I have shared some of my reasons for personally concluding that the Bible represents God’s perfect word. That conclusion did not come without the Lord’s intervention in my life, followed by years of study, prayer and observation. So I was troubled by a recent Facebook post that crossed my screen. It read as follows:

“I cannot stand ‘they need to read the bible’ answer when they have no intellectual answer. I hate throwing verses out to convince. I’m my own Christian, I like to think, and I’ve found reading the Bible figuratively, not literally is how to go. If you want to do x and translate it your way, it doesn’t mean you’re right. Right fighters, are not us!”

Setting aside the perilous lack of humility behind this post for a moment, there may actually be a valid point or two. After all, in his first epistle, the Apostle Peter does encourage us to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15)

But the credibility of the post’s author is severely strained by four curious words: “I’m my own Christian.”

Belief in Jesus Christ defines all Christians. Not only must we believe, but we trust that He is the incarnated Son of God who died on the cross and was resurrected for our salvation.

That faith is shared by all Christians. That is the Gospel. There is no “I’m my own Christian.”

Moreover, to believe in Jesus is to understand that there is but one way to the Father. As He teaches us in John 14:6, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

Which begs the question…what is one’s motivation for asserting “I’m my own Christian?” What does that even mean?

I might speculate that the post reflects a desire to escape accountability for the author’s behavior. By declaring the Bible is figurative and subject to personal interpretation, she is free to claim sin is a result of misinterpretation rather than intentional disobedience of God’s word. It other words, she is disavowing responsibility for sin.

Such denial would be dangerous. For one, it fails to inspire the repentance the Lord seeks in recognition of sin. Secondly, it diminishes the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He suffered for every one of our sins – not so we could deny their existence.

Unfortunately, I know something about trying to escape accountability.

Rather than devising my own creative interpretation of the Bible to rationalize disobedience to God, however, I instead chose to remain ignorant of biblical truth. I did not deny that the Bible was God’s word – I just remained oblivious of what it said to elude culpability. I didn’t try to redefine scripture. My chosen path was to rationalize my deviant behavior by making assumptions about what the Bible must say.

To anyone that asked, I would confess a belief in God. Of course, I would never let the conversation proceed beyond that confession because I did not want my ignorance on full display. I learned the Lord’s Prayer in my youth. In adulthood, I mouthed it virtually every night as I lay my head to sleep – typically while contemplating the next day, reliving a round of golf or lamenting a bad beat at the poker table.

Why bother with the mime? Well, as I look inwardly in an effort to dissect my motives, I can only conclude that my insincere “prayer” was a delusional insurance policy. What was I insuring against? I suppose it was so I was covered just in case God was actually paying attention to my behavior. Of course, He was. And, of course, I was delusional.

That is a classic definition of an insincere faith. It is a faith of elective ignorance and/or disobedience – one it seems I may have shared with the author of the quoted post. It is really no faith at all.

Faith is not an insurance policy or hedge against a bad bet. It is not something done with the head, but with the heart. The Christian faith acknowledges what Christ did for us on the cross – and why He did it. We confess our sins and thank the Lord for His grace that has washed us clean. And we endeavor to remain obedient to His will and His word, not ignorant of it.

The genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:7-9