Abusing God’s Word

God’s word is very clear about how it should be used. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we are charged, “ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The more I look at our culture, the further we seem to get from that. Many know that the Bible is meant to be very important for daily living, but they don’t really know it. This becomes a very dangerous breeding ground. It is often used by the non-churched or those that are pushing their own agenda. I can’t tell you how many hundreds of times... even thousands, that I have heard people quote a verse or just a portion of verse to support what they want to say. For example, I have heard so many people use the Bible to try to prove that God doesn’t want us to enforce boarders, but to accept everyone that comes. I believe many Biblical cities had a wall around it. God also warned about associating or marrying people that didn’t walk in true faith to Yahweh. The reason was not race, but that intermarrying would lead to falling away from God and into idol worship. Even Heaven has a wall around it according to Revelation. I’m not trying to persuade someone’s political position, but just to say that Scripture can be twisted for personal gain. I was disturbed by an advertising of a Bible that was meant to have 22 more books than the accepted canonized Bible we use today. In order to sell this Bible, they are making these other books seem valid and making the content seem enticing. The books we have went through a strict process that looked at author, historicity, theology, and other locations that have the same manuscripts as proof of their usage and importance. I looked at a few of these pseudepigraphal books and found them to be lacking in credibility. The content, if they met the stringent Biblical standards, would be fascinating to read. If, however, these books are not of God, they open the door to a lot of false teaching and understanding. On top of that, I have been hearing more and more of people saying the Bible gives a recipe to cure blindness, lose weight, end diabetes, etc. If God gave such insight, it would be clear and easy to understand. You should not have to decode it. Father, I want to know You and Your word. I want to have my heart and mind filled with Your truth. Fill me, Holy Spirit. Amen