Why the Bible should not be used to Support your Viewpoints

James 4:4 proclaims,

"Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."

This clearly indicates that we need to completely isolate ourselves from the world, and have nothing to do with that which it includes. We can't be trying to get enjoyment out of that which the world produces. Hollywood is evil, Doctor Who is evil, and generally speaking, the Lord hates television!

This is further corroborated by I John 2:15 when it says,

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

So yes, all those people who would have the audacity to quote Doctor Who in their blog posts about God are great heathens and heretics, and you shouldn't listen to them at all.

Obviously, I'm using satire. As a guy who spent too much of his weekend catching up on Doctor Who, as opposed to planning his campaign for Freshman chaplain, I clearly do not believe that all television is evil and shouldn't be watched.

But how do I keep that opinion in light of these verses, which many have used to make similar arguments to the ones that start this post? The answer can be summed up in one word - context. This prior Friday, we examined the context of James 4:4, so you know that by world, it means our sinful nature. The same poetic language is indeed at work in I John 2:15, as evidence by examining its context in I John 2:15-17,

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

So how is it that educated individuals tend to use these verses in ways that disagree with their context? It is quite obviously incorrect to say that James and John were stating that the culture of the world is entirely inappropriate, so how is that mistake made?

In my opinion, it is because of a phenomena called "proof-texting." Now proof-texting does not just imply the use of a single verse out of its context for communication purposes. If the verse has the same meaning without its context as it does with it, then it is legitimate for you to save time in your communication by quoting only one of those verses (I certainly do from time to time). However, if you go out trying to prove an agenda, and you take a verse from a Google search that seems to prove your point without actually paying attention to the context, that's proof-texting.

That is what I am calling out today because it actually highlights a deeper problem. No one should be going to the Bible to support HIS ideas about life. The Bible is not a stockpile of evidence to be used to build our cases. The Bible should not be conformed to our mold of the world; our mold of the world should be conformed to the Bible.

Yet proof-texting doesn't seek to find what the Bible says about certain issues. It just seeks to find any Biblical evidence in which the argument the user has is supported. That's how we can get arguments such as the ones above.

It's also how we can get an even more heinous argument often used by pro-abortion Atheists.

Christians get so wrapped up about abortion and how we MUST protect life, but I wonder whether they even read the Bible they support so often! It says clearly in Psalm 137:9,

"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."

Well, yes, that would seem a bit problematic if this verse actually meant that people should be happy about themselves when dashing little ones against stones. Rather, we see simply a statement of fact that just punishment is being placed upon Babylon. Indeed, the evil of Babylon is being returned upon its own head, evidenced in the way that some other evil people will rejoice when they dash the little ones of Babylon against the stone. So you see, quite to the contrary of condoning this atrocity, the Bible is using this as an obvious example of a damnable act.

When you truly see how proof-texting can be used to support such unbiblical agendas, it should make you think twice about utilizing it as evidence for what you think are Biblical agendas. No matter how great your intentions, it is wrong to use the Bible for the purpose of just looking for support for your pre-established viewpoints.

When reading or hearing others opinions as well, you should be careful to know that the context actually supports what the scholar says it does, and that he is not guilty of proof-texting. Because sometimes, arguments can sound Biblical, and while not being denied by the Bible, not actually be supported by it either.

Let's Celebrate the Workmen!

It's Labor Day! You know what Labor Day is all about! Let's celebrate the work that others have done to make the products that we use on a normal basis, by you know, not working! Because that's not ironic at all.

Yet that is what we have here today. When I walk the streets of Cedarville later today (in a crowd, Mom, don't worry), I will be bombarded with claims that Labor Day was invented right here in Cedarville. I doubt we'll ever be able to actually verify those claims, but I probably shouldn't say that to a local.

But on a serious note, why do we celebrate labor day? I don't get the purpose. Sure, I understand a little of the history regarding the workmen going underappreciated in the past, but I still don't see how Labor Day actually solves that problem. Does Labor Day serve to incite gratefulness in our hearts to these workmen, better than Thanksgiving serves its purpose to incite thankfulness for everything?

I'd have to say that no, it does not. I don't think many of us care much more about Labor Day than just to joke at the irony in like manner as I did at the start of this post. But should we care?

Honestly, I haven't the foggiest idea, and I think in the spirit of the holiday, I'm going to leave it like that for now, and go celebrate without a teensy bit of labor. (Ok fine, I'll likely be studying because I can...)

It's a Celebration!

It is a well-known fact among my friends that I enjoy celebrations. I often will joke about how some holidays (such as birthdays and um... labor day!) don't actually make sense, but whoever cares? We need all the reason to celebrate as we can!

As such, I have found one more reason to celebrate. Last week, I hit over 2500 pageviews on this blog! That was something I wasn't quite expecting. Also somehow without marketing this blog much at all, I'm averaging about 10-15 pageviews a day. 

But that is not why I am celebrating today! No, today I am celebrating that this is the 100th post on this here blog. It truly does feel like last week when I wrote the celebratory 50th blog post, but apparently that was almost 4 months ago. Time is weird sometimes (and this isn't even Doctor Who!). 

To celebrate today, I'm gonna do something strange -  talk about myself. Hopefully, this is more interesting to you than I would at first think.

I mentioned in my fiftieth post that I started this blog as a way of keeping myself in the habit of writing while on my financially-imposed gap year. This is definitely true, but only part of the story. You see, as I mentioned in Joseph, Levites, and Vows, the Lord was using this gap year and the book of Numbers to get a hold of my heart during October. I was then stranded between two options: the political track my life was on and the Pastoral track that seemed to be laid before me. 

Silly me thought this blog would be a great way of determining which route I should choose. By utilizing a blog where I posted about politics one day, apologetics one day, and a simple devotional the third, I thought I could see where my talents lie and what interests other people. 

My Gideon tactic didn't quite work out as I wanted. Through this blog, I didn't quite learn that particular area of what God's plan was for my life. He revealed to me through other means that he desired me to enter full-time ministry. What I learned through the blog is that well, different people are interested in different topics regardless of the quality of your writing or where God wants you in life. 

I also learned that within a setting where people are reading or listening to you for your insights (if indeed anyone was doing this), they are more interested in the knowledge you have to impart than how your studies brought you to this knowledge. I could tell you how I learned this, but you just wouldn't be interested. 

As my loquaciousness subsided and worked into short posts, I learned that the Lord would help me write posts succinctly and not ramble on forever and ever. You see, in the past, I would make sure that I made my point by repeating it over and over. Apparently repeating it over and over develops the point further than if you just say it once and then move on. Now I will admit that repetition can very well be a solid tactic to get people to remember what you are saying, but there comes a point where the reader grows tired of reading the same thing over and over again, and you just stop communicating very clearly. For instance, this paragraph should have only been two sentences long...

But these are all peripheral lessons to what I learned through this blog.

I learned first and foremost that I need not show off with the blog. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone that I enjoyed writing some posts in order to show off my intellect, writing ability, or just how close I was to God. I learned time and time again (and maybe if I'm really lucky, I will retain that knowledge this time and not have to learn it again) that this blog and any other opportunity to speak needed to have the Lord as the ultimate focus.

In a similar vein, I needed not become so obsessed with how many pageviews certain posts received or how many likes a Facebook link could receive. I needed to rely upon the Lord to use this as He intended, whether in the marketing stage, or the writing itself. (That doesn't mean I stopped outlining, but then I would have had to start to stop...) 

And now my life has come full circle."I'm going on an adventure!" Not really, but it feels like that sometimes. I am going to college at Cedarville University in the fall studying Biblical Studies.

As such, I have the next few years of my life figured out and will soon be writing for classes soon. Therefore, both of the original purposes of this blog are of no consequence. But I greatly enjoy writing it, and I see the Lord doing great things in my life through it. As long as that is the case, even if I never got another pageview, I will continue to write it. 

So hey, today I'm going to celebrate what the Lord has worked through this blog. It will probably be a small celebration. It will start by a decision to go back to sleep before beginning the rest of my day. I may have let myself get a little far behind on that note these last few weeks.

Since celebrations are so awesome, why don't you use this as a convenient excuse to celebrate, too?