Because of our Redacted series, two friends sent me the same link to the same study the other day, and it was eye-opening to say the least. Lifeway Research recently surveyed more than 2,000 Protestant churchgoers about the Bible – how we read it, understand it, and respond to it. There was plenty of good news.

For instance, 91% said they believe they can read a passage of Scripture and usually understand how it’s relevant to their lives, and 84% believe they could help someone who was struggling with doubts about whether the Bible is true.

That’s awesome! And it means this isn’t exactly a story about churchgoers who don’t know anything about the Bible. Quite the opposite. Most of us seem pretty confident that we understand Scripture and could even help someone else understand or trust it. Which is what made the next numbers so interesting to me.

34% of Protestant churchgoers said, “I accept some truths from the Bible, but others don’t fit what I believe.” Uh oh. Think about that a second. More than one out of every three people sitting in a Protestant church says they pick and choose what to accept from the Bible based on what they already believe. Another 28% said that as culture changes, some biblical truths become obsolete. And among churchgoers ages 18-29, those numbers are 56% and 54%.

Take a beat and think with me about the tension there. We’re confident that we understand the Bible. Confident enough to help someone else who doubts the Bible. And yet a significant percentage of us are also willing to say, “There are parts of the Bible that don’t fit what I already believe.”

I read those numbers and thought… well, that sounds familiar. When he shared this study with me, one of my friends wrote, “The current series couldn't be more timely.”

If you’re waking up from a month-long coma today, we’ve spent the last few weeks in our Redacted series talking about our tendency to approach the Bible with a marker in our hand. We read something we like, agree with, or already believe and our heart goes “keep that.” Then we come across something that rubs us the wrong way, confronts something we believe, or demands something from us that we really don’t want to do and suddenly our heart is tempted to start editing.

In other words, we can be pretty confident around the Bible without actually being submitted to the Bible.

Now, it would be really easy to read that study and shake our heads at that 34%, wouldn’t it? Can you believe that? People sitting in churches who admit they reject parts of the Bible! That’s crazy! What kind of churches are these?!

But I wonder if the most concerning thing about the study isn’t that 34% admitted it. I wonder if it’s how many of the rest of us do the same thing without realizing it.

Because I don’t think most Christians read something in the Bible and consciously say, “Nope. God’s wrong about that one.” It’s more of a slow burn. We find reasons why it doesn’t really apply to us, right now. We explain it away. We focus on a different verse that we like better. We say, “Well, that was written a long time ago…” or “You have to understand the culture back then…” Or? We just go on living the way we were as if we didn’t read it at all.

And listen, you do have to understand the culture back then! I get that. Context matters. In fact, 96% of the people in the study said understanding the original context of Scripture is important. They’re absolutely right.

But there’s a difference between trying to understand what God said and trying to find a way around what God said.

What happens when I study Scripture carefully, understand what it says, and still don’t like it? What happens when what God says about my money conflicts with what I want to do with my money? What happens when what He says about sexuality runs against what I or the culture around me believes? What happens when He tells me to forgive someone I don’t want to forgive, love someone I don’t want to love, give up something I don’t want to give up, or obey when I would really rather not?

Who gets the final say?

That’s ultimately the question. Because if the answer is me, then I can “believe” 90% of the Bible and still have a very serious problem. Why? Because I’m the one who gets to determine which 90% stays. I’m standing over Scripture judging it instead of sitting under Scripture and allowing it to judge me.

So maybe there’s a question worth spending some time with this week: Where does the Bible currently disagree with me? Where is Scripture challenging something I believe, want, feel, or do? Where am I wrestling with God instead of instantly agreeing with Him?

And if I can’t think of anything, I’m not sure that means I’ve finally gotten everything right. It might mean I’ve gotten really good at making sure the Bible agrees with me.

Pray with me that we would come to God’s Word with enough humility to say, “God, You get the final say. When You and I disagree, I’m the one who needs to change.”

That’s a much harder way to read the Bible.

It’s also the only way to follow Jesus.