Posted by
Playful Walrus on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 3:03:19 PM
Have you noticed that, when someone cites the Bible as an authority or as a source of their moral grounding, you can often count on a “response” in which someone else will simply quote various Bible passages - out of context – that they find to be strange or contrary to their liking? The person doing this probably thinks they have discredited the Bible, but they usually have just exposed their own ignorance of the Bible. The tactic is along the lines of discussion-killers such as “Sez you!” or “Shut up!” or sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting repetitive nonsense so that you don’t hear what the other person is saying. It isn't meant to contribute to the discussion - just to stop it.
It does not necessarily follow that just because this person doesn’t like or understand something in the Bible, that the Bible carries no authority or is untrue. It definitely doesn’t mean that the original person shouldn’t cite or derive principles from the Bible.
In most cases, the person tossing out these (what they’d call) disagreeable or absurd verses doesn't really want to engage in a serious discussion about the Bible, so discussing the verses they have cited is an exercise in futility. Even if you showed them that the verses, in context and in their literary form, are not in error or absurd, they’re still not going to accept the Bible as something with authority. Usually, this is because they know the Bible makes demands of human behavior, and they don’t want to be subjected to these constraints. In other words, it is not what is hard to understand in the Bible that these people are really concerned with – it’s what is clear and understandable.
We are talking a about a collection of writings that were written in times long since past, by a variety of authors with various backgrounds, writing in ancient languages. I find some stuff written a mere 200 years ago in English to be strange or hard to understand at first. (Fortunately, the main things the Bible teaches are also the plain things.)
But then you read things in their context and do a little research into history, culture, linguistics, etc., and things make a whole lot more sense. Who is writing? Who is being addressed? What are the conditions? What was customary during those times? Are there other passages that shed light on this one? Have things since been changed or superseded?
Sometimes someone cites an event in the Bible that they disbelieve simply because it would apparently require the supernatural to be true. All this proves is that the critic doesn’t believe the supernatural is possible. They don’t believe there could be a God who can intervene in the universe.
Another common thing for these “hit and run” critics to do is to cite something that happens in the Bible that most people today in our culture would consider to be immoral. But assuming the thing cited is truly immoral, that does not mean that the Bible approves of the immoral action. Usually, the Bible also records the negative consequences of immorality. As stated by many before, the Bible does not approve of all it records.
If they cite actions or commands the Bible credits to God as something they disagree with, they are not proving the Bible wrong or God wrong. They are proving that they disagree with the God of the Bible.
These types of mockers usually give no reason why we should take them to be an authority as opposed to the Bible (or the God of the Bible), even though that is what they are implicitly asking us to do when they list verses they don’t like or understand.
One of the most recycled and beaten-to-death examples of this type of mocking is the “Letter to Dr. Laura” that these people keep reposting in their blogs and on their websites, usually because they are upset that Dr. Laura believes that sex is for marriage.
A good response to that overused piece of ignorant sarcasm is found here.
Many intelligent, educated, reasonable people have presented good reasons as to why they cite the Bible as an authority, or even believe it is the Word of God, and - shock of all shocks - they've read and even studied all of those passages the mockers think they are so clever in bringing up. I'm well aware that there are also plenty of intelligent, educated, reasonable people who reject the Bible as an authority, let alone the Word of God, so don't even bother giving me their names. It doesn't matter what intelligent believe, pro or anti-Bible. It matters why they believe what they believe. If they believe something just because they get a warm fuzzy feeling doing so, that doesn't prove their belief to be true.
In all fairness, we no longer live in a society that is Biblically literate and that respects the Bible, and when someone quotes the Bible to make their point, perhaps a better thing to do, instead of simply posting a bunch of verses one finds strange or absurd, would be to ask “Why should we listen to the Bible in the first place?” But again, that assumes that the mocker really cares and would be willing to read through and sincerely consider an answer.