Why do Yahoo "questioners" insist on taking specific Bible Passages out of context?

Question

For example, the Bible talks about life in two different ways, physical life and spiritual life. Hebrew or Greek words meaning life are used in both cases, however it is the context of the usage that defines the correct case.

The same is often true of many Bible passages including Exodus 21:22 where God defines the punishment for abortion as a matter of choice. God invented choice, God made abortion wrong, God made the punishment for abortion a matter of choice yet people insist on defining abortion as murder, even though God does not define it as such.

This is also present in politics as well as religion.

Obviously the context of a quote is every bit as important as the quote itself, have we become a society incapable of the attention span necessary to understand more than a single sentence?

Must we then limit the communication of ideology or ideas to single sentences of one syllable words?

Does this not limit our capability to advance in some of the most important areas?

Wrong J.D. Ayer, that one is a lawyer, I am an engineer.

Exodus 21:22 (KJV) states "yet no mischief follow", the Hebrew context being sexual as in hanky panky, the punishment is the choice of the husband and the interpreters of the law. In other words, it is a choice. I can see that some of you actually read scripture, but, many of you take it out of context, twisting it into your own ideology. How does God feel about that?

There are some very good answers on this page. Not most of them. For example, the Hebrew word in the commandment means Kill, not murder. Meaning something like, thou shalt not kill people. translation is difficult, but, the Holy Spirit translates everything.

I was in a fight with three guys armed with bottles and knives who wanted to kill me. They didn't. When I finished with them I went to a hospital and had my face put back together, when they asked me how I wanted to look I said, "just like the picture on my drivers license." True story. I like me.

I am going to let this go into voting. There are too many good answers and I am not sure I can choose which one is best.

Thank you, I do appreciate your help in understanding how people think about using quotes in and out of context.

Answer 1

Becausing cutting and pasting the whole Bible would be too difficult. I can read my own Bible...I graduated from Kindergarten unlike so many others.

Answer 2

In the context of Exodus 21:22, the following verse seems to imply there is a punishment for abortion. "23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life..." Since the fetus dies in an abortion, which would be a "serious injury" (call me crazy), then a fine wouldn't be appropriate. When someone takes the life of a person (in this case the fetus), the biblical punishment is to take the life of the abortionist.

Now, I only have a bachelor's degree in Biblical Studies, and I only minored in English, but the context seems fairly clear to me. The punishment (life for life) should fit the crime (abortion = murder).

Now, being the New Testament kind of guy that I am, I believe that no one is beyond God's grace. But I do believe that abortion should be illegal. And, although I believe that it should be illegal all the time, I would be less inclined to advocate that position if the laws were passed to allow for the cases of incest and rape (which only occur 1% of the time, according to the Guttmacher Institute).

Answer 3

Although I am a Christian, I tend to agree that people do seem to take many things (even Christians) out of context to suit their own needs and yes this does limit our ability to see another viewpoint. I personally do not believe that every word in the Bible is necessarily spoken directly by God. From a logical standpoint, if it were, every man, woman and child would see the same "words and meaning." After all, God is a lot smarter than we. People will always march to their own drummer regardless of whether it is religious beliefs, politics or ethics because they are all subjective (depending on each person's experiences).

Answer 4

The christian bible has two "testaments".. the "old" testament is the life and history of the jewish people. Most christians have never studied Judaism or it's culture to be able to get a handle on the bible, so of course you're going to take it out of context.

Just little things like "came to fulfill the law" which is a rabbinic midrash statement that means "to give a better understanding of the law", NOT to make it null and void... no jew would EVER say that the Torah was no longer for today. Their god makes it clear that those laws were "everlasting" and "throughout all generations".
So how then can you communicate anything at all to do with the bible if you have no comprehension of its authors and their lives?

It certainly does limit your capacity to advance in the most important areas of your faith.

Answer 5

Meat - John 3:16 CAN stand alone, though the scripture around it is quite wonderful as well.

Lucy - What other kind of life is there besides biological life?

I ask myself why I stay here or come here day after day...and I have come to realize I was sent here to be the word of a true Christian (not a radical fundamentalist).

I do not care if you take scripture out of context...if you are reading any part of the Bible I feel that is a tremendous victory for the good.

All You Need Is Love
PEG

Answer 6

That is the history of the Christian church. Every person comes from a different background, with different teachings, and interpret things differently. If they don't understand it "my way"
then its the wrong way. Movements splinter off all the time because of a new understanding of a passage and a desire to follow a specific leaders "enlightened teaching" . That's the answer for the contentious seekers of truth. Then there are the bunch that wants to justify there own actions by using snippets of truth to make themselves look good.,

Answer 7

Exodus 20:13...do not commit murder...............
Life begins at conception the psalmist says that God knitted you together in the mothers womb
Exodus 21:22....Now suppose two people are fighting, and in the process, they hurt a pregnant woman so her child is born prematurely. Of no further harm results, then the person responsible must pay damages in the amount to the woman's husband demands an the judges approve.
NOW WHO TOOK THINGS OUT OF CONTEXT. GOD BLESS

Answer 8

If you go on and read Ex. 21:23, it shows that if the baby in the womb should die, then the killer would pay with his soul, soul for soul. "But if a fatal accident should occur, then you must give soul for soul".

I don't see that there is a choice. A life for a life. God values life! Abortion by choice, does not show respect for life. Even an unborn child is precious to him. "My bones were not hidden from you. When I was made in secret, When I was woven in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw even the embryo of me. And in your book all its parts were down in writing, As regards the days when they were formed. And there was not yet one among them. So, to me how precious youir thoughts are! O God, how much does the grand sum of them amount to!" Ps. 139 15-17

People can do what they want and just because it is accepted by todays society, it does not mean it is acceptable by God. He is unchanging in his high moral standard. "In this manner God, when he purposed to demonstrate more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his counsel, stepped in with an oath, in order that, through two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to the refuge may have strong encouragement to lay hold on the hope set before us." Heb. 6: 17 & 18

Answer 9

I do feel a sense of dismay over the obvious lack of deeper learning that is evident by many of the responses. Most seem to want to just fire off whatever pops into their heads, streams of consciousness, etc., with no evidence of reasoned arguments and synthesis of the issues. Some of the questions are often shallow or just asked for point building or something.

Very few have obtained formal education in theology, logic and philosphy, the Greek and Hebrew languages, etc.

But, having said that, I try to treat questions as a chance to educate the readers more than the asker when the asker is obviously just being flippant.

Ask Mr. Religion
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Answer 10

And which version of the bible are you getting your passages from? That's problem number one. Then there is the translation from Greek or Aramaic to English. Problem number two.

Problem three would be the individual reading the passage. Are they well read? Educated? Thoughtful? Or do they just take what's fed to them and swallow it whole with out questioning anything?

Everyone one of us could possibly be taking the bible out of context-even the Christians.

And yes, it does limit our capability to advance because we ARE fighting about it in Washington. Unfortunately, we will never agree on what the "One True" interpretation is because we are individuals with our own interpretations, beliefs and faith.

It's a catch-22 that will never end.

Answer 11

Many people haven't studied Hermeneutics and therefore don't know how to interpret the Bible. They take one verse and don't bother to get the context or the whole picture.

Yes, we have become a society of instant communication...and it's unfortunate because we have become unable to have more than a very short attention span.

It does make us unable to advance in some important areas as a result. It's sad but true.