Quoting Scripture

 I often am amazed when people who are not Christians attempt to quote scripture from the Bible. Politicians are always attempting to quote a verse from the Bible to emphasize their point or push their agenda. Recently, and there have been many, one stood on the floor of congress and made a statement similar to this, "I want to tell you what Jesus had to say about Gays." He then stood in silence for a brief period of time and then walked away. Of course, the period of silence was to say Jesus had nothing to say about the Gay lifestyle.

But this only proves that this politician actually knows nothing about the Bible, or he would have never pulled this stunt. Allow me to present this scripture from the Bible.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.      2 Tim 3:16-17 

In John chapter one, verse one, we read that Jesus is God and He is the word of God. The above verses tell us God has inspired every word in the Bible. In other words, He inspired every writer to write every word which is included in every book of the Bible. So, when this politician stood and carried out what he thought was very clever, he actually did nothing but show his ignorance of Jesus and His word, the Bible. 

Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.     1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Since Jesus, the man, is recorded in the New Testament, I chose to quote these verses which were penned by the Apostle Paul while inspired by Jesus Himself. It clearly states that homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Now, if a homosexual repents, then naturally, he/she will be saved and live for eternity in heaven with Jesus. Allow me to quote one more.

 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.  Rom 1:26-27

These people turned their backs on God and God abandoned them as is stated in verses 24-25 in this chapter. Now, no place in this chapter does God, or the writer Paul, say they should be killed. But, once again, a politician has declared that God says in this chapter that all Gays should be killed. The politician who made this statement is exercising his own form of eisegesis or reading into the chapter something which is not there.  When we add into God's word something we think needs to be there to make our point, we are extremely wrong, and it is not pleasing to God. Proverbs 30:6 says this, 

Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.

But so many ignore this warning and not just people who are not Christians. Christians do this every day whether it is in a formal setting or a social media post. Those who teach a false doctrine are guilty of it every time they speak. They take the truth of God's word and twist it to meet their false doctrine. Just recently my wife was in an emergency room and a volunteer offered to pray for her and with us. We never refuse the offer of prayer by someone but as soon as this person started, I knew his doctrine and belief of Jesus was skewed. He told my wife that she must receive the healing. 'Jesus can't heal if we don't receive it.' That is not true. In other words, God cannot heal or do anything for us unless we help Him by accepting it or receiving it. 

This is not the Jesus we (my wife and I) know. I know Jesus can do anything and He needs no help or approval from us to do it. This is definitely a wrong interpretation of God's word. I recently saw a video of a man on the street type situation where the man on the street stuck a microphone in the face of a prolife man and asked, "Is the Bible prolife?" Instead of stopping and thinking the question through, the man answered, yes. Of course, the man on the street immediately asked about all the people who died as a result of the flood. Now the prolife gentleman was at a loss for words. 

He should have thought before speaking. He should have asked the question, "In what context are you referring to? Are you speaking of abortion and if God approves/disapproves according to the Bible or are simply referring to the Bible in general?" Now, the man asking the original question has to clarify exactly what he is referring to. The man could have simply answered no and then gone on to explain why. It was simply a trick question and an attempt to make the prolife supporter look stupid. Just one more reason why Christians need to read and know the Bible. Skeptics and those who reject God will always attempt to ask the trick questions and respond by using scripture out of context.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is when the Sadducees attempted to trick Jesus by asking about the resurrection and marriage in heaven. He responded by telling them, 

Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.   MT 22:29

You see, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and they were attempting to trip Jesus up with a little story they fed Him. Imagine that; they were trying to trick the Lord, the all-knowing God of this universe. His simple reply was great; you don't know the scriptures. And that is the case with many people who attempt to quote the Bible to make a point and support their own agenda. It simply makes them look foolish.

So, read, study and know your Bible. You never know when a skeptic or maybe even a politician will attempt to trick you by misquoting scripture. Always be ready to answer a misquoted scripture and correct it. Don't be fooled or stumped by someone quoting the Bible out of context who doesn't even know the Bible. They cherry pick certain verses and use them to trick immature Christians and try to make them look stupid. Don't get caught in that trap. Know your Bible and be ready to correct the misuse of the Bible. You never know when one of these people will pay attention and want to know more. The word of God is a very powerful tool. Know how to properly use it.