Taking Scripture In Stride
Our family recently moved back to my home town in upstate New York. After the long, exhausting and tedious process of unpacking, we discovered a few items that we could part with, so I placed an ad in one of our local papers.
A few days passed when I received an email asking if we still had the humidifier for sale. I replied that yes, we did, and would be happy to let it go for next to nothing. The next day a gentleman came and shortly thereafter both he and our humidifier were on the road. I thought little of our transaction and immediately went on with my day caring for our toddler, preparing dinner, and other household chores.
Later that evening I logged onto the computer to respond to a few pending emails. Upon opening my account, I was surprised to find several emails from “Bob,” the gentleman who bought our humidifier.
Was he ok, I thought? Was something wrong with the humidifier we sold him? Did he leave something at our house?
Concern and curiosity ran through my mind as I clicked his first email. It started with a verse: “Thou shalt not lie with man-kind, as with womankind; it is abomination” (Leviticus 18:22), which was followed by a lecture about God’s word and how His word does not change.
I scanned Bob’s long and drawn out interpretations of the five “clobber passages,” and I clicked delete.
The next email started with Romans 1:27 “And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of women….” His almost four-page email went on and on, and of course, it ended by describing why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
During his visit, Bob noticed that our household’s marriage dynamic includes same gender spouses, and he made it his mission and duty to inform us that we were spiritually in wrong standing.
I considered responding to Bob’s emails with my own litany of Bible verses (starting with Ezekiel 16:49, which negates the Sodom and Gomorrah gay theory). But due to my pending emails and a demanding toddler, I simply replied to thank him for his time and for sharing his interpretation of our sacred text.
Bob’s email got me thinking. I strongly disagree with his literal interpretation of the five clobber verses, but further, I began to wonder why so many Christians finger-point and cherry-pick verses from the Bible?
Does it make people feel better about themselves? Do people feel as if they are in good spiritual standing by using Bible verses to condemn others? Does cherry-picking make some feel enlightened or knowledgeable? Does cherry-picking and pointing their fingers make Christians feel authoritative?
I decided I could either spend my energy being bothered by Bob’s attacks, or I could use his inappropriate emails as an opportunity to motivate this blog entry.
When I was a teenager, I remember talking with my friends after they had upsetting squabbles with their parents. Without fail, I would hear, “doesn’t it say somewhere in the Bible that parents should not put their children to wrath” (Ephesians 6:4)?
On the flip side, I recall my own parents reciting to me: “The Bible clearly says you must honor your mother and father” (Exodus 20:12).
I recently spoke to my aunt about this issue. Her husband is a minister, and she shared with me that any time she disagrees with my uncle, he reminds her that “woman should submit to their husbands” (Colossians 3:18). To this, she responds, “If you loved me like Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25) we wouldn’t be having this disagreement.”
The fact is, we can all use Bible verses to prove just about any point we want to make.
We’ve seen this happen throughout Christian history, whether it’s parents using the Bible to keep their kids in line, men using verses to “put women in their place,” whites justifying slavery, or straight people justifying their prejudice against their LGBT brothers and sisters.
We can also use the Bible to forgive one another’s wrong-doings (Matthew 6:14), or we can justify vengeance with a biblical “eye for an eye” (Exodus 21:24)—the examples are endless.
When we condemn and correct one another with the Bible, aren’t we—allow me to cherry-pick now—judging one another when the Bible clearly states that we should not (Matthew 7:1-2)?
With that being said, are Christians supposed to keep our faith and light under a metaphoric bushel? Absolutely not, but unsolicited opinions from strangers on my family are nothing less than intrusion.
I do not recall intrusion being a virtue of Christ, and we are all called to at least attempt to become more Christ-like (John 3:30).
In my almost thirty years of walking with the Father, I have come to the conclusion that the Bible must be taken seriously, however not all literally.
If we were to take all Bible verses literally, out of context, and without the historical perspectives in which they were written, we would all be walking around with one eye (Mark 9:47).
Romans 3:23 states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Imagine this world if, instead of using our energy to intrude, cherry-pick and finger-point, we used our energy to love and pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we let God handle the rest (1 John 4:7-8).
Photo via Jason Galvez