Posted on 04/14/2018 11:42:11 AM PDT by pcottraux
By Philip Cottraux
Imagine casually thumbing through your Bible and coming across Job 4:17: Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? Your first reaction might be to praise God for showing you this wonderful scripture! Job, one of the poetic books of the Old Testament, is filled with amazing insight into why people suffer and how hard it is to see the big picture of God’s plan in our lives. Typical of the kind of thought-provoking and inspiring messages sprinkled throughout Job, this verse contains profound truth!
Right?
One of the deadliest follies believers and non-believers alike commit is cherry-picking scriptures. People do it all the time for a variety of reasons, mostly to prove that their beliefs are right and others are wrong. Christian denominations like to formulate their own doctrines and pick verses that support those doctrines, while ignoring others that might discredit them. This is one of the fastest roads to damnation we can take.
We are living in an age of rampant deceit. Deceit is everywhere. It’s in the news, movies, television shows, and all over the internet and social media. You name a belief, and it’s out there somewhere with a large following and plenty of “scripture” to back it up. Preachers can say whatever they want on Facebook or YouTube and gullible Christians anywhere in the world will watch it and be deceived. A preacher using scriptures out of context to back up false doctrine is an especially insidious trap to fall in.
Some people call it “buffet” religion. Instead of taking in the wholeness of the Word, we reach and grab our favorite parts, crafting our own unique religious experience custom-fitted to our own tastes. But we ignore the rest of the Bible at our peril.
The classic example is the infamous “feel-good” gospel infecting today’s American church. Be a better you. Learn to love and accept yourself. Be financially blessed by God. Talk all about the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. That’s all people want. Telling them what they want to hear is big business. It refuses to warn about hell or the need to repent for fear of offending or being labeled “judgmental.” But a gospel that tells you what you want to hear isn’t doing you any favors.
1 Timothy 4:1: Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.
But it isn’t just Christians. People from all across the spectrum of human thought are guilty of picking and choosing scriptures. For example, Muslims like to use Luke 18:19 to deny Christ’s deity, while ignoring John 1 or 10:30. I can’t tell you the number of times atheists have confronted me with scriptures from the Old Testament laws, as if they’re “shocking me” with scriptures I’ve “never seen before.” The implication is that Christians preach love and forgiveness and are apparently clueless about the harshness of the Mosaic laws, which demand people be stoned for minor offenses. This misunderstanding, of course, presumes that believing the Bible is the Word of God automatically includes every scripture be taken literally and apply to modern everyday life (Sam Harris is notorious for this; in The End of Faith, he claims Christians should stone peace-loving Hara Krishnas if they truly believe what the Bible says).
But I can’t say this enough; context is everything.
When people challenge me with a particular scripture and demand an explanation, whether they’re an atheist, Muslim, Jehovah’s Witness, or what-have-you, I answer with a round of questions (usually met with confused silence): what chapter is it in? Who wrote it? What book is it in? What do the scriptures before and after it say? When was it written? And most importantly, why?
When Sam Harris and other atheists quote scripture from Deuteronomy that instruct the Israelites to stone people for adultery or idol worship, they come across as clueless about context. Even young Christians usually understand that the Mosaic Laws were a temporary bulwark to keep the wandering Israelites from being influenced by the surrounding cultures immediately following the Exodus, which were steeped in human sacrifice and child cannibalism (read more on this in my previous blog, Joshua’s Conquest and World War II).
Furthermore, criticizing the Old Testament for cherry-picked scriptures about the harsh penalty for law violations fundamentally ignores Jeremiah 31:31-33: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
If you believe in the Old Testament, you have to believe that the Mosaic Laws were only temporary and have long since been done away with. Jeremiah demanded it. Jesus fulfilled it. Paul wrote a large portion of the New Testament to get this across. Many Jewish believers still wanted to abide by the oppressive laws, and Paul wrote Romans, Galatians, and many other books to specifically get this across. Romans 6:14: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Christian theology has been clear for 2,000 years that the Old Testament laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy do not apply to followers of Jesus, because the crucifixion freed us from it.
Back to Job 4 to finish illustrating my point. As I’m sure you’re aware, Job is the tale of a righteous man who suffers terrible punishment by the devil in an attempt to get him to blaspheme God. Sadly, after losing his children, all his possessions, and being smitten head-to-toe with boils, Job’s wife and friends are of no help. While Job sits in silence, his supposed “friends” shake their heads and shame him for some unspoken sin rather than comfort him.
Job 4:17 sounds like a great scripture. But glance upwards to the opening verses: Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking? Eliphaz is one of the miserable friends who opens his speech by shaming Job. He even gets self-righteous enough to say that they cannot hold their peace seeing Job in the pitiful condition he’s in.
Clearly Eliphaz has no right to speak for God. Now we’re starting to see that verse 17 has a cloud of suspicion over it. However, as we scroll down, things take a chilling turn. Eliphaz reveals that there is more to his visitation. He had a vision a few days prior and believes he is delivering a message from God. Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake (verses 12-14). A spirit had appeared to him, and the hair of his skin stood up at the sight. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: (verse 15).
Eliphaz thought this was an angel, but it was clearly a demon sent to deceive him. Which leads us to what we originally thought was a great scripture: It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker (verses 16-17)?
It turns out verse 17 is actually spoken by a demonic spirit. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (II Corinthians 11:14).
And this is the danger of picking and choosing scriptures. When someone, even if they agree with me, quotes scripture to prove a point, I get an uneasy feeling. The Bible must be taken in its entirety. I’ve made sure in my life to place every scripture in its proper context, the totality of its chapter and all the verses around it, as well as who wrote it and in what historical context. This can help us discern the voice of God from the devil. Satan is a master of twisting scripture and leading us to subtly deny Christ. He rarely boldly lies to our faces, but is very good at twisting the Word of God out of context just enough to fool us. Lies can be dangerous, but lies mixed with some truth can be catastrophic.
Even the devil and all his demons know the Word by heart. James 2:19: Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. The question is, do you? The whole Bible, not just select scriptures, is your best weapon against his lies and mistruths.
At 5 I wanted to be a man after God’s own heart. At 16 I was debating with theologians. At 19 I was attending pastoral conferences by special invitation. At 24 I was being groomed for seminary.
I never went. I saw too much of this. The longer I live, the less I care about theology.
The Apostles were not theologians. They knew Jesus Christ and the Word of God.
So much of this is based in vanity and hubris, and goes beyond what God has declared.
“I am not very interested in what Man has to say about God; I am much more interested in what God has to say about Man.” - Daniel Lapin (sadly, not spoken by a Christian theologian)
“Theology is theory, not truth: the danger of seeing through a glass darkly.” - YogicCowboy
Agreed. I came to view it as a fruitless exercise with overly intellectual Christians just as much or more.
I actually started playing dumb with such, letting them think I was stupid or ignorant. I found the oneupmanship with God’s Word repulsive.
In my opinion, no theology fosters this kind of overweening pride more than Calvinism (Reformed). I am not here denouncing the actual theology, but the intellectual pride behind it.
Ping!
In my opinion, no theology fosters this kind of overweening pride more than Calvinism (Reformed). I am not here denouncing the actual theology, but the intellectual pride behind it.
Well as a Pentecostal, I'm Arminian...and I agree with you that many Calivinists I've met have that terrible spirit of pride. That said, I've also had to pray for God to help me forgive many baptist believers from the past, especially family members and schoolmates. I don't want to fall into the same trap myself.
I think in the arena of "debates" many Christians lose their way. It becomes less about winning souls and preaching the gospel and more about "winning an argument." Like you said, theological tennis. Whoever can one-up each other with the right amount of scriptures, as if more scriptures supporting one doctrine makes it true. It's all about flesh and pride and the thrill of victory. Whether it's with atheists or other Christians, I'm just not interested in taking part. I write my blogs so people can see for themselves what I have to say and can decide whether or not I make a persuasive point.
Most of the time people do not believe the Gospel because of issues of morality and character rather than logic, reason, or evidence.
I think this hits the nail on the head, but atheists obviously don't see it that way. To listen to them it's about "defeating Christianity," which is holding mankind back from a "scientific utopia."
Say what you will about Nietsche, at least he was one of the few who was brutally honest about it. Admitting that he rejected Christianity out of preference, not any persuasive argument.
Thank you. :)
I know some women who sent in their *seed money* with the expectation that they would get 1,000 fold in return and were puzzled as to why it didn’t happen.
I commend your intentions.
I remember once during a Scriptural debate I had with my head pastor, he interrupted our interchange to exclaim, “Face it, you’re hooked! You love it!”
He meant that I was hooked on debating Scripture, and on trying to win arguments. He and others were trying to get me to go to Seminary.
He was wrong, and I left that meeting very disheartened that he did not understand me. All I cared about was arriving at the truth of any matter, whether I was right or wrong.
Valid point.
I would expect giving to certain ones would bring divine chastening rather than divine blessings. I’ve always found it interesting that the ones claiming that giving will result in getting, always tell people to give to them. Not their local church. Not poor missionaries doing slave labor for the Lord at slave wages. No, “give to me so I can fly on a private jet and wear designer suits.”
In both the Old and New Testament, promoting the idea that the gift of God can be bought with money resulted in severe discipline and reproof. It happened to Elisha’s servant, Gehazi (2 Kings 5:27), and it happened to Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:20).
“atheists obviously don’t see it that way... Nietsche... [admitted] that he rejected Christianity out of preference, not any persuasive argument.”
You’re right. While it is not stated explicitly in scripture, I reconcile the idea that some are predisposed to unbelief in this manner: those who will not repent, cannot believe.
Jesus taught that recognizing truth hinged upon a willing mind:
John 7:17
If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.
It’s never about *can*.
It’s always about *will*.
People don’t disbelieve because they can’t believe but because they won’t believe.
“People don’t disbelieve because they can’t believe but because they won’t believe.”
I’m sure we agree in principle, but perhaps what people can’t and won’t do are essentially the same.
However, this addresses one of the many “hard sayings” of scripture:
John 12:39-40
Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”
The passage plainly says they “could not believe.” But my point is that the reason still lies within their own volition.
That is, God does not ordain or predestine anyone to destruction. Predestination for eternal life is because of God’s will. We set aside our own will and accept His will in its place. And we find that His will is better for us than our own.
People go to hell because of doing their own will. Obviously no one WANTS to suffer the pain of eternal judgment, but it is nevertheless the clinging to one’s own will that leads that person to destruction.
According to this passage, unbelief is the consequence of God hiding something from people. A person might even want to believe but find they can not convince themselves because they have never experienced a divine miracle or seen convincing evidence for one. No amount of arguing or persuading can change a person who is in this state. And if we could produce evidence or perform a miracle, they would simply be unable to see the reality of it anyway.
Jesus even taught that some would not believe though someone were raised from the dead. See Luke 16:31.
The distinction I draw is between wanting to believe and being willing to repent. There is a subtle but fundamental difference.
I see your point, but I cannot fathom that if someone wanted to believe, that A) God would not grant that to him, and that B0 Someone would even have the capacity to want to believe if it weren’t for God drawing him in the first place.
So to me, the fact that someone wants to believe is an indicator that God is actively working in that person’s life to draw him to Himself.
It makes no sense to say that someone wants to believe but can’t because God didn’t enable him. That would be like God drawing him and then saying *No*.
That does not fit with the character of love.
Few take this road. Most people believe what they are told and will go to great length to defend it, right or wrong. Some can be very glad they were told the truth, others not so much.
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