The “Nanny Culture” in the church with its adoption of principles, naturally leads to the use of the Bible as a “yardstick”: Christians are supposed to check everything they intend to do against the Bible, ensuring that there is a back-up verse that validates it. This concept has been expounded by Darin Hufford of The Free Believers Network in his blog post entitled "Back-up Verse Theology".
The problem with using the Bible to find back-up verses is that people can tend to lose spontaneity as they try to look-up verses of scripture which seem to fit their intended course of action. This could lead people being put off doing something because it is not considered “scriptural” – even though they believe it is right in their heart. What do you do, for instance, if there is no Bible verse that says you should go on holiday to Spain for two weeks? What can also happen, I have noticed, is that Christians can become creative in manipulating Bible verses so that they mean what they want them to mean.
There is also the possibility of being led into excesses as people look to certain scriptures which they are told promise substantial wealth and incredible success by enthusiastic preachers. This leads to people “standing on God’s Word” as they indulge their fantasies about the incredible things that God wants to do in a person’s life. I believe that God has a plan for us; He wants us to do well in life and to prosper. However, I feel that this divine success and prosperity looks a lot more like “normal” life than the hyped-up claims of some preachers. Have you noticed that most of these prosperity preachers come from America – the most prosperous nation on earth?
When the Bible says in Deuteronomy 28:5, “blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl” – I believe that is saying that farmers of modest means in ancient Middle-East, will have more than enough food to eat. How on earth have we taken that verse and made it to mean something along the lines of a salesperson in 21st century America making a million dollars in sales this year? I believe we should read scripture with its original context and target audience in mind.
2 comments:
The bible is timeless. If verses are only relevant to a certain context, where do we look to for guidance for situations in our present time? My opinion is that such verses are metaphors, and are relevant to our daily lives. In Deuteronomy 28:5, the basket and kneading bowl could also refer to our spiritual lives, that we will be blessed abundantly, spiritually. Yes, I do agree that we shouldn't manipulate verses according to our wants and desires. However, if God wants to bless us with a million dollars or what he sees is best for us, I believe Deuteronomy 28:5 would still be relevant to that particular situation, regardless of how 'virtuous' or not the blessings may seem. Would you care so much as to clarify my doubts please? Thank you very much, and may God bless you tremendously :)
Good point! I agree that verses of the Bible can be metaphoric. Certainly, Deuteronomy 28:5 could relate to us today - I believe that it is God's intention to bless us. But we can become misled when we anxiously attribute all sorts of desires to such verses.
So what should we take from a verse such as Deuteronomy 28:5? This verse, apart from its original message to its original audience (the Jews in Old Covenant times), means that God promises to meet your basic needs if the requirements of the covenant are met. In those days it was keeping the Mosaic law. Nowadays, Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf.
But it would be presumptuous of me to "use" Deuteronomy 28:5 to hold God to a specific promise of material blessing, such as an expensive car.
Other than that, we should simply go along with our own instincts as God leads us and guides us,
rather than obsessively intellectualising scripture.
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