‘What Did Jesus Say or Not Say?’

The Times told of 30 Bible scholars voting to determine which of Christ’s saying in the New Testament’s Sermon on the Mount were actually spoken by Jesus and which ones may have been the creation of gospel writers or church tradition. Their votes were based on extensive published and personal research.

Every theological institution has a set of precepts written by men supporting its concept of truth. Obviously none of these precepts can ever be proven. Christianity, however, holds that God saw fit to write His set of precepts via the direct hand of man. If God indeed did this, then it is only reasonable to assume that He would not allow us to put our erring fingerprint on His unerring work.

Either the Bible is a book in which God has not permitted error, or it of little value to anyone but the historian. For if man has put his constantly erring opinion to the words of Christ, then who today can know which of the biblical instructions are of God, and which are of man? Therefore, I completely reject the conclusions of these men who are using “new methods of critical analysis” to determine for others what parts of the Bible are truth and what parts are not.

MARK A. SMITH

South Gate