It's dangerous to take a phrase out of context.
We could quote "Man shall not live by bread alone,"(1) and say Jesus was talking about a balanced diet.
Or we could say Jesus encourages us to be annoying because He said, "Blessed are you when people insult you."(2)
Sounds silly, but people do this everyday. One of the most popular examples is pulling "Judge not" out of the context of Matthew 7:1-5, claiming we should NEVER judge.
To never judge, we must have NO beliefs or values.
Recently, a celebrity illustrated this: she claimed she's totally non-judgmental because she approves every kind of sex. Then she said Christians are stupid, dangerous and judgmental for disagreeing with her.
God wants us to judge with more grace and love than this celebrity (which is actually the point of Matthew 7:1-5), but He expects us to judge. Faith requires judgement.
(1) Matthew 4:4 (2) Matthew 5:11
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Good post Gail. I hear so many people take this particular Scripture out of context all the time, including my own daughter. It is unfortunate, but sometimes some people don't want to accept that there is a certain way to interpret Scripture. It doesn't stop me from trying to explain it though. Thanks for posting this. It is so needed in today's society......Linda E.
ReplyDeleteExactly,Gail.Context is everything! Scripture taken out of context is useless at it's best and dangerous at it's worst!
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