Did I take the bible out of context or..........?

Question

So if quote something in the OT people tell me i did not consider the NT. Which puts things in context. Same thing with other stories which are in context of other things. However how does any of this matter if...... I do not consider the bible to be in the context of reality? (walking on water, talking serpents, magical bushes, people turning in to salt etc....)

How can I ever be accused of taking it out of context if the Bible is not in the context of reality?

Answer 1

A-ha! You confuse them with logic. I am proud to call you my friend.

Taking fictional stories out of context rather perpetuates the purpose of the good novel. Everyone is free to interpret differently. Every author wants people to gasp, be horrified, laugh heartily, sympathize/empathize, and connect with his or her characters and situations. The ultimate goal of reading fiction is to exercise the imagination. Believing in the mysticism of a book one never read can be dangerous for Christians, Muslims, Scientologists - people of all religious orientation, really. It's just as scary when the book has been read and is still taken as real somehow. Not only do some people believe in faulty history and imaginary characters, they find truth in it. Whether this is due to a fear of death, indoctrination, or a psychiatric condition becomes unimportant in the reality of what such beliefs can do to destroy our universe.

The term 'out of context' begs the question of "What's normal?", which makes it somewhat difficult to confront those who do so and 'be right'. You are not a person who takes things out of context from what I've read in your questions and answers. You seek truth in reality. Many religious individuals take lessons out of context. While I can tell someone who tells me that the character of Holden Caulfield in "The Catcher In The Rye" is "doomed from the beginning because he doesn't believe in Jesus" that they are taking it out of context, there's only so much I can do to convince them otherwise. We can, however, continue to publicly dispute them and open more eyes to the logic of atheism and the meaning of agnosticism.

"Monkeythumpers" ~~*Laughs uproariously*~~ StormKing - that is just too funny. Of course you recognize that evolution is a theory based on fact, which certainly improves its 'truth factor', correct? Anyhow, it's good to see someone taking the Bible metaphorically, although you should be careful not to base your morality on it. Some of the beliefs people had 2000 years ago were frightening.

Answer 2

If you believe there is a God and He created everything then reality may involve walking on water, talking serpents, magical bushes, people turning into salt. The Old Testament in context of itself has the same message as the NT so you dont necessarily need the NT for context. God told Adam and Eve if they would follow His rules (there was only one) they would live with Him forever. If they chose to do there own thing then they would have to believe in Him and trust Him for there salvation. (He covered their nakedness when they decided it was evil) God shows Himself a God of Justice and Mercy in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is just more clearly described in the NT since He showed up for about 33 years and showed us His Justice and His mercy in Person.

Answer 3

I never told you to consider the NT the last time our paths crossed. If I remember correctly, and I do, your last post in this forum presented verses that you DID take completely out of context. And now, you're doing it again. I do not consider evolution to be in the context of reality, but the monkeythumpers, try as they do, accuse me of taking evolution out of context simply for not believing it. Walking on water? What of it? Talking serpents? Let me ask you about this. Do you actually believe that a literal snake stood up on the tip of its tail and talked to Eve? If you do, therein lies the problem. See, just because we Americans do not understand the idioms of other cultures is no reason to not take the time to do a little research. The Hebrew word for serpent is ha-nachash, a noun used in three different verbal senses:
1.) To polish
2.) To practice divination
3.) To SHINE, or to be SHINING
These are three infinitives all modifying the same noun. The last one deserves special attention. Satan is known by many names in many different languages, but all agree on one thing: he is known as the Angel of Light- the SHINING ONE. If you care to, check out 2 Corinthians 11:11-14 and it will all come together for you. Then you will see clearly how you are taking the Word out of context. The word "serpent" is used in many cultures to mean "deceiver"- much as we say that so-and-so is a "snake in the grass"(deceiver) in our own language. A pillar of salt? What of it? And for the final example, it wasn't a "magical bush"- it was a "burning bush". Magical bush was the phrase you chose; it isn't what is written. I hope this helps you. The really pathetic thing to me is that alot of Christians read the Word literally when metaphors or parables are clearly to be understood. An example? A really good example? When Christ said in Matthew 17 that if we have faith as a mustard seed(the smallest seed in Palestine), that we will say to a mountain to move and be cast in the sea, I actually heard of a Christian who stood at the base of a mountain and COMMANDED it to uproot itself and fly from where he was all the way to the Pacific Ocean. I guess he thought that God was going to levitate it to the ocean and drop it in the water. This is an example of someone not just taking something out of context, but someone who clearly did not understand that Christ was referring to mankinds problems "in the context" of daily life, no matter how seemingly insurmountable they are. Sometimes, though, I could just cry when I hear these things.

Answer 4

WHATEVER.
If you want to quote the Bible in proper context you need a proper understanding of the Bible. That means that you actively have to read it and actually try to learn what it says.
Looking in a skeptic's bible website and picking verses and saying this is what Christians believe in because it is in the Bible is another thing to avoid. Jesus taught from many parts of the OT, these can be found in the NT. You can read them and compare. Otherwise, Christ and the apostles proclaim what we should do. The OT is only history and a warning of things for us to AVOID..
It is pretty simple once you actually try to understand it.

Answer 5

Here is some reality. The bible is considered by scholars (both religious and secular) to be an accurate historical text. The bible has NEVER been contradicted by ANY archeological discovery.

If you want to really make points with the Christians on this site, you need to disprove all the history and archeology, then you'd really have something to say.

Also, if God is who He says He is, then he can do anything he wants, including walking on water, healing people, burning bushes, etc.

Answer 6

Ooohhh... I have thought about this before too. I once made a comment in my College Sociology source that we need to step back away from the bible and look at it as the first sociology text ever written ( I was harassed by several "christians" in the course * shrugs* but not my place to judge--personally I am a pagan with strong leanings toward eastern teachings)

And I still hold to this thought... Putting aside whether you believe it to be a direct word of god or simply a text put forth by followers, it is a unique perspective of the mindset of this particular sect of men over a wide period of time. You can almost see the evolution (yep, going to hell for using the word 'evolution' in this conversation ^_^) of this society.

Answer 7

Basically being in context means that you've read everything around it that has to do with it, not just that particular verse. But it can be used to mean "consider it in the light of everything else in the Bible", i.e., just because King David arranged for the death or Uriah so he could marry Bathsheba, doesn't mean we are granted license to do likewise. So if you're trying to find out what the Bible says about a subject, like not eating meat, you have to understand everything it says about it, not just one passage.

Answer 8

The answer is simple. If you don't believe it, leave it alone.
For people who do believe it, it is very real. Yep, including Jesus walking on water, talking serpents, magical bushes, people turning into salt, and all the rest of it. If you believe God created the universe, it isn't a big step to believe He can do whatever He likes with it. If you don't, those stories are bound to sound like nonsense to you.
Again, if you don't believe it, that's just fine. Leave it alone.

Answer 9

Christians believe that only they can take a bible quote and have it be in context. When someone else (any non-christian) does the same thing, it is out of context.

Answer 10

With the power of God, anything can happen. The Bible is very real. But, whatever you take out, people are going to say it's "out of context". Ignore it.