Rightly dividing the word of truth does not mean cafeteria Christianity.

[Pastor Isaac Peters]

One of the surest ways of spotting a liberal false Christian is his insistence on following only those parts of God's Word that back up what he wanted to believe anyway. Usually, when you ask such a person to justify his doing so, and he deigns to answer at all, he'll tell you that he "just knows" which parts of the Bible God meant and which are just filler. Some, however, were at least half awake when Pastor Bunnyfluff preached on the following verse:

2 Tim. 2:15: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

They assume that "rightly dividing the word of truth" means picking and choosing which parts of the Bible they get to follow. A thorough reading of Scripture disproves that assumption.

The Bible tells us to believe in all of the Bible:

Matt. 4:4: But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

2 Tim. 3:16-17: All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Therefore, the cafeteria Christians' interpretation of "rightly dividing the word of truth" cannot be correct. In fact, by focusing on 2 Tim. 2:15 and ignoring the other verses quoted above, they engage in circular reasoning by assuming the propriety of cherry-picking the Bible to "prove" the propriety of cherry-picking the Bible.

[Jedediah]

Re: Rightly dividing the word of truth does not mean cafeteria Christianity.

It would seem that the majority of so-called "Christians" are of the cherry-picking, make-it-up-as-you-go-along persuasion. It is not the LORD of the Holy Bible (KJV 1611) that they worship, but rather a false "god" that they made up on their own and which exists only in their sorely deluded imaginations. Due to cultural influences, they grow used to the trappings of whatever false-believing church they were raised in and conflate the false, at-best quasi-Biblical teachings they were raised on with the false made-up "god" of their imaginations. They might as well be worshiping no god at all and simply become "secular humanists," for all the good their made-up religion-of-one will do them on the day of Judgment, when God resurrects sinners from the dead for the sole purpose of having them cast into the lake of fire, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, and where their worm shall never die.

Matthew 7:21-23
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Even more galling than their conflation of their own mental yammering with the Word of God, however, is when they presume to advise those of us who live by the Word on how to be Christians. They come to our Godly forum, ignorant of what the Holy Bible (KJV 1611) teaches, and spew their morally relativistic, Jesus-loves-everyone, feel-good bastardization of Christian theology as if it exists outside of their own personal land of lollipops, sunshine and make-believe. It's pathetic. I sleep well knowing that they too shall have their part in the fiery pits of hell and will not be joining us True Christians™ in Heaven.