Biblical context, meaningless or vital?

[biblestudent78]

Do you see the "bible" as a means of confirming your preconceptions by stringing together texts that are not in context. Is that how you see the bible....just a google search for terms. It’s like going to a library and pulling from 73,000 pages of 66 library books strings of unrelated quotes that "prove" something important to you. You cut and paste them together and call them“God’s Word.” Be careful. By this technique of proof texting, virtually any theology can be justified began reading your 48 disassociated biblical quotes ignoring your definitions of their meanings. As an example of how well your technique works... "There is one all-loving and just Lord or Creator God who loves sinful humanity and who is both able to provide all morally accountable human beings salvation and heaven—a wonderful life full of love, joy and peace forever.”

Nahum 1:2-8 (KJV/NIV): "When God get jealous, He will kill.". Deuteronomy 32:35 Romans 12:19 (KJV): "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord". Ezekiel 25:17 (NIV): "I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I take vengeance on them". Hebrews 10:30 (KJV): "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongs to Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord".

You quote the Schema from Deut 6:4. God is one. However, after "Christianity" became indistinguishable from the power of Rome after about 350 AD anyone who said "God is One" was put to death. That continued even after the Protestant revolution. Anyone claiming God is One was deemed a heretic because it denied God is 3 in one. Those claiming "God is One" were burned at the stake by the thousands with the last one recorded burned to death in 1612.

For the sin of taking a census, God gave David three punishment options. When he did not choose a punishment God caused a three-day plague that killed 70,000 men in Israel. 70,000 who had no sin of their own were killed by a God just trying to get Kind David's attention.

Then there is the killer God who offers no repentance. (Genesis 38:7): Killed by God because he was wicked in the Lord's sight. Onan (Genesis 38:10): Killed by God for failing to produce offspring with his brother's widow (spilling seed). Lot’s Wife (Genesis 19:26): Turned into a pillar of salt for looking back at the destruction of Sodom. Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1–2): Sons of Aaron, killed by fire from the Lord for offering "unauthorized fire." Korah and his companions (Numbers 16): Swallowed by the earth for rebelling against Moses. Nabal (1 Samuel 25:38): Killed by God after he refused to provide for David and his men. Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:6-7): Struck down for touching the Ark of the Covenant to steady it. David and Bathsheba’s infant son (2 Samuel 12:14-18): Killed as punishment for David's adultery and murder of Uriah. Saul (1 Chronicles 10:13-14): Killed for disobedience and consulting a medium. Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 13:20): Struck down by God. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–11): Killed by the Holy Spirit for lying about a land sale donation. Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:23): Struck down by an angel for accepting worship as a god. Mass Killings & Catastrophes The Global Flood (Genesis 7:21–23): Drowned the entire human population except for Noah and his family. Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-25): Destroyed with fire and brimstone. Firstborn of Egypt (Exodus 12:29): Killed during the tenth plague. Egyptian Army (Exodus 14): Drowned in the Red Sea. The Midianites (Numbers 31:7–18): Total destruction ordered, except for virgins taken as spoils. Jericho (Joshua 6:21): The entire city was destroyed men, children and old women. They young women were given to God's arm as sex slaves. 42 Youths (2 Kings 2:23–24): Mauled by bears for mocking the prophet, Elisha. Assyrian Army (2 Kings 19:35): 185,000 soldiers killed in one night by an angel. People/Groups Killed by Divine Command (via Humans) The Canaanites: Utterly destroyed by the Israelites under Joshua (Deuteronomy 20:17, Joshua 6:17). Men, old women and children but the young women were kept as sex slaves to reward the Hebrews. The Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:3): Ordered to be destroyed (men, women, children, and infants). Worshipers of Baal (2 Kings 10:18-27): Slain by Jehu under God’s authorization.

When God could not control his male angels sexual urges, they left heaven to breed with "beautiful" human women. The result was that God was so mad that he killed all living things including animals, birds, reptiles, insects and fish on earth except for a few animals and one family. Across the scope of the Hebrew bible God kills or orders the killing of those impeding a plan that neither the Hebrews or those around them understood. God loves mankind so much that by the theology of most "Christians" 99.95% of all humans who ever lived are in hell or going to hell. ....but we have a "loving God."

This is the result of proof texting theology as if it "proves" you right. When it lacks context it “proves” nothing.

 

[Aussie52]

A text without a context is a pretext.

 

[gb9]

context is so very important to understanding God's Written Word.

so important.

 

[Aussie52]

context is so very important to understanding God's Written Word.

so important.

Unfortunately, you see verses taken out of context all the time on these forums. Or, clinging to one verse and ignoring all the others on the same subject.

 

[God-fearing]

Some take scripture as the story....rather than reading the story around the scripture.

 

[ResidentAlien]

Understanding context is good; but I've seen context abused. For example, some say certain things aren't universal but only apply to those to whom the writer is writing. This is taking context to an extreme. If things only apply to those to whom the writer is writing then nothing applies to us.

 

[Aussie52]

Understanding context is good; but I've seen context abused. For example, some say certain things aren't universal but only apply to those to whom the writer is writing. This is taking context to an extreme. If things only apply to those to whom the writer is writing then nothing applies to us.

Maybe not. When Paul wrote to Timothy to "take a little wine for your stomach's sake", it was written for him, it was specific. For drunks to use the text for excessive drinking would be a wrong use of the text. This does not lead one to say as you do, 'then nothing applies to us'. But I understand where you are coming from.

 

[ResidentAlien]

Maybe not. When Paul wrote to Timothy to "take a little wine for your stomach's sake", it was written for him, it was specific. For drunks to use the text for excessive drinking would be a wrong use of the text. This does not lead one to say as you do, 'then nothing applies to us'. But I understand where you are coming from.

That verse you're quoting was written to Timothy, but it can also have a universal application to all believers. To say, as many do, that something was written to a specific someone in the 1st century so it doesn't apply to us is simply not true in my opinion.

 

[Aussie52]

That verse you're quoting was written to Timothy, but it can also have a universal application to all believers. To say, as many do, that something was written to a specific someone in the 1st century so it doesn't apply to us is simply not true in my opinion.

But you would have to admit that Paul's directive to Timothy about drinking wine is specific to Timothy alone?

 

[GWH]

context is so very important to understanding God's Written Word.

so important.

Yes, because the Bible writers don’t discuss doctrines in detail. I guess the most systematic book is Romans, but even that leaves some questions begged rather than answered, so it is necessary to harmonize Rom. 9 with 1Tim. 2:3-4, for example.

 

[HeIsHere]

That verse you're quoting was written to Timothy, but it can also have a universal application to all believers. To say, as many do, that something was written to a specific someone in the 1st century so it doesn't apply to us is simply not true in my opinion.

Written for us, but not to us.

 

[ChristRoseFromTheDead]

But you would have to admit that Paul's directive to Timothy about drinking wine is specific to Timothy alone?

Yes, unless you extract the principle that wine helps settle nerves, which apparently Timothy was prone to being so young and having to teach much older, more experienced people.

 

[Blain]

Context is important to a certain degree but it isn't absolute either. some scream context as an excuse to disregard verses of scripture sometimes a single verse is all that is needed to make a point to reveal truth and other times it requires that context is given or else you will completely miss the meaning and point of scripture. But if you ask me we should look even further outside the box not even in the sense of context but to view the whole bible as a whole in regards to understanding scripture taking the entirety of the bible into consideration.

Every verse is connected to another verse and that other verse connected to yet another and so on the bible can be seen as like a spider web it is all connected all in a design and it also has many layers like the crsut of the earth or an onin especially and onion because you can peel back layers.


But there is an even more aspect that is needed, more than context more than viewing and understanding the scriptures as a whole and that is the holy spirit.The word of God was written by the holy spirit not man yes man was used to write but it was the spirit speaking. Therfore one can only understand the word via the holy spirt.
You canntot use logic to understand it if you go into it with the mind of a scholar yes you can learn and understand to a degree but you will never see past the first layer of the word this is because it was not written so that man could understand it by human reasoning this is why there are so many deep hidden secrets and truths that have yet to be discovered even after all this time since it was written. many use their own logic and reasoning,their own personal beliefs and doctrines already set in their minds so that is what they see when they read it and god forbid that they might actually be wrong in their beliefs and understanding. Without the ability to let go to surrender all your beliefs all your understanding even if it means you have to start from scratch you cannot learn and cannot see.


So context can be importan yes but there is so much more required

 

[biblestudent78]

Understanding context is good; but I've seen context abused. For example, some say certain things aren't universal but only apply to those to whom the writer is writing. This is taking context to an extreme. If things only apply to those to whom the writer is writing then nothing applies to us.

I think you may want to rethink your pemice. Let's use the key documents that define America, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and the Declaration of Indepence. Are these documents specific to just the former colonies? Are they equally specific to the Native Americans that owned America at the time of their writing? Are they in some way "universal" with exceptions for non-land owners women and slaves? Or are what we claim as "universal truths" just aspirations, good intentions and "ideals" that never get lived up to?

The process of education is the recognition that data without context is useless. Does the story of Adam and Eve and God putting evil in the Garden an allegory with wide application or is it a dogma requiring "belief" without evidence that serves no useful purpose but to separate literalist Christians from Christian historians? What is the context for the flood story of the Mesopotamians and the much later Canaanites? What is the context of the Moses origin story seperate from the same one told 1,000 years earlier?

Your question suggests your dogma. The entire bible must confirm to your preconceived dogmas or they cannot be "valid" or "true."
IMHO, one can see the biblical corpus as a foundation of discovery and illumination or it can be filtered into tiny little items the support a preconceived brittle barriers to understanding them as written in the context of their times and for the purposes of the writers, editors and curators. Is it possible that an infinite God is best viewed through partisan filters?