Proof, or Prooftexting?

December 15, 2017

Cherry picking Scriptures as proof texts can be a dangerous business. An old story from my preacher’s file has a confused young man trying to discern God’s will for his life. He closes his eyes and his Bible, lets the latter fall open, plants his index finger on a place on the page, and opens his eyes. The text reads, “Judas went out and hanged himself.” Not being quite what he expected, he tried again. When he looked where his finger pointed, the text read, “Go thou, and do likewise.” Now he was really worried, so he decided to try once more. “Whatever thou doest, do it quickly.” 

Warren Woolsey was a professor of New Testament at Houghton college back when Linda and I were students. He used to say, “A text without a context is a pretext.” Unfortunately, it isn’t uncommon for people to misuse the Bible as support for some very unbiblical ideas. On the other hand, God has a way of bringing to our attention just the right word at just the right time. Yesterday I wrote about the decision I’ve made to throw my lot in with my friends in the Dunkirk congregation. I’m still technically just pulpit supply, and only put in a couple days a week, but I’m letting go of some of the things I’ve really enjoyed doing at Park church, most notably, playing my bass with the worship team. I love doing that, and will miss it. But there is more to the story.

If I were in any doubt about this decision, this morning’s Scripture from the devotional I read every day settled the matter. “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 4:2) Perhaps it’s coincidence; perhaps it’s prooftexting; but to me, it’s confirmation that my playing bass in the band isn’t the most important consideration right now. I think I’ve known that for some time, but it’s good to get that extra little nudge from God to seal the deal.