passages containing the stories of Jesus’ miracles.
The section about his resurrection was eliminated. He considered all of these verses to be hearsay. Anything dealing with the divine nature of Jesus was conveniently deleted, and the Bible was whittled down to a version that satisfied Jefferson’s personal beliefs.
Many of you are probably surprised and maybe a little disappointed in his actions. However, if we are totally honest, today’s society is doing the exact same thing. Maybe we aren’t actually cutting pages from the Bible with a razor blade, but we are picking and choosing which parts of the Bible we wish to accept and which parts should be altered or deleted.
Sadly, entire Protestant denominations are guilty of doing away with the sections of the Bible that do not conform to current social norms. The Bible warns against adding or subtracting from the Bible (Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18-19).
Has God’s thinking changed? Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." God has not changed. Man has changed. He has created a god that is convenient to his own beliefs and society’s current views, morals, and standards.
So, is the Bible fact or fiction? Should we be given the freedom to pick and choose the verses that make us comfortable and disregard the rest?
Where do you stand on the Bible? Is it the complete divine Word of God, or are you writing your own version? Only you and God know the answer to this question.
MICHAEL SURBER
Graham
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Society is changing the Word of God, just like Thomas Jefferson who crafted his own Bible: Letter
