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Writer's pictureBible Brian

Why Cafeteria Christianity is self refuting


One of the benefits of having the Scriptures is that we don't have to just guess what God is like, or what He wants from us. Rather than fumble around in the dark like some unfortunate Agnostic, or make things up like a reckless Relativist, we can get the story straight from the Lord's mouth. God speaks, prophets write, man studies.


"Not so", say some "Christians". The Scriptures are not infallible, they're just man's best guess from the time. When God did things, they just interpreted it their own way and made a religion out of it. This conveniently allows us to discard the parts of the Scriptures we don't like. "I don't understand this part, so I'll pretend the Apostles were giving their opinions." "I find this part vile, so I'll chalk it up to human nature." "This part sounds silly, so I'll say it was made up by primitive goat herders." Convenient, right?


The problem with treating the Bible like some kind of buffet is that the moment you discard the bits you don't like, you end up getting rid of the bits you do. For one thing, much of what we don't like is inextricably linked to what we do. There is no Savior without sin, there is no Heaven without Hell, there is no last Adam without the first Adam, you simply cannot separate some issues.


But second, you end up wandering in the wilderness without Inerrancy. As I already stated, the benefit of having Scriptures is that we don't have to make so many guesses. But those who deny the Inerrancy of Scripture have to make it up as they go along. If the Bible is just man's best guess, you have to make your own best guesses about which of those guesses were good guesses. It becomes about the God you want, not the God we have.


As a Christian, sure, there are things I don't like about Christianity. But it would be pure foolishness for me to assume God must submit to my standards. After all, what am I? I'm just one more clump of dust ambling towards his grave, barely understanding his small corner of existence. Am I to assume I know enough to talk back to God? Trust me folks, I've tried that before, and it works about as well as you'd expect. A toddler has more chance of scoring a good point against their parent than a man against God. The former may happen, the latter will not.


The question you must ask yourself is if the Scriptures aren't teaching you about God, what is? See, even if you think the prophets and Apostles were primitives, they were primitives who actually walked with God. I don't know about you, but I don't remember the last time a pillar of fire and smoke guided my way through a desert, or a bright light knocked me off my horse on the road to Damascus. Do you? Of course you don't! The Biblical authors were in a unique position. I know God because they know God. You know God because...? Let's be honest: The reason you think you know God better than His people is because your god is you! You made your god up to suit your own desires, but it would obviously be utterly delusional to admit it, so you tie your god to a pre-existing faith and pretend you're not just building on another's foundation. But you are. And that delusion is precisely why you are not God's friend, but His enemy.


But God isn't really in the business of making enemies with His image bearers. He can finish the fight you started, but peace is His preference. That's why Jesus went to the cross. Because you are a sinner, you do deserve God's wrath, but God has absolutely no desire to give it to you. He instead punished Jesus, extending His grace to you, but that grace must be received by faith. Therefore, put away the folly of Cafeteria Christianity. Trust instead the whole word of God.

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