I have been working on a Masters degree for over a year now, and I have seen, heard, and read people trying to sound like they know what the Bible says, while at the same time doing as they wish. To make things easier for these "scholars," I have assembled the following list of excuses. All of these are actual excuses used by PMETY*; if you don't like the Bible, just pick one (or more) of these to ease your conscience. Don't worry if they contradict each other; consistency doesn't matter to these people.
- Paul might have taught that, but Jesus never did; we should just follow the "red letters."
- Jesus might have taught that, but Paul modified it.
- There's no explicit command; trying to use logic is replacing God's Word with man's thought.
- That explicit command was just for people of that time and place; it doesn't apply to us.
- The Bible commands that, but we have no example of them doing that.
- We have an example of it, but no command.
- That's just a tradition, so we don't have to do that.
- There's no command for it, but there's nothing wrong with a tradition.
- Scholars reject that because it's too different from other passages.
- Scholars reject that because it's too similar to other passages.
* PMETY: People more educated than you.
