Scissors and Paste Hermeneutics

“But this begs the question: What standard are we using to say that we should imitate this part of Christ’s demeanor and refuse to imitate that part of it? What standard do we use to assemble this hierarchy of verbal values” Why do we say, ‘Imitate Christ in His kindness to the tax gatherers, but never imitate Him in His treatment of the religious pompous? Why not the reverse? ‘Always make fun of religious wowsers, but never imitate Christ’s kindness to the downtrodden.’ This kind of selectivity is not approaching the Scriptures as the Word of God but rather belongs to the ‘scissors and library paste’ school of hermeneutics” (A Serrated Edge, pp. 90-91).