Worst scriptures taken out of context?

by slimboyfat 32 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  slimboyfat

  Our new Circuit Overseer was telling us yesterday that we should be careful that we use scriptures in context, and should always be ready to explain the verse in context if the householder queries our interpretation. Why? Because some people have claimed that Jehovah's Witnesses take verses out of context!

  Well it strikes me that the Society does not set a very good example for the publishers in this regard. They often quote verses and apply a sense to them entirely foreign to their original context. Interestingly, the verses they do this to most egregiously often involve support for their organisation or power structure. Two examples:

  Prov 4:18 - there is no sense in this verse or the surrounding context that it is talking about an organisation progressively understanding divine truth. It seems to be saying the a righteous person will get wiser over time as they walk with God in their life. No wonder this verse is only read in isolation.

  Luke 12:32 - in context Jesus says nothing about the "little flock" being a small group who go to heaven as opposed to all other believers. The context reveals the mundane fact that Jesus was talking about his followers as a "little flock" as distinguished with the unbelieving "crowd" in verse 1. No wonder with verse is usually read in isolation.

  Have others got favourite examples?

  Slim
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  tijkmo

  ps 37 : 10, 11

  not talking about future developements....talking about israel

  who's ya new c.o.
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  slimboyfat

  That was the very verse he used to prove that we can quote in context!

  Forget his name. He was from Dundee originally.

  Slim (of the "was I asleep?" class)
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  tijkmo

  hmmm...not the afghanistan no1 circuit then
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  mouthy

  I know they do take many out of context. But what riles me is the two flocks they have ///The Heavenly flock & earthly flock Because when you read scripture it PLAINLY states the Jews are the little flock & the Gentiles are the bigger flock ( just my two cents.
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  greendawn

  The Great Crowd are obviously in heaven since everything and everyone else in that vision is also in heaven before the Throne of God. They are obviously the same as the 144 000, not an earth bound group as the jWs claim.
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  Narkissos

  Practically every scripture the average JW can quote with the exact reference is out of context...

  Genesis 3:15; Numbers 14:34; Job 14:4; Psalm 37:10f; Isaiah 43:10; Ezechiel 18:4; Matthew 24:14,34,45; John 10:16; Romans 6:7; 10:13; 2 Peter 3:13; 2 John 9-11 come to mind.
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  TD

  My vote is for Acts 15:29, because aside from the obvious human cost in premature loss of life, they are pulling a "Triple Whammy" when it comes to context.

  JW's pretend that this verse directly speaks to the propriety of transfusion and they do this by ripping the partial predicate, "To be abstaining....from blood." out of its context and invoking it as an independent construction.

  This is the technique employed in the most recent treatment of the subject in JW literature (Awake! September, 2006) Therefore if you ask any JW at your door why they don't accept transfusion, his or her response will be both predictable and commensurately ignorant for these reasons:

  First: It is not possible for the Bible to comment directly on issues alien to its social and historical context. Transfusion is one of those issues.

  Second: The narrative context is an alleged dispute over the necessity of Gentile converts becoming circumcised and following the Law and it is this context that determines the nature of the abstention. Consequently, this verse only directly speaks to the dietary requirement of not eating blood. (It is therefore up to the JW to demonstrate that the consumption of blood and the transfusion of blood are in some way, equivalent acts.)

  Third: Apart from its context, the partial predicate cannot function as an independent construction, so what they are doing is ungrammatical as well.
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  Warlock

  What about 2Tim 3:1-5. The application of the scripture IS FOR THE CONGREGATION, NOT THE WORLD. Keep reading v.6 & 7. In v.8, he speaks of Jannes & Jambres resisting Moses. None of these people were in the world. This admonition is applied to the congregation, but the WTS applies it to the world.

  Warlock
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  M.J.

  Echoing Narkissos (who mentioned many of the heavy-hitters), I nominate Romans 6:7 "anyone who has died has been freed from sin". I mean, this sentence taken in isolation to prop up a totally alien doctrine to what is being discussed--namely their doctrine that Christ's sacrifice does not cover your personal sins, but that your own death pays for your own sins.

  Paul is in the middle of a discussion of "dying to sin" and how his sacrifice has freed you from the bondage of (personal) sin.