Christians “Pick and Choose" Passages in the Bible
Just as the authors of theses short stories in the Bible had their own agendas, people today “pick and choose” the passages that support their claims. They ignore the contradictory phrases when it is to their advantage.
It’s all or nothing - you can’t just pick and choose.
Religious conservatives support the Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, despite the commandment against murder. And what ever happened to “turn the other cheek?”
During a heated discussion with a local pastor, I told him my viewpoint on reality. His face turned red and he told me, ”Go back and read the bible.” I asked, “Are all of the passages of the bible true?” “Yes,” he replied. So I asked him about his very nice home, eight horses and his penchant for constantly buying new vehicles. My point was that he was ignoring the biblical statement, “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to pass into heaven.” He said, “I am not rich.” I asked, “Compared to who? The people in Dafur, Africa?” It made me consider: aren’t politicians, churches, stock brokers, millionaires, billionaires considered to be rich by our standards? The communists who say there is no god believe all people should share the wealth. Isn’t that closer to the meaning of this passage? How ironic! In frustration, he proclaimed that unless I confessed that I was wrong. I was going to hell. I explained the fantasy of hell being based on a burning trash dump outside of Jerusalem. To which he shouted, “I guess you believe that we evolved from monkeys!” I explained to him that until he developed the courage to understand evolution (the 13.7 billion year history of the cosmos, and the 4.6 billion year evolution of life on this planet,) that he should not be a leader of people; because he is teaching them lies!
