Jesus Cropped from the Picture

Jesus Cropped from the Picture

There is little difference between this kind of neglect of the Scriptures and Thomas Jefferson’s infamous attempt to “cut and paste” his own version of the Bible. Mark Batterson said, “Part of us scoffs or scolds Jefferson. You can’t pick and choose. You can’t cut and paste. You can’t do that to the Bible . But here’s the truth: while most of us can’t imagine taking a pair of scissors to the Bible and physically cutting verses out, we do exactly what Jefferson did. We ignore verses we cannot comprehend. We avoid verses we do not like. And we rationalize verses that are too radical.... Whenever I’m reading the Bible and I come to a verse that I don’t fully understand or live up to, I find myself reading really fast.” 43 I’m a New Testament Kind of Guy Believers who say, “I am more of a New Testament kind of person” indicate they have cropped Jesus from the picture. Jesus is the SUBJECT of all of Scripture. 44 In the Old Testament God forms a family in Abraham, a tribe in Jacob, a nation in Israel, a kingdom in David. The history of the Jewish people is the story of how God prepared the world to receive the Messiah, who would fulfill all the images and prophecies of Old Testament. Jesus completes the Israelite story so the rest of the world can participate in the Hebrew’s heritage. The Old Testament is the story of Israel’s expectation; the New Testament the story of Israel’s fulfillment, where all creation anticipates Jesus’ Second Coming, resulting in a new heaven and earth. 45 “ How does it apply to me? ” is the question that can quench deep appreciation of God’s word. The better question is, “Why is this important to God, and why did he want it in his book?” The proper approach to Bible

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