Why do people reject the Bible? Is it because it makes extravagant claims which can be easily debunked? At one stage I thought so. But as I got older I slowly began to realize that such wasn’t the case.
When I was fishing around the New Age, I deliberately avoided reading my Bible. It was only after I found myself in a spiritual desert that God said, “Enough is enough,” and took over. I avoided the Bible because I suspected it contained truth. If that was the case, I would be compelled to change my lifestyle. So I kept looking elsewhere.
Among other things, people attack and reject the Bible’s authority because they don’t like what it claims for itself. They reject God’s word because they don’t want it to be true. It’s seen as an imposition on the lives they choose for themselves.
A classic example is Nadia Bolz-Weber. Chapter 2 of her book Pastrix begins with citing 1 Timothy 2:11-12. At its conclusion, she thanks her parents for blessing her desire to become a pastor. Sorry Paul, Nadia did what she wanted to do.
The same can be said of Rachel Held Evans. She wrote Inspired in order to introduce her readers to an un-inspired Bible, which she insisted ought to be loved despite imperfections—perhaps like a dithering beloved family member with dementia. I guess RHE felt she needed to maintain a foot in Christianity; hence, couldn’t totally abandon it.