Prooftexting

I know Christians who love to use Bible passages to support their position, which is great, after all what better source of support for a Christian view could there be? My problem is that these wonderful Christian folk use their selected texts to support or demonstrate their doctrinal position or personal fixation by using them out of context. They are just words that say what they want them to say rather than words that mean what they mean! 

Our first problem is that these poor souls, having taken their passage, really believe that their viewpoints are supported by the weight of Scripture and are therefore not only valid but endorsed by God Himself. Now some of those who engage in this sport do so out of pure ignorance. There is no desire for them to be corrupting the Word of God, for this is what it is, they simply see a passage and decide that the words support their view because they are unable to fix the hermeneutic (which means place the passage in a contextually accurate setting and therefore understand not just what is said but what is meant and what the desires outcome of those words, in context, were).

Our next problem is that some will engage in prooftexting because they have merely been fed the passage by some other agent of misinformation as supporting whatsoever they wanted to support and will merely out of ignorance, some sort of misplaced loyalty or a desire to be right (surely not!) repeat it without examining the Scriptures or dialoguing with the Word itself. We don't test what others tell us enough! When someone tells us why something is wrong and uses a Bible passage, how often do we open our Bibles and check the quote? In my experience the answer is rarely or even never! 

Lastly, I find some Christians take the positions that those 'liberals' are the only group who engage in prooftexting. If you are one of those let me assure you that this most certainly isn't the case. I can roll out Liberals, orthodox, middle-of-the-road believers and Charismatic/Pentecostal types who engage in this sport on a daily basis. The reason is not denominational, it is not attitudinal, it is not malicious or done intentionally (most of the time); The reasons is basically ignorance! Bible ignorance.

I've been there myself, quoting passages which I many years later realised didn't say what I thought they said to support views which weren't even Biblical now I understand them. Of course we also have the obviously unbiblical stuff which we chuck in as well, words which we give a veneer of 'Bible' to like, "God helps those who help themselves!" which is obviously a validation of Christian shoplifting?

We have to ensure that when we defend our position that we have thought through what we are saying and that when we use a passage to defend that position that is it contextually correct. We, as Christians, must not engage in false appeals to the authority of the Bible but must stand with integrity, transparent integrity.

So, when you quote a passage to support your views - take the time to read the Bible, to consider the words, the setting and th desired outcomes of the words being said, PRAY and then engage.  

Pax, 

V