The Bible is one of the most misquoted, misapplied, and misinterpreted pieces of literature out there. We live in a society that believes everything is up for debate. A world that takes the Word of God and rips out all of the pages they don't like or are not convenient for them at this time.
In this day and age you and I can make the Bible say whatever we want. It doesn't make it true, but how many times have you heard somebody use a Bible verse to prove their argument and then come to find out later that the verse in question doesn't even mean what that person said it did?
Example:
Judging
"Do not judge me. God alone is my Judge."
This statement comes from Matthew chapter seven. If we are to be honest, a good majority of the people who use this verse out of context would never be able to find it in Scripture apart from the help of the Google search engine.
Many people throughout history have just thrown this verse out to justify whatever sin they are committing. They don't want to feel judged by others even though they know what they are doing is wrong so they argue this point which is presented in Matthew 7:1-4. The problem they face, however, is that if they were to read the very next verse their whole argument would crumble because they would see that the Bible actually tells us that we are called to judge!
How Can We Avoid This?
If we want to avoid misinterpreting the Bible, then we are required to perform two actions when testing one of our beliefs:
1) We must find evidence in Scripture that supports our case. This is big. If we don't have this, then we need to be cautious as to what it is we actually believe about the area we are trying to prove because it may borderline between speculation and heresy.
2) While it is true that we must find evidence supporting our beliefs, we must also strive with all of our might to find anything that would possibly disprove our belief. This is bigger. Like I said previously, often you and I can make the Bible say whatever we want. That is why we need to see if the Bible ever speaks against our theology. If it seems to support a truth while simultaneously disproving it, then we must be very careful because there may be something bigger going on in its broader context.
Conclusion
No matter who we are or what we have done, we all come to Scripture with a bias. It is impossible not to. We have all walked through different circumstances and have lived different lives. We each have had our own triumphs and struggles and at this point in our lives we are bringing everything that we have ever experienced, whether good or bad, and we are using that as our lens through which we see Scripture.
I must admit that I have had certain beliefs in the past that I have had to learn to let go of because of one verse that disproved my theory. Logic and Scripture both seemed to support a couple of my ideas, but one simple Bible verse said otherwise and it forced me to let it go. I saw in those instances how easy it was to even want to ignore those passages so that I didn't have to let go of what I wanted to believe.
I actually have tried at times to force my theology into the Word. In my mind I knew there was that verse, but my theology made for a great blog. I have learned the note below the hard way.
NOTE: If your theology doesn't match Scripture, change your theology.
I heard a pastor once say that he was teaching through the book of Revelation through an Amillennialist's viewpoint and when he got into chapter twenty he changed his mind and became a Premillennialist. You can imagine that for several weeks he had to be in his office on his knees asking God not to do this to him. However, I congratulate this man for having the boldness to be real with his church and admitting that he is not any closer to God than the rest of us.
We each make mistakes. Thankfully God is bigger than our weaknesses. We must allow the truth of God's Word to have ultimate authority.
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