I was noticing in the Bible teach book that not only are verses used out of context, they often use PORTIONS of verses, like "CORRESPONDING RANSOM", with no regard to the rest of the VERSE!
I somewhat agree with jaguarbass when he said, "Conclusion: the bible says anything that you want it to." This is true if one has no regard whatsoever for previous church fathers, history, and especially the first few ecumenical councils. Although I am not personally Roman Catholic, I do believe in 'catholicity', that is valuing what has gone before. Even the Protestant reformers who taught "Sola Scriptura" did not agree with any nutjob sitting down and saying, i throw out all that has gone before, and i will sit down and figure out the Bible for myself, because they are all wrong. That is the beginning of a cult right there! And that is a misunderstanding of what the Reformers meant by Sola Scriptura.
I'm reading an interesting book on church history by Jaroslav Pelikan, where he explains 3 'tests' of orthodoxy. Is it believed in most places, over most of church history, by most. Ubiquity, antiquity, and consent. I found that really helpful and interesting.