I'm SURE you're one of the exceptions./s
"In a sense, we each form our own canon of acceptable ideas; we each have our own "apocrypha" of marginal thoughts, and our own collection of ideas which we discard into the void, dismissing them from our canon of thought entirely." "One man saw another sitting at the table with a Bible, pen in hand. He was using the pen to make a series of horizontal lines in the Bible's text.
"Underlining your favorite verses?" the first man asked cheerfully.
"Nope," the man with the pen replied. "I'm crossing out the parts that don't apply to me!"
".....The basic claims of Christianity are still there, canon or no canon.
The anecdote above, indeed, reveals the pointlessness of arguing about the canon. The tendency towards syncretism, and the application of personally-preferred truths to the minimization of those found less comfortable, is inescapable, especially in our modern, post-modern environment. Whether God had a hand in the selection and forming of the canon, or whether it was just a random assortment thrown together by the winds of history, the result will be the same: There will always be those, believer and non-believer alike, who will take mental pen in hand and "cross out" the parts of the Bible (or any set of ideas, for that matter) that they find uncomfortable, or add on things that will personally give them a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. ...."
I quite agree.
However I personally try to adapt my opinions to what I perceive the Bible as teaching, rather than the other way around.
No doubt I fail to fully implement this, and deceive myself that I’m doing so when I’m not.
OTOH, I’ve never sat down and cut out parts of the Bible that I dislike.
Possibly Tom was just more honest with himself than I am. But I don’t think so.
Tom was a very interesting guy, and had many more unpleasant aspects to his character than is the common perception among Americans.
I had never heard of the Jefferson Bible until my fiercely Calvinistic coworker asked me if I knew what it was (I’m Catholic and therefore presumed ignorant about Scripture).
He informed me that it is the standard Bible printed in pencil (?) so that Tom could easily excise those passages he thought inapplicable or illogical. My coworker also claimed he could beat Pope Benedict XVI in a debate about Christian doctrine and if I would pony up a ticket to Rome, he would make it happen!
Oh, and he doesn’t observe Christmas and his kids don’t get any gifts.
So glad I’m retired.....