We are in the midst of a presidential campaign and silliness will abound in the coming months prior to November. Each side will listen ever so carefully to the other side waiting for a phrase or sentence to yank out of context. It will be turned into a sound bite and pushed in our face as the central doctrine of their opponent. I am sure each of us could easily be made to look worse than we are by our enemies using this worn out tactic.
Unfortunately it doesn’t happen just to politicians but also to God. People search the Bible, not to find truth, but to find a phrase or a text to yank out of context so they might build a case against God and seek to confuse us.
We can never over stress the importance of context. A text out of context rarely states reality or the intent of the author/speaker. Truth, as it is,is often difficult to come by, let alone have others deliberately distort. The number one rule for Bible study is to step back and look at the whole. What is the overall message? If we find something that appears to be in opposition to that overall message we must be very careful before we seek to build a new truth.
The overall message of Scripture is quite simple. There is an enemy seeking to destroy us. We have a Savior. God is love. We can live forever if we so chose. We can with divine help grow and become so much more than we are today. It really is that simple.
Written by Roger Bothwell on June 8, 2008
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org