Consider It All

After having sat through numerous sermons over the years where someone was going to great lengths to promote one-sided views of various ideas, I realized the Bible can be used to prove, or disprove, almost anything. When fragments of scripture are used, we could even go so far as to say that I Cor. 13:1 tells us, "...do not have love..." while Matt. 10:34 says, "...do not think..." and I John 3:14 says, "...we have passed out..." I have read, in the introduction to a vegetarian cookbook, that the Bible tells us to be vegetarians, based on I Cor. 8:13, "...I will never eat meat again..." Only a small part of the verse was used, and upon further reading, we see each of these examples are taken completely out of context.

It's fairly obvious that the use of incomplete verses is often not a good idea, but even individual chapters and books of the Bible can be used in wrong ways. When we read and study scripture, and embrace its teachings, we must consider the context of the entire Word of God. And the whole Bible, start to finish, is the greatest love story ever written. From the very beginning, when we were created by God so we could have a relationship with him, that theme carries all the way through as we see the great lengths God has gone to throughout history to maintain that relationship.

God does love us, each and every one of us, and I don't believe it is his nature to try to catch anyone on "technicalities," or punish us when we mess up, just because he can. Like any caring parent, he challenges his children to be better people every day, and sometimes, there are hard lessons to be learned, but his love abides through it all. He also wants us to get along with our brothers and sisters and be kind to others, extending to everyone the same mercy and grace he has extended to us.

By using scriptures selectively, our focus can become too narrow, and we can lose sight of the "big picture" view that the Bible is about our relationship with God. Our focus should always be on God's relentless love for us and our unbridled passion for him, which will be demonstrated in the world, not in harsh, judgmental ways, but by being united with other believers and by loving everyone, unconditionally. When we're trying to decide if a particular behavior is a good idea, we should look to God's Word, and consider it all.