Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The (Mis)Use of Scripture
BHT pointed to a piece that demonstrates some really bad proof-testing on Rick Warren's part. Warren is far from my favorite person in the world, but it is not the rather long rant that paints him in near deveish terms, the very idea of proof-texting that I want to discuss. Have you ever thought what proof-texting really is? Says the Extreme Theology post:
We seem to be a nation of control freaks. We have a remote control for everything. I had a car radio a few years ago that had a handheld (not in the steering wheel) remote control, as if the knobs were not distraction enough from driving. Most of our consumer economy is driven by giving the consumer a plethora of choices so they can get precisely what they want.
Think about the shift in music sales - does anyone buy "albums" any more? Does anybody remember those great concept albums, like Sgt. Pepper's? Oh no, we want to control what we listen to, so we rip the "singles" and completely lose the intent of the those that created it.
Well, it is one thing to do that to the Beatles - it is another thing altogether to do that to GOD! Who the heck are we to think that we can pick and choose what He wants to say to us, or even bend His words to support our own ideas? HE IS GOD for pityfied sakes.
Being a Christian is about giving up control. Fortunately, we are giving that control to the most reliable, most loving, clearest thinking, always-in-our-best-interest being who has all those attributes far beyond our own imaginings.
Increasingly, my heart hurts when I see people struggle to control. The events of my life in recent months illustrate how completely uncontrollable the big things in life are. The struggle to control such things is pure vanity. I have watched many around me struggle to regain control in the wake of my parent's accident and my father's death. It's impossible, the world is irretrievably different and the control I had before was illusion.
I choose to let Him who really has control anyway, control things. I choose to rest in His arms, for while I have no control there, I am safe, and loved, and life is good.
Related Tags: proof-texting, control
...rips passages out of context, exegetes bad paraphrases and generally proof texts his own ‘made up’ doctrines.Proof texting is just another example of placing ourselves in front of God. We use His words to justify our thoughts rather than try to make His thoughts our own.
We seem to be a nation of control freaks. We have a remote control for everything. I had a car radio a few years ago that had a handheld (not in the steering wheel) remote control, as if the knobs were not distraction enough from driving. Most of our consumer economy is driven by giving the consumer a plethora of choices so they can get precisely what they want.
Think about the shift in music sales - does anyone buy "albums" any more? Does anybody remember those great concept albums, like Sgt. Pepper's? Oh no, we want to control what we listen to, so we rip the "singles" and completely lose the intent of the those that created it.
Well, it is one thing to do that to the Beatles - it is another thing altogether to do that to GOD! Who the heck are we to think that we can pick and choose what He wants to say to us, or even bend His words to support our own ideas? HE IS GOD for pityfied sakes.
Being a Christian is about giving up control. Fortunately, we are giving that control to the most reliable, most loving, clearest thinking, always-in-our-best-interest being who has all those attributes far beyond our own imaginings.
Increasingly, my heart hurts when I see people struggle to control. The events of my life in recent months illustrate how completely uncontrollable the big things in life are. The struggle to control such things is pure vanity. I have watched many around me struggle to regain control in the wake of my parent's accident and my father's death. It's impossible, the world is irretrievably different and the control I had before was illusion.
I choose to let Him who really has control anyway, control things. I choose to rest in His arms, for while I have no control there, I am safe, and loved, and life is good.
Related Tags: proof-texting, control
