What did Job’s friends say
that misrepresented God? Certainly, there were many things they said that were
confirmed in other parts of the Bible and so were true.
Eliphaz spoke the following
words which are true and resound throughout the Bible.
Job 4:17 Shall mortal man
be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and
his angels he charged with folly: 19 How
much less in them that dwell in
houses of clay, whose foundation is
in the dust, which are crushed
before the moth?
Both Isaiah and Peter
confirmed how frail and weak we are.
Isaiah 40:6 The voice said,
Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh
is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
1Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away:
Solomon and Paul confirmed
that we are not pure.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 For there is not a just man upon earth,
that doeth good, and sinneth not.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God;
Jesus Himself confirmed that
only God is good in Matthew 19:17.
Bildad, another friend, asked
the rhetorical question whose obvious answer is no when he asked…
Job 8:3 Doth God pervert
judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
He also made important points
about the universe’s fallen state and man’s pathetic condition.
Job 25:4 How then can man
be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?5
Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not [doesn’t
emit its own light but reflects instead the light of the sun]; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
Zophar, the third friend, said…
Job 11:7 ¶ Canst thou by
searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
8 It
is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst
thou know? 9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader
than the sea. 10 If he cut off, and shut
up, or gather together, then who can hinder him? 11 For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness
also; will he not then consider it?
12 For vain man would be wise, though
man be born like a wild ass’s
colt.
That certainly wasn’t wrong.
It is confirmed by many other verses throughout the Bible.
Psalm 145:3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be
praised; and his greatness is
unsearchable.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 ¶ He hath
made every thing beautiful in
his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find
out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
Isaiah 40:28 Hast thou not
known? hast thou not heard, that
the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth
not, neither is weary? there is
no searching of his understanding.
Matthew 11:27 All things
are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
Romans 11:33 ¶ O the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past
finding out!
What did these good
friends say that was wrong? What do we need to be aware of in this oldest book
written in the Bible? God Himself accused them of misrepresenting Him. How so?
Well, Job’s three
friends consistently told Job that bad things could not happen to him unless he
had committed some secret sin that they were unaware of. They insisted that bad
things happen only to the wicked and that good people are blessed always with
good fortune.
Eliphaz said;
Job 4:7 ¶ Remember, I pray
thee, who ever perished, being
innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? 8 Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity,
and sow wickedness, reap the same.
Bildad stated;
Job 8:20 ¶ Behold, God will
not cast away a perfect man,
neither will he help the evil doers: 21
Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.
22 They that hate thee shall be clothed
with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.
Zophar insisted in Job,
chapter 20, and I don’t need to repeat the entire chapter here, that evil
people, bad people, wicked people always come to a bad end and always get their
just desserts in the end in this life. He insists that God always calls in accounts
in this life.
Is that true? Prophets
in the Bible noted otherwise. Jeremiah observed;
Jeremiah 12:1 Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with
thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy
judgments: Wherefore doth the
way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
Other Bible writers
noted how bad people seem to often, too often, get away with their wickedness
and even prosper. We’ve all seen it in the world, where evil men rule and
triumph and seem to have no reckoning imposed upon them for their iniquity.
Psalm
73:1 ¶ « A Psalm of Asaph. »
Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. 2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my
steps had well nigh slipped. 3 For I was
envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For there are no bands in their death: but
their strength is firm. 5 They are not
in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. 6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a
chain; violence covereth them as a garment. 7
Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly
concerning oppression: they speak loftily. 9
They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh
through the earth. 10 Therefore his
people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. 11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there
knowledge in the most High? 12 Behold,
these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in
vain, and washed my hands in innocency. 14
For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
This is not to say that
there is no cause and effect with regard to our sin. Prisons are filled with
men and women who are called to task for their wickedness.
Psalm 73 continues and
turns around in that regard;
15
¶ If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I
should offend against the generation of thy children. 16 When I thought to know this, it was too
painful for me; 17 Until I went into the
sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. 18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery
places: thou castedst them down into destruction. 19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a
moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when
thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
21 ¶
Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. 22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a
beast before thee. 23 Nevertheless I am
continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. 24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and
afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom
have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside
thee. 26 My flesh and my heart faileth:
but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall
perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I
have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.
The problem is that
there are plenty of people on the outside of prison who will never be forced to
pay for their wickedness, at least in this life. Job himself acknowledges this
frustrating fact.
Job 12:6 ¶ The tabernacles
of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God
bringeth abundantly.
We know that God
provides for the good and for the bad. They eat, they live, they laugh, they
enjoy life, and yet their end is an eternity of agony. But, in this life;
Matthew 5:45 That ye may be
the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Luke 6:35 But love ye your
enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall
be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the
unthankful and to the evil.
The Book of Job teaches
us that bad things happen to good people and they often have no idea why they
are happening and will not know in this life. We are simply called to trust God,
which is not always so simple, is it?
Job’s friends
misrepresented God by insisting that there was always an observable cause and
effect. If you are wicked you will suffer in this life and if you are good,
then all will be lollipops and roses. That is not necessarily always true.
If you have a family
member or an acquaintance who seems to be living a life where they want to do
right, walk close with God, and leave that legacy to their children and
something terrible happens to them you must not assume that they are being
punished for some secret sin they’ve hidden from you and the world. That may be
the cause but without evidence you don’t know that for sure. Christians with
cancer, multiple miscarriages, dead children, loss of employment, mental or
physical illnesses like schizophrenia are often not being punished for anything
they’ve done and we can’t stand that uncertainty so we usually link it with
something they’d done we don’t know about or as some kind of a test of their
faith. Yet, what if God was just talking to Satan and said, what do you think
about so-and-so, a man or woman of great faith? Then, if you’ve read the first
two chapters of Job you know the rest.
The truth is, in this
world under judgment bad things can happen to us that seem to have no bearing
on what we’ve done. Remembering evil as the trouble that can come to us in a day
as in Jesus statement in;
Matthew 6:34 Take therefore
no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Job said;
Job 2:10 But he said unto
her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all
this did not Job sin with his lips.
Lamentations 3:38 Out of
the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
The trouble is, we come
to God and want a business deal. “I’ll be good, God, and you be nice to me.” It
doesn’t always work that way. Good people suffer. Remember what God said about
Job at the beginning of the book.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said
unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright
man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
We not only want a
business deal with God but we want certainty and we want, if we believe in God,
His approval, His backing for what we do, too often, even if it is wrong.
For two thousand years kings, princes, and
officials of various Christian churches have used God’s word to justify
oppression and tyranny. Fascist ecclesiastical organizations have burned people
at the stake; not only unbelievers but other Christians for having variant
opinions and interpretations of what God wants. Speaking for God they have
enacted monstrous crimes on humanity all under the guise of doing God’s will.
How is this possible?
The emperor Constantine, in the 300s AD,
made his version of nominal Christianity the state religion of Rome and
exchanged the persecution by non-Christians for the persecution of
non-Christians. The situation went from Christian places of worship being burnt
down to pagan temples being burnt and from Christians being killed to
non-Christians being killed.
The Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox
churches of Late Antiquity and the so-called Dark and Middle Ages murdered
millions of non-Christians, and Christians who held to different views of what
Christ’s church was all about. The Protestant churches of the Reformation
murdered thousands and hundreds of thousands. Even great Reformers like Zwingli
in Switzerland had Anabaptists tied up in sacks and thrown in Lake Zurich to
drown. Calvin’s Geneva, Switzerland had a man burned at the stake for his
variant Christianity although Calvin preferred he be beheaded. How could this
happen?
Countries like Great Britain, Tzarist
Russia, and Germany viewed themselves as God’s agents on earth. German
preachers during World War One likened the German army to the Holy Spirit going
out into the earth. Americans viewed their country as a redeemer-nation, a
Christ-nation, destined to bring in God’s kingdom on earth. Teachers talked
about the state as being God’s agent on earth and about a divine right of the
state taking the place of the divine right of kings as in Johns Hopkins
professor, Richard Ely, mentor of President Woodrow Wilson.
Any oppression by the state and any
unfairness in the social structure, even racial slavery or the abuse of women,
was to be justified by the Bible and “God’s order or things.” How was this
possible?
Since we don’t have many governments
outside of Islam insisting they are doing God’s will any more or justifying
their conquests and excesses by using the Bible let’s look at Fundamentalism
for a moment, that 20th century social reactionary movement that
uses the Bible as a prop. I consider myself a Bible-believer, by the way, not a
Fundamentalist, who Peter Ruckman called ‘funnymentalists’. Believing the
Bible, the context in which it is written, without wrenching verses out of
context, doing violence to the source of my convictions to prove a point, is
important to me.
We are warned not to add or to detract from God’s words which
is standard fare for Fundamentalists.
Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall
not add unto the word which I command you, neither
shall ye diminish ought from
it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Fundamentalists uplift the Victorian era
in morals and manners in everything from behavior at the dinner table to
choosing a spouse as being Godly and to be copied and emulated if one is to be
a good Christian. They act as if that was the most Christian era on earth and
that manners and morals had been the same all the way back from then to Christ.
This, even though historical evidence shows that this is not the case. What is
going on here? Your table manners and ideas of politeness are pretty new for
people at our level of society.
First, let’s look at how the Bible is
constructed, which for the modern person is very confusing as used as we are to
textbooks and user’s manuals. The Bible isn’t like Emily Post’s Etiquette. It isn’t, “put your fork
there and your spoon here.” It is more like a conversation, like a letter from
one person to another. One error of Fundamentalism is their modernistic
tendency to make absolute statements that are pure rubbish, like that so-called
Law of First Mention where the first time a word is used that defines it
throughout the Bible in every circumstance. This is rubbish.
For instance, in Genesis 2:9 evil is
contrasted with good. In Genesis 37:20 it refers to an animal intent to do
violence. In Genesis 47:9 it is trouble and suffering in life. In Proverbs 16:6
and Isaiah 59:7 it is violent iniquity. In Isaiah 45:7 it is the opposite of
peace and caused by God. In Matthew 6 it is the trouble and suffering in one
day, physical suffering that can cause one to doubt one’s faith. Most of the
time it is trouble and suffering or malicious intent. You have to look at the
context.
Speaking of context, cultural context is
important when reading the Bible. Fundamentalists also like to go back in time.
Young women no longer offer to water your camels as in Genesis 24 and in
conservative American churches we do not offer a holy kiss to each other as Paul commanded in four places. We have
unemployment insurance, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare
programs to assist the poor so some, but not all, of the pressure has been
taken off the church for the care of its weakest or most unfortunate members.
We are no longer paid at the end of each day for our labor if we are an
employee of a company and, typically, young women are able to go out and find
work and their own place to live and make decisions for themselves about who
they will or will not marry without father telling them what they have to do.
This is not the first century. I’m not saying we’re better, just that we’re
different.
Fundamentalists long to restore some of
that first century culture to modern times. I say, some, not all.
Fundamentalist business owners do not typically say it is a sin to not follow
the Bible and pay their employees at the end of each work day even if they
insist that their daughters be dependent upon them until they are dependent
upon a husband.
Fundamentalist women often have
convictions about hair and clothing that seem oddly to try to mix and match
eras. They will insist that Godly women have long hair and then let that hair
hang down around their shoulders, which was scandalous and had bedroom
connotations in the era they try to emulate in America as in, “letting your
hair down.” They’ll wear long dresses and long hair and then come to church in
flip-flops, sandals, or shoes that show the naked foot, something else which
was reserved only for the bedroom in the era in which fundamentalism was born.
I’m not criticizing long hair or flip-flops, just trying to make a point about
what we are holding on to as proof of our spirituality.
Fundamentalists will raise their children
in a bubble, trying to keep them from any and every bad influence and protect
them from the world, thinking they will grow up and be pure and faithful to
what they’ve been taught. They will use;
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not
depart from it.
But, children are independent agents and
will grow into their own relationship with Christ. Bad parents can produce good
children and good parents produce bad. You can do everything right, and you
should try and in fact you should imagine the kind of person you want your
child to grow into and then YOU be that person before them, and yet you can
still have a wayward child who shocks and disappoints. Just think of how God
has to think of us when we do wrong, knowing better. You must pray that they
return as Proverbs 22:6 suggests when they realize the error of their thinking
and repent of their sins.
Plus, if you are trying to make your
children a reflection of your own failed dreams for yourself, to live
spiritually through your child like many parents try to do that with sports or
academics, then you will often come to great disappointment as your children
will have a unique path they walk that you might just find that you cannot
control when all is said and done.
People who say they believe the Bible
literally are typically guilty of making it say what they want to say just as
people who say that God has laid something on their heart often mean it is
something they really, really want to do.
Why do we misrepresent God?
In every group of people there is the
dominant male or female, what Discovery channel people call the alpha-male or
alpha-female. They seek, as part of their personality, to control others, to
make what others around them do as an expression of their own will. Typically, when one of these people tell you
sweetly that you, “have a servant’s heart,” they mean they intend to make you
their servant. I’m not saying that they are not or cannot be saved. I am saying
that any congregation needs to be wary of the ambitious one who is always
wanting to tell people what they need to do. They will couch it in terms not
suggesting that it pleases them but that it pleases God.
It is not enough to be a witness, to them.
You must be a witness under their authority and in the time frame they pick.
For instance, everyone is getting together to knock on doors and pass out
tracts but you have to work. The dominant person will imply that you handing
out tracts on your own is a sign of a lack of faith, that your work is your
god, or that you are setting a bad example. This attitude is entirely evil and
unbecoming of a Christian.
These kinds of people have gotten into the
church with shallow conversions after a 1-2-3 repeat-after-me prayer. They have
found a perfect pool of broken people who want to serve God, to please Him, and
they become the dominant person’s prey.
Socially dominant people will use the
doctrines of the Bible and even make up some to get you to do what they think you
should do.
We are warned about a danger like this in
the gospels. First, a parable Jesus gave. Tares
are defined by one source in this manner:
“…the
bearded darnel, mentioned only in Matthew 13:25-30 . It is the Lolium temulentum, a species of rye-grass,
the seeds of which are a strong soporific poison. It bears the closest
resemblance to wheat till the ear appears, and only then the difference is
discovered. It grows plentifully in Syria and Palestine.”
Matthew 13:24 ¶ Another
parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a
man which sowed good seed in his field: 25
But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and
went his way. 26 But when the blade was
sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and
said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then
hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An
enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and
gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay;
lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and
in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the
tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my
barn.
Then, Jesus explained
the parable.
Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus
sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto
him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that
soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38
The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom;
but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that
sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers
are the angels. 40 As therefore the
tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this
world. 41 The Son of man shall send
forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that
offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And
shall cast them into a
furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Now, I am not saying
that every hard-charging, get-er-done Christian is a fake. Every church needs
people who are willing to get things done and organize resources. Not all of
us, me in particular, are very well-organized and able to see very far down the
road. So, people who are willing to bear responsibility and to lead are vital
to a church. I’m just warning you that people who live to dominate other people
will wheedle their way into a church organization with that easy 1-2-3
repeat-after-me conversion prayer and little other evidence of a changed life
and then begin to work their ways.
When they do people are
eventually hurt and churches eventually split. They will manipulate people and
pervert the scriptures to get their own way.
So, what do we know? We
know that people misrepresent God because they want to be secure in the
knowledge that they know why things are happening the way they are. They want
to be able to confidently believe in a cause and effect that makes sense.
We also see people who
want to use God’s word to satisfy a plan. They will pervert and change it to
justify themselves and what they want.
There is another reason
why people misrepresent God. They want to be led by a person. They don’t want
to read the Bible from cover to cover, pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit,
compare what they think they’ve learned with other Christians to make sure
Satan or their own will isn’t deceiving them, or generally think for themselves
at all. They just want to be told what to think.
But, the Bible says;
1John 4:1 Beloved, believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
And lifts up people who
are careful with God’s word.
Acts 17:10 ¶ And the
brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of
the Jews. 11 These were more noble than
those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of
mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
You have to question
what you are told. Is it true? Is it in keeping with the spirit of the Bible?
We get confused between
what was promised to the Jews before Christ and what is promised to us. The
Jews were promised temporal, physical success and prosperity if they obeyed
God’s commands.
Joshua 1:8 This book of the law
shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and
night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein:
for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good
success.
That’s a great
inspirational verse that would compel you to read, memorize, and recite Bible
verses which will do you great good.
Psalm
1:1 ¶ Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day
and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
This too is a great
inspirational passage that reinforces what we know, that the best way to have a
successful fruitful life is to do right and keep your mind on God. But, do
these verses mean that if you are not prosperous or successful it is because
you have not done those things? Are we like Job’s friends?
What is to be our
response to the misfortune of other believers? “Well, you must have done
something really bad to have God take your child like that. You better get
right with God ‘lest He kill the rest of your family!” No one would say that, I
am sure, at least not any sane person.
What if a person is
filled with anxiety or depression and they are having trouble understanding
where it is coming from?
Are you so much like
Job’s friends that you’d say, “well if you just set your mind on God and do
right you wouldn’t have these things”?
What if someone isn’t
able to have children? Are you such an arrogant jerk that you’d say, “well, you
must be doing something that is causing God to withhold children from you. You
need to repent and get right.”
Misrepresenting God has
been the cause of millions of deaths in the mass murder that is war. It has
been the cause of church splits and untold suffering in the hearts of fragile,
broken Christians. It is a tool used by dominating people who have an agenda to
make a congregation serve them.
The Bible tells us how
to deal with the pain of others, not in self-righteous blather and trite
platitudes wrenching verses out of context.
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
2Corinthians 1:3 ¶ Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation,
that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
So, what would you tell
a new Christian on how to keep from being deceived by someone else who is
misrepresenting God? First, you would want to tell them that until Christ calls
them out of this world by death or translation, whether the uppertaker or the
undertaker gets them, to read His Bible from cover to cover, taking verses in
context as to what they were intended to mean not what some agenda-driven
person wants them to mean.
As an example, this
verse was quoted to me as a reason why good things should happen to Christians
and that they should get what they want in the way of peace, health, happiness,
and prosperity, and it was pointed out to me because the speaker thought that
reality made it, and the rest of the Bible, a lie.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and
not of evil, to give you an expected
end.
But, the context of
this verse is the nation of Israel and the end of their seventy-year captivity
in Babylon. It isn’t a promise to you of perfect health, no trouble, and ease
of life.
Someone will use the
following verse to beat you over the head about faithful church attendance.
1Corinthians 4:2 Moreover
it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
And yet the context is
being faithful stewards or caretakers of the
mysteries of God, His doctrines and prophecy, His word.
1Corinthians 4:1 ¶ Let a
man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the
mysteries of God.2 Moreover it is
required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
This verse is used to
bash people for not handing out enough gospel tracts or knocking on doors;
Matthew 10:32 Whosoever
therefore shall confess me
before men, him will I confess
also before my Father which is in heaven.
But, the context, like
many verses in the New Testament on this subject is not about witnessing to
strangers at the gas pump. It is about enduring under persecution.
Matthew 10:16 ¶ Behold, I
send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as
serpents, and harmless as doves. 17 But
beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will
scourge you in their synagogues; 18 And
ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony
against them and the Gentiles. 19 But
when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it
shall be given you in that
same hour what ye shall speak. 20
For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which
speaketh in you. 21 And the brother
shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the
children shall rise up against their
parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22
And ye shall be hated of all men
for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 23 But when they persecute you in this city,
flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over
the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his
lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple
that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the
master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? 26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing
covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye
hear in the ear, that preach ye
upon the housetops. 28 And fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him
which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground
without your Father. 30 But the very
hairs of your head are all numbered. 31
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. 32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before
men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him
will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on
earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in
law against her mother in law. 36 And a
man’s foes shall be they of his
own household. 37 He that loveth father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And
he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and
he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. 40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he
that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. 41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a
prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall
receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And
whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple,
verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
The following verse is
used to pump up the door knocker, tract hander outer, and the person who
interrupts every family gathering, or stands on a street corner shouting Bible
verses at people.
Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of
the righteous is a tree of
life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
And yet, since this is
written under the law by King Solomon to Israelites, in order to fulfill this
verse as it is written you would want to stand out in front of the First
Baptist Church of Whoville and try to return them to the Lord on Sunday morning
rather than a street corner in the city screaming Bible verses at passersby
trying to get to where they are going. Not that its not important to reach the
lost but that this verse is about returning the backslidden Hebrew, not winning
new converts, based on when it was written and to whom it was written
Fundamentalists will
use the word in the following, breeches,
as referring to trousers or pants and insist that God says women should not
wear them.
Exodus 28:42 And thou shalt
make them linen breeches to
cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:
Deuteronomy 22:5 The woman
shall not wear that which pertaineth
unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all
that do so are abomination unto
the LORD thy God.
But, if you read Exodus
28 more carefully you see that breeches
were underwear which the priests wore. Both men and women wore robes and tunics
and pants or trousers were a late invention by the Persians to make riding on
horseback more convenient and written about in the 6th century BC or
possibly earlier by the Chinese. No one in the Bible wore trousers, men or
women. Some Fundamentalists even condemn pants on women for “splitting the leg”
as if that was from a Bible verse! Your dismay at how immoral your society is
becoming and how immodest people are is not an excuse to misinterpret God or
His word.
The list goes on and on
of verses ripped out of their context to prove a point or to serve an agenda;
social or personal.
What then can we say?
Do not be deceived. Read the Bible from cover to cover. Read it in context. Run
everything you hear by what you read in the Bible in context. Don’t read back
your culture or politics or desire for an orderly universe and a reality you
understand into the Bible and don’t let someone use you for their own agenda,
their own purpose. Pray for guidance and that God would open the Scriptures to
you. Believe and trust in the Lord. Do not use the Bible but let the Bible use
you.
Be careful. Handle the
word of God, the mysteries of God, as a faithful steward. Do not corrupt the
word of God, neither add to it or take away from it. Be not deceived. But,
above all, don’t misrepresent God. He doesn’t care for that.
Job 42:7 And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken
these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is
kindled against thee, and against thy
two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
