{"id":15638,"date":"2013-07-05T15:07:16","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T19:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=15638"},"modified":"2013-07-05T15:07:16","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T19:07:16","slug":"bible-verse-arms-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/07\/bible-verse-arms-race.html","title":{"rendered":"Bible Verse Arms Race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Having just posted yesterday about treating the Bible as a card game, I was struck when Scot McKnight<\/a> today shared quotes from an article in\u00a0Relevant<\/em> magazine about treating the Bible as an arms race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The point being made is much the same. Here\u2019s a sample:<\/p>\n

I like to call this exercise a \u201cBible Verse Arms Race.\u201d The key to winning is to pile up as many verses on your side of the argument as you can while simultaneously discounting your opponent\u2019s verses because they aren\u2019t reading them in the correct context or they have the original language wrong.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s universally understood that New Testament verses always trump the Old Testament, and Jesus\u2019 Red Letters always trump Paul. The game is most popular among high school students, seminary students and Emergent theology bloggers. (I\u2019ll let you draw your own ironies from there.)<\/p>\n

This is why the Bible Verse Arms Race is not a very good way to discover Biblical truth. When two people, each with a firmly held \u201cfaith,\u201d find as many verses as possible to uphold their belief and dismiss the others, no one leaves convinced of anything except that the other person is stubborn. (Including, I might add, an increasingly post-modern, relativist world that sees these debates as archaic and disingenuous.)\u2026<\/p>\n

I think Jesus offers a solution in Matthew 7:15-20, when He warns against false prophets. \u201cA good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit \u2026 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In much of our Christian culture, the evidence of \u201cgood faith\u201d is belief in the \u201cright answers\u201d of Christianity, defended by a large collection of Bible Verses. Jesus\u2019 words in Matthew 7 directly challenge this notion, as He proposes good deeds are the tangible effects of good faith.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click through<\/a> to read the rest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having just posted yesterday about treating the Bible as a card game, I was struck when Scot McKnight today shared quotes from an article in\u00a0Relevant magazine about treating the Bible as an arms race. The point being made is much the same. Here\u2019s a sample: I like to call this exercise a \u201cBible Verse Arms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":15639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,43],"tags":[1140,2148,9625,9631,9632],"class_list":["post-15638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible","category-inerrancy","tag-bible","tag-conservative","tag-proof-texts","tag-prooftext","tag-prooftexting"],"yoast_head":"\nBible Verse Arms Race<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Having just posted yesterday about treating the Bible as a card game, I was struck when Scot McKnight today shared quotes from an article in\u00a0Relevant\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/07\/bible-verse-arms-race.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bible Verse Arms Race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Having just posted yesterday about treating the Bible as a card game, I was struck when Scot McKnight today shared quotes from an article in\u00a0Relevant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/07\/bible-verse-arms-race.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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