Quote Mining the Bible

Although we have had people who deny the truth and authority of the Bible for a long time, it seems to be great sport these days. There are atheist sites that think they are showing that the Bible is evil, but they are actually showing their own ignorance and bigotry. In addition, they conveniently ignore the biblical admonitions in both the Old and New Testaments regarding doing good to others.

Criticizing the Bible's moral rules (and trying to find excuses to pretend that God does not exist so they don't have to follow them) is chronological snobbery and pride. We are modern people, doggone it! That book is outdated, and we're more enlightened now.

Claiming the Bible is evil has several causes:

• Prejudicial conjecture (giving uninformed negative opinions to persuade others)
• Removal from immediate context
• Removal from historical context
• Removal from ancient cultural context
• Removal from linguistic context

And so on, and so on. When there are difficult passages in the Bible, it is best to consult with people who know about such things. Yes, there are things we won't necessarily like. Some things are difficult to take, but God is the Creator and he makes the rules. We all stand condemned before him and are deserving of Hell. He did not have to give us any hope of salvation, but out of love, he did that through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins, his burial and resurrection to defeat death. When he comes back, he will be the Righteous Judge — whether some people like it or not. "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2.9-11, NIV).

Being "modern" and justifying our rejection of God's plan is rebellion. Quote mining the Bible will not help, but only harm.

This week we feature feedback from an individual who questions whether various regulations in the Bible are morally trustworthy. Andrey I. writes:

Hello CMI , hope i don’t annoying with my questions , but am i correctly understand Mark 12:18–27 : when husband die but in marriage they don’t have kids , wife must marriage on husband’s brother and they must have kids ?
and why God allowed polygamy to the Solomon, Gideon ?
what the awful rule in Deuteronomy 22:20–21 ?
why Bible it’s so evil, i mean it’s prohibits gays , or marriage with non christians ,but allow to kill women with rocks (Deuteronomy 22:20–21) ?
or i something don’t understand ?

CMI’s Keaton Halley responds:

Not so fast, Nelson. To finish reading, click on "'Awful' rules in the Bible — Is the Good Book really good?".