James McGrath, writing on Patheos Blog on 3 Feb 2019, makes the following excellent points about how we have conceded the “Bible believing” label to literalists, fundamentalists and the bad type of evangelicals, all of whom badly abuse the Bible and regularly use cherry-picked Bible verses out of context. We need to call them out for what they are: the are not Bible-believers, they are Bible-abusers.

The Zondervan Academic blog explains the significance of words of Paul that are often taken out of context:

Just before Paul says, “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength,” he recounts some of the different circumstances he’s found himself in: he’s been hungry and well-fed, he’s been in need and he’s been well off, and he’s learned to be content, no matter what his circumstances are.

Paul isn’t juxtaposing these circumstances to suggest that one is better than the other. He’s using these extremes to highlight that he understands the range of human experience, and that he understands the challenges that come with each position. He isn’t a rich person telling a poor person to be happy with what they have (or vise versa), and he’s not sitting there on a full stomach telling hungry people to get over it.

He’s saying that no matter what your circumstances are, you can learn to be content. How does he know? Because he’s tested it, and he’s proved it. How does he do it? That’s where verse 13 comes in.

If you read the NIV translation of verse 13, you’ll notice an important distinction from most other translations:

“I can do all this through Him who gives me strength” (emphasis added).

When we read “this” instead of “things,” it’s a lot more clear that the passage is referring to specific things—all the things Paul has been talking about—not “all things” in the sense that we can do anything.

… This verse is so incredibly popular in its distorted form in Christian fundamentalist circles, appearing on mugs and bumper stickers and t-shirts. It illustrates why I think it so important to not allow fundamentalist claims to be “Bible-believing Christians” to go unchallenged or be accepted at face value. They have a viewpoint adorned with biblical language taken out of its context, which is used sometimes to construct and sometimes merely to decorate their worldview which is in no sense simply that of any of the biblical authors, much less of all of them (as though they all agreed). Perhaps focusing in on this one example can help make that point. It is an important one, because unless challenged, what is said in the meme below often proves to be true: Christian fundamentalists can do all (kinds of) things through verses taken out of context.

Source: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionprof/2019/02/i-can-twist-all-scripture.html

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I am glad I have found Chris Kratzer’s blog. I like the way he writes, and I like the way he thinks. That doesn’t mean I agree with everything he says – but then, I doubt he does either. But I like how he gets me to think.

His latest blog is about people who think they’re “engaging” with you by quoting the Bible. I think he’s spot on in his analysis of these people who are all over my social media feed. His conclusions is worth its weight in gold: “When Jesus referenced the Bible, He did so primarily to reframe it and reinterpret it through the lens of Grace, love, and Himself.” Ha.

The only thing I would add to Chris’s excellent article is that when someone throws a Bible verse at me, I quickly whip out my Bible and go back about 10 verses and start reading. I read through the verse they’ve just quoted at me, and read to the end of the next section of the Bible. Without even resorting to Greek or Hebrew or any attempt to look at the interpretation, almost always – with unfailing regularity – the point the person was trying to make by quoting an out-of-context verse can be refuted, repudiated or just scoffed by doing this. It really is one of my favourite things to do. It’s possibly slightly childish, and maybe not entirely helpful, but it proves the points Chris’s blog makes.

Read it and subscribe to Chris’s blog here, or read an extended extract below:
Continue reading Chris Kratzer: Maybe, Just Maybe, If You’d Stop Quoting The Bible At Me →

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