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Knowledge (of the Bible) in the Wrong Hands is Dangerous
By Marc | May 9, 2008
I started reading Ted Dekker’s novel, Blink (now titled Blink of an Eye
They said that a good memory, not superior judgment or analytical thinking, was the virtue of a good Muslim theologian.
I don’t profess to know an awful lot about Islam or the Qur’an, and I don’t want to draw comparisons or make judgment calls about a way of life I am not part of, but I thought about how that sentence applies to a Christian life.
A good memory is indeed a good virtue and is highly honorable, but with Christianity, someone with a superior knowledge of the Bible has the ability within him to do an awful lot of harm to those who don’t. I praise those who know the Bible completely and use that knowledge for the good and understanding of all. I have contempt for those who would use only the sharpest parts of it as weapons.
To me, the Bible is a living, breathing body that has to work as a whole.
If you chop off someone’s finger, most people could tell it’s a finger and also belonged to a person. With the finger’s attributes (fingerprint, DNA, blood type, skin color), one could even tell exactly who it belonged to and if they had certain diseases. You could even tell a little if that person did a lot or very little hard work by calluses. But that might be about it. You could never tell the person’s I.Q., faith, religion, dreams, talents, family life, level of education, or anything that makes them more than just a concoction of minerals and meat.
The same is true of the Bible.
To justify any action or condemn someone else’s, I could pull just the right verse out of the Bible and use it to further my own agenda. This tactic has been used a lot by enemies of Christianity, its followers, and those who would create their own “purification” of it. People have been turned off to the body of Christ and others have created cults because of it. It has been used to demean wives, guilt children, ruin families, and demoralize masses.
Remember the Commandment to “honor your father and mother” (Deut. 5:16) but forget “fathers, do not exasperate your children” (Eph. 6:4).
Just hold on to one verse, but neglect another. Pretty soon I’ll be the judge I think I deserve to be. There’s something in the book about splinters, logs, and eyes, but that doesn’t apply to me. I am far more righteous than you could ever be. (I really hope you caught the sarcasm. I am just a sinner in recovery. I have no right to judge another man’s sins when mine are known by the true Judge.) It’s no wonder so many see Christians as hypocrites.
But to better understand the nature of God, the whole book has to be utilized. Just like the finger, one verse could never fully spell out God’s love for us, His likes and dislikes, His plans, His pains in raising us, or anything that could totally spell out who He really is. The people who can know the whole Word and lead fuller lives because of it and then share that wisdom with others are truly admirable. Not using the Bible as a weapon, but as a biography, an owner’s manual for life, and a love story.
I admit that I have been guilty of sharpening small pieces, mainly in my time before Christianity and my earlier days of it. I had memorized (rather paraphrased) verses picked out by other atheists to further distance myself from Christ. After I accepted Christ, I was so naïve in my journey that I took every word I heard as total truth without knowing the gist of the whole and used these fragments as a way to condemn those who didn’t believe exactly what I did.
I also admit that my walk with God is still very much a crawl, but the more I read and the more I know, the better His face comes into focus.
God loves us all and has far more in store for us than what the guy hiding behind sharpened words says. Far more than I could ever tell you in a little blog post.
And remember, if someone tries to make you feel guilt or shame even after forgiveness, remember…
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16
Notice that it doesn’t say God so loved Christians, Protestants, Catholics, ministers, heterosexuals, Republicans, children born within wedlock, tattooless men with short hair, or those with a stable income and family life. It says “the world” and that means EVERYONE! Every single person from the lowest to the highest. You are special in God’s eyes because you are His creation! Know His story before someone tries to twist it to make you feel low.
Topics: Encouragement, Faith | 2 Comments »
May 12th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Ephesians 5 is often quoted by feminists as misogynous (it makes me uncomfortable also)but the much longer description of the husband’s responsibility is never quoted. We do tend to quote(or misquote) scripture to make our point while not paying attention to the context.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Good point, Bob. I was thinking of the feminists stance when I read this too. And at one time I agreeed when I saw men abuse their “authority”. Then, one day I realized, God gave men a list of things to do, and women get one thing. I’d rather have one thing to be accountable for then an entire list.