The Bible Isn’t the Problem—It’s Our Selective Obedience

This has become one of the most damaging habits in modern Christianity: People curated, dissected, politicized, and trademarked Scripture.

People highlight what comforts, quote what supports, and ignore what confronts. Honestly, it’s just preference dressed up in spiritual language that fits the bill at the moment.

Cherry-picking isn’t a new trend by any means; history verifies this over and over. But the church has gotten quite bold about it.

Verses are yanked out of context, slapped on mugs, elevated into doctrines, and built into entire belief systems. And anything that challenges those fragments of Christanity gets dismissed as outdated, misunderstood, or “not for today.” 

God’s word isn’t rejected outright; it’s just outright filtered.

As though that makes it ok somehow, deemed “permissible” because it gets reinterpreted to “fit the times.” God is timeless; if it were meant ONLY for that time in history, we’d have more crucifixions.

By filtering God, people get to avoid submitting to Him.

Chapters and verses were added to Scripture to help us study, not to permit us to dissect God into the parts we like and parts we tolerate. The Bible was written as a unified message, yet the modern church treats it like a buffet.

One of the clearest symptoms is how easily we divide God Himself. 

Passages get labeled as “loving” and others as “problematic,” as if God’s character shifts with the culture. But this isn’t really about testaments or theology. 

It’s about control. People wanting control.

A whole God requires repentance. 

A customized god requires nothing from people.

So Scripture gets shrunk to fit lifestyles instead of letting it reshape us.

Disobedience got spiritualized, sin got excused, and faithfulness was redefined. And when God’s word pushes back, people accuse it of being harsh rather than honest.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: when we cherry-pick Scripture, we teach the world they can do the same. We handed unbelievers permission to reshape God however they see fit, because that’s exactly what we’re doing.

The Bible doesn’t need to be softened, and God doesn’t need to be updated. What needs to change is the modern church’s willingness to stop editing God and start following Him.

© Jane Isley

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