drinking wine every day<\/a>, these holy warriors are conspicuously silent on these clear biblical mandates.<\/p>\nPerhaps it\u2019s because the Bible is rarely as clear as they want or need it to be?<\/p>\n
Regardless, the real problem in articles like the one mentioned above is not just that the Bible is rarely as clear as some folks pretend it is. The bigger issue is the fact that the Bible can only be so seemingly clear when scripture is intentionally abused and distorted through proof-texting.<\/p>\n
Proof-texting is\u00a0an\u00a0intentionally deceptive practice that offers out of context proof while ignoring the greater witness of scripture and any other evidence that might refute the desired (and predetermined) theological conclusion. It\u2019s the tool necessary to perpetuate the myth that the Bible is always perfectly clear about everything, when in fact that clarity often\u00a0only exists\u00a0when we proof-text our theology by\u00a0ignoring the\u00a0overarching themes of scripture in general and the message of Jesus in particular in order to condemn and exclude people we\u2019ve deemed unworthy of salvation.<\/p>\n
And therein lies the truly nefarious nature of proof-texting.<\/p>\n
Sticks and stones may break bones, but words can crush your soul\u2026and that\u2019s exactly what proof-texting does.<\/p>\n
It crushes the soul\u00a0in the name of God by using context-less Bible verses to exclude people from the\u00a0Church and condemn them to hell.<\/p>\n
Proof-texting is not like other sins because it defiles scripture by turning\u00a0what God meant for good into a weapon of mass destruction. By stripping\u00a0verses of all\u00a0context and refusing to acknowledge the role of interpretation, proof-texting\u00a0twists scripture in order to sanctify oppression and abuse, exclusion and marginalization. This can be seen clearly through its history as\u00a0the sanctifying force behind slavery and genocide, the rejection\u00a0of women\u2019s suffrage\u00a0and embrace of Jim Crow, exploitation of the natural world and the denial\u00a0of LGBT equality.<\/p>\n
Proof-texting\u00a0exists almost exclusively as a means of excluding undesirable people from the community of faith, from Christian universities, and ultimately, from heaven itself.<\/p>\n
Which is\u00a0ultimately what makes it antithetical to the gospel.<\/p>\n
In other words,\u00a0proof-texting is not like other sins because its end goal \u2013 condemnation and exclusion \u2013 is\u00a0fundamentally opposed to the ministry of Jesus who came not to condemn the world but to save it, all the while intentionally\u00a0embracing those the rest of the world \u2013 particularly religious folks \u2013 wanted nothing to do with.<\/p>\n
Now, the unfortunate propensity\u00a0towards\u00a0proof-texting of some doesn\u2019t mean the rest of us\u00a0shouldn\u2019t use scripture to support our position, but we must do so responsibly, incorporating things like context, history, science, experience, tradition, and reason\u00a0to do the necessary and unavoidable work of biblical interpretation. Otherwise, our biblical interpretation and theological conclusions will lack integrity.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true that biblical interpretation is hard work that rarely\u00a0provides\u00a0easy answer, but the alternative is nothing short of sinful.<\/p>\n
Because when you lazily\u00a0proof-text\u00a0your theology, you\u2019re not opening people\u2019s eyes and saving them from hell. And you\u2019re certainly not taking a stand for the truth.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re abusing God-breathed scripture and the people it was meant to serve.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Credit: Chineka, Flickr Creative Commons) There\u2019s a post you might have seen that has unfortunately been popping up in my Facebook newsfeed the past couple of days. It\u2019s entitled \u201cWhy Homosexuality Is Not Like Other Sins\u201d and it\u2019s the typical sort of fare you might\u00a0expect from a site like Desiring God: bolstered by\u00a0false equivalencies, society […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":14127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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(Credit: Chineka, Flickr Creative Commons<\/a>)<\/p>\n