Why do athiests insist on quoting out of context from the Bible to prove their points?

Question

Do they not think anyone will look into it and see that they are wrong?? Intentional deception is not a desirable quality in a person. Do you think that people will want to believe anything you say when they find out you started in deception???

" Jesus takes it one step further and asks us to do his killing (Luke 19:27-28) A clear violation of what his father said. "
(Copied from an answer to another question)
This verse listed, when read alone says to kill someone, and yes, Jesus said it, but if you read the whole chapter, Jesus is telling a parable and it is a king talking to his servants. It was a fictional story, told to make a point about stewardship. In no way would an intelligent person read this passage and take it as a directive to kill for Jesus.

Answer 1

Why does anyone take things out of context? To bolster their arguments of course. Fact is, the majority of people in the world will take what they are spoon fed. Doubt me? Well, go sit in on some classes on how to deal with the media - and you will see exactly what I am saying.

Atheists are trying to argue their point, so are the Christians. For either side to argue effectively, they have to point out problems in the others arguments. As such, atheists do tend to take things out of context, so that people who are spoon fed will come down on the Atheists side.

Answer 2

Actually, christians are far more prone to that. Atheists don't believe in the supernatural nor revealed truth nor in holy books, of any sort --- bible, koran or any other..... so none of it is taken as truth. christians, on the other hand have rarely read the bible, and for sure do not understand the historical contexts from which it arose. But what christians often do is state such things as true or not true based upon their own thoughts, and this is illogical.... either one takes the bible as the word of god or one does not. as you have here.... Either Luke 19 is true, or it is not... and then you used the word ""intelligent person read(ing) this passage would not take this a s a directive. No, many parts of the bible belt do indeed take it as a directive, and do indeed follow it. So, one cannot have it both ways.... it is either all or nothing.... "Cafeteria Style" is far more common among christians than atheists, since atheists don't regard any of it as much beyond the history of a tribe in the middle east... a starving tribe of shepherds at that.

Answer 3

You are right. I have noticed the same thing. To the person who asked you who you are to decide if this is a parable or not, that just proves your point. If one studies the Bible, they will learn about parables and will understand them. They will know when to recognize a parable and be able to differentiate a parable from statements of fact. Nobody needs to tell us that something is a parable because when one reads and studies the Bible, they can see that for themself. So in your defense, you are not wrong for saying this was a parable, because anyone reading the passage can clearly see that.

To those who say that Christians take the Bible and use it to make a point, that is true also. The difference between when Christians do it and when Atheists do it is that Christians tend to quote the Bible from a perspective of understanding, since they study the Bible in order to grow closer in their relationship with God, whereas Atheists who quote the Bible tend to be looking for ways to "trap" Christians and I have noticed that many will latch onto any verse they can find that sounds like the perfect trap to make their point with. True, some Christians DO take a verse out of context to use it unfavorably to their advantage. Nobody should be doing that. Christians should be ashamed of ourselves when we do that because we know it's wrong. I would just encourage everyone, whether Christian or not, to read and study the Bible with an open mind - not a preconceived attitude, because when doing so, THAT'S when understanding of the Bible comes.

Answer 4

the comparable reason that believers quote purely areas of the Bible to slot thier needs. I didnt examine each and every of the solutions yet I see the asker retains asserting that this and that have been taken out of context. If the Bible is so reliable why could it ever be taken out of context? If it have been reliable it extremely is going to flat out say what it potential.

Answer 5

Actually, atheists are USUALLY the ones who use Bible verse IN the correct context. There is the occasional one that's off, but most atheists know it doesn't benefit their case to lie or take things out of context.
Usually it's the BELIEVERS who take things out of context. They do it all the time, and are caught doing it all the time. Sometimes they do it purposely, and sometimes they do it because they haven't READ the Bible, and therefore don't know the correct context to begin with.

Answer 6

Yeah, I read that in an answer a while back and got a good laugh out of it..

BUT, WHY DO "CHRISTIANS" DO MUCH THE SAME THING?

Here are a few examples:

"Original sin" is the general thought that children are charged at some level with their parents' or ancestor's sin. Ezekiel 18 makes it very clear that EACH PERSON WILL BE CHARGED WITH THEIR OWN SIN.

Eze 18:4 Everyone belongs to me. Father and son alike belong to me. People will die because of their own sins.
...
19 “But you still ask, ‘Is the son guilty along with his father?’ No! The son did what was fair and right. He was careful to keep all of my rules. So you can be sure he will live. 20 People will die because of their own sins. The son will not be guilty because of what his father did. And the father will not be guilty because of what his son did. The right things a godly person does will be added to his account. The wrong things a sinful person does will be charged against him.

...Read the WHOLE CHAPTER and you will understand that this, tied to "total depravity," one of John Calvin's 5 primary teachings known as "tulip," is FALSE, based on a misinterpretation of scripture.

The pop-theology concept of "rapture" infers people will be left on the earth after Christ' return, in opposition to the clear language teaching of 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The HEAVENS WILL DISAPPEAR with a roar. FIRE WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING IN THEM. God will judge the EARTH and EVERYTHING IN IT.

11 So EVERYTHING WILL BE DESTROYED. And what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives. 12 Live like that as you look forward to the day of God. It will make the day come more quickly. On that day FIRE WILL DESTROY THE HEAVENS. Its HEAT will MELT EVERYTHING IN THEM.

Many Christians IMPROPERLY interpret FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE in the Bible in ways which OPPOSE the CLEAR language of scripture.

Answer 7

While I'm sure some do, EVERYONE interprets the bible differently. What you see as out of context, is often a different interpretation. I've seen just as many Christians taking quotes out context to prove some point of theres.

If everyone interpreted it the same, there would be only one type of Christianity, rather than the hundreds there are now.

Answer 8

I only do it when Christians start taking the text of other religions (ie. The Koran) out of context in hopes of proving that Christianity is somehow 'kinder and gentler'. I'm not a muslim, but to say that Christianity is less violent or a nicer faith using verses from the Koran is hypocritical.
Then there's the 'God's love letter to you' sell. Please! It's not all sweetness and light. There are some parts of the Bible that you would not want kids to read and some of you like to pretend that it's G-Rated. Then I have to pull out verses to prove otherwise.

Answer 9

The same reason the christians mistranslate and take the Jewish bible out of context to try to make it jive with the nt.

Answer 10

Does Jesus not ask us to kill in verse 27? Does God clearly say not to kill?

Luke 19:27-28
27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them - bring them here and kill them in front of me.
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

You are the one guilty of misquoting. If I came out and used this verse:
Isaiah 13: 15 Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. 16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives ravished.
Had I used that verse, I would have been taking it out of context. But my proposition is that God says not to kill, and that Jesus in the chapter of Luke 19 said otherwise. Which is very true.

I think we can all agree that gorgeoustxwoman has succinctly and accurately answered this question the best!