Jack: "Okay, I use an NIV." "You know, I've seen people get saved..." "I got saved from the NIV..."

I didn't, but nonetheless, people say that, and it's true.

"...And you're telling me that my Bible's no good? That's what I've been reading!"

David: Well, it's wonderful that you've been reading the Bible. It's wonderful that you've been thinking about the things of God. Wouldn't you like to know that what you have is what God actually said? Because if we have promises --and the Bible does have lots of promises-- wouldn't it be nice to know those are what God actually promised? Wouldn't it be nice to know it's what God actually said He would do?

For instance, God said He would preserve His words. Jesus Himself said in three different places, even in your NIV, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (See Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; and Luke 21:33.)

Jack: "But aren't the words in my Bible?"

David: No, they're mostly there. And a lot of things are "mostly there." But I can change an entire argument by changing "Yes" to "No." It doesn't take a lot of changes to make something no longer true.

And the thing is, you start taking away words that have to do with the deity of Christ, the fact that Jesus Christ is God, or the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost being one God, take away words about salvation by grace through faith, and make it about works and effort. And you take away words about heaven, about hell, about angels, about devils, about holiness, and we pull that down, then we pretty soon don't have the same gospel.

Jack: Hmm.

David: We have "a very flexible Bible." We can come up with all sorts of alternate doctrines using that. But it's not God's words.