The Right to be Wrong Part 2 “The Wrong Way to be Right” THRIVE Service Livestream

The Smithsonian Museum holds a rare copy of a Bible or what’s left of a Bible that once belonged to Thomas Jefferson.

“The Jefferson Bible” was created by Thomas Jefferson in 1820 as a collection of the Biblical teachings of Jesus that he found sound and reasonable. Jefferson valued the moral teachings of Jesus but found other things in the Bible difficult to accept.

So, he conveniently cut out the passages about miracles and the resurrection and removed them.

Before we judge what Jefferson did, we should remind ourselves that we often do the same thing. It’s easy to cut out the parts of the Bible we don’t agree with and keep the parts we like. It’s convenient. It’s also self-serving. That way, we can copy and paste our way into a mindset that affirms everything we already believe.

Jesus confronted a group of people who conveniently used and leveraged scriptures to control others, make themselves look good, and remind others they would never be as good as them.

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples, “The legal experts and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. Therefore, you must take care to do everything they say. But don’t do what they do. For they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do; they do to be noticed by others.”

The people Jesus confronted were called Pharisees. He warned us not to be like some of them.

But it’s hard, because deep down we are all Pharisees. We judge too easily and condemn others too quickly. We put on a good show, meaning we say all the right things, feel morally superior, and we wear our religion like a badge of honor.

Be careful Jesus says. It’s easy to slip into that mindset. Before we point a finger at someone else, we ought to first look in the mirror.

Or as the saying goes. “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”