Why Do So Many People Who Talk About Jesus Not Actually Read the Bible?

My wife, Kasi, and I have five children. Our oldest two are both girls, 11 and 6, and they both love to play with Play-Doh. They have all the colors and all the tools necessary to mold, shape and build anything their vivid imaginations can come up with. OK, now for a moment of confession. I love to play with them and create as well. It reminds me of my childhood, but my daughters often will put me in time-out when I mix the colors to create new ones. It’s what I always did as a kid, but they can’t stand it. “Daddy, you’re ruining it!”

The reason we all liked Play-Doh as children is because we believed we could create anything we wanted. We’d mold, shape and bend. Plus, if we didn’t like how it was turning out we could pick everything up, roll it in a ball and start over.

I believe this is the same reason why so many people love to talk about Jesus, but don’t actually read the Bible. In fact, we’ve all heard people say such things as, “I love Jesus, but I don’t like the Bible.” “I have a deep respect for Jesus, but I don’t agree with the Bible.”

Is it possible that we are worshipping a Play-Doh Jesus? Meaning, the main reason we don’t have an issue with Jesus is because it’s a Jesus that we’ve created by our own imagination? We’ll shape, mold and bend Him to be what we want Him to be. Then the very moment that particular Play-Doh Jesus no longer appeases us, we just roll Him up and start over; we create a different Jesus more to our liking. When we do this we are not worshipping the Jesus of the Bible, but rather, a “Jesus” that we’ve created in our own minds..........