A note from Jason: Hello, Saint Matthew family. With the storms that blew through our area on Tuesday morning Pastor Max was without Internet and couldn’t upload his article in time for publishing. I hope you’ll indulge me as I share one of my personal favorite Friday’s Word articles with you, published February 18, 2022, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Did you ever notice how reasonable Jesus is?

In fact, he teaches us the principle of consistency.

“A bad tree cannot produce good fruit,” he told us.

“You cannot serve two masters,” he said.

You will end up cleaving to one and letting the other go.

Now let me test your awareness of consistency. Which of these words does not belong with the other words? Dog, Cat, House, Mouse, and Moose.

I know you got that right. The word “house” is not consistent with the words which name animals.

Now another test, just as easy. Scripture passages:

1-God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

2-God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

3-While we were sinners, Christ died for us.

4-God is love.

5- Then God rained sulfur and fire from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now, which of those statements is inconsistent?

Again, the answer is obvious. The last statement does not agree with the other four.

If God is love, if God is kind even to the wicked, then God does not rain fire down on anyone.

If God deals with our sin by dying for us, then God does not seek to destroy us. So, if the first four statements are true, the last one cannot be true.

And here’s the point:

If you are a biblical inerrantist, you must believe that all five statements are equally true.

In other words, you must believe nonsense.

In other words, you cannot accept what Jesus teaches us about the nature of God.

You are a house divided. You are trying to serve two masters, two very different ideas about God’s nature.

You can’t do that, Jesus said. So, stop trying!

Let inerrancy go.