When church leaders peer through cool shades at God's Word, the true meaning often gets traded for an idol that they long to see. Welcome to the start of an ongoing series of posts on Old Truth, dedicated to demonstrating the perils of approaching scripture with an already decided idea of what you want it to say. In the weeks ahead, we'll examine how the only thing needed to make a scriptural square peg fit in a culturally relevant round hole is the hammer of haphazard bible interpretation. Here now is volume 1.
This new series won't be on any kind of set schedule, but from time to time I will post some examples of abused scripture verses that I've found on the blogs of relevant church leaders. I'll be using a sampling of a number of different pastors, though I don't intend to mention their names; the point here is simply to demonstrate how frequently an interpretive bias is brought to bear upon the scriptures, and hopefully to show you how to spot this kind of error on your own. And let's face it, as one of the Reformers used to say "human beings are idol factories", and so it is that all of us need to be on guard against bringing our own bias-baggage to our reading of the scriptures.
To kick off this series, I've selected an SBC megachurch pastor who is enamored with the Church Growth Movement. He's currently reading through the book of Isaiah during his personal devotion time. Along the way, he posts on his blog any thoughts he has on various verses that he found meaningful. The (text below in) CAPS is his own emphasis:
Isaiah 51:2 - He writes: "God is definitely into growth - just look at His track record!" Reality check: This verse is talking about the increase of those who would descend from Abraham. While it is true that all believers are likewise Abraham's descendants, this pastor wants this verse to set a precedence for "kingdom multiplication" through his modern entertainment-based church growth methods. There are numerous other Old Testament "Israel verses" that he could cite, some of which speak about bad things happening to Israel, such as captivity and scattering amongst the nations, but this pastor is not interested in using "name it and claim it" on those passages. I'm certain we won't ever see a future post of his saying "God is definitely into scattering us and putting us into captivity". This influential church leader is simply picking-and-choosing which verses he wants to apply, to that which he hopes will happen with his church. It's a case of one man's wishful thinking coupled with some Old Testament verses that seem to bolster his paradigm.
Isaiah 54:2-3 - He writes: "YES! I honestly believe this is getting ready to happen here at [our church]!" He then goes on to tie that in with the mention of his upcoming sports-themed sermon series. Reality check: Yet another promise based on Israel, mentioning the enlarging of tents, being stretched and spread out, the overtaking of desolate cities. The verse is also prophetic of the eventuality of Christ for the Gentiles. No doubt, this pastor is primarily interested in words like "Enlarge" which appear in the verse. The verse is then adapted to apply to some supposed promise of increasing size and influence of his own megachurch, in part - through some upcoming creative 'sports' sermons. This is all so similar to the subjective interpretation used in the New York Times bestseller "The Prayer of Jabez". Remember that book? I had an unsaved family member who prayed the Jabez prayer everyday, to enlarge his territory, which for him meant to "accumulate more money and get rich". The book encouraged him to claim that verse for himself. But really, you could plug anything you want into formulas like this. If you want more of it (whatever it is) then this scripture can be made to apply to you. It's really sad to see influential leaders of large churches gladly embrace a shallow Jabez error of "enlarge your territory".
Isaiah 61:4 - He writes: "I believe there is a group of pastors out there that this verse applies to! The church in America is NOT in good shape, the population is INCREASING in our country and the church is DECREASING! In a time where we should be experiencing EXPLOSIVE growth the church is in an EXPLOSIVE decline. BUT...there is a group of pastors out there who God has called to rebuild the ruins...to repair what is broken" then he goes on to assign a second meaning to this verse for 'volunteers' at his own church: "people who give their time to selflessly serve each and every week. If this is you - THEN YOU are a part of this verse...God is using you to build the church". Reality check: The immediate context of this passage is the devastation of the land of Israel while in captivity, and it's future hope of rebuilding. As you can see from the verses leading up to it though, this passage is prophetic of Christ. This pastor however, seems to be keying off of phrases like "repair the ruined cities", which he applies to "churches in America". The verse gets further stretched, when he applies it to "volunteers" who are helping to build his own church; those that help to park cars, greet visitors, and babysit kids in the church playland facility, etc. This is a tremendous 'reach' and an outright twisting of scripture.
Are you seeing a pattern here? The bible is being used like a Magic 8 Ball that says only what the church leader gives it permission to say:
I'm not even saying that this church leader is doing this on purpose. I think he's so convinced of his ideas, that these verses just seem to jump off the page at him. But if we are going to take this kind of fast-and-loose approach to scripture, there's a million things we could apply passages like that to.
Let's say for example, that your aunt is really run down from chemotherapy, and you long to see her restored back to good health. So one morning you are reading your bible and you run across the verse in question. You think "hey, I think that's God telling me that He plans to build her up, and restore her former self, from the devastation of her cancer". How many people have had those kinds of false hopes from reading the bible incorrectly, only to find out later that God was trying to teach them longsuffering instead, or He had some other purpose besides improving their immediate earthly existence.
The bible is not a Magic 8 Ball. There's actually a right way to study your bible that will keep you safely within the bounds of God's intended meaning. It's called hermeneutics, and as one description page tells us:
"The most important law of biblical hermeneutics is that the Bible should be interpreted literally. Literal Bible interpretation means you understand the Bible in its normal/plain meaning. The Bible says what it means and means what it says. Many make the mistake of trying to read between the lines and come up with meanings for Scriptures that are not truly in the text. Yes, of course, there are some spiritual truths behind the plain meanings of Scripture. That does not mean that every Scripture has a hidden spiritual truth, or that it should be our goal to find all such spiritual truths. Biblical hermeneutics keeps us faithful to the intended meaning of Scripture and away from allegorizing and symbolizing Bible verses and passages that should be understood literally."
That's good advice that would have helped to keep our megachurch pastor from seeing only what he wants to see on the pages of scripture. Hermeneutics would have helped him from seeing his idols in the biblical texts. Especially since this pastor admits to having never attended seminary, he would benefit from the CrossTV Workman videos that show Christians how to rightly interpret God's word.
Do you know of any other popular pastors who are twisting scripture to support their concept of 'relevance'?
This new series won't be on any kind of set schedule, but from time to time I will post some examples of abused scripture verses that I've found on the blogs of relevant church leaders. I'll be using a sampling of a number of different pastors, though I don't intend to mention their names; the point here is simply to demonstrate how frequently an interpretive bias is brought to bear upon the scriptures, and hopefully to show you how to spot this kind of error on your own. And let's face it, as one of the Reformers used to say "human beings are idol factories", and so it is that all of us need to be on guard against bringing our own bias-baggage to our reading of the scriptures.
To kick off this series, I've selected an SBC megachurch pastor who is enamored with the Church Growth Movement. He's currently reading through the book of Isaiah during his personal devotion time. Along the way, he posts on his blog any thoughts he has on various verses that he found meaningful. The (text below in) CAPS is his own emphasis:
Isaiah 51:2 - He writes: "God is definitely into growth - just look at His track record!" Reality check: This verse is talking about the increase of those who would descend from Abraham. While it is true that all believers are likewise Abraham's descendants, this pastor wants this verse to set a precedence for "kingdom multiplication" through his modern entertainment-based church growth methods. There are numerous other Old Testament "Israel verses" that he could cite, some of which speak about bad things happening to Israel, such as captivity and scattering amongst the nations, but this pastor is not interested in using "name it and claim it" on those passages. I'm certain we won't ever see a future post of his saying "God is definitely into scattering us and putting us into captivity". This influential church leader is simply picking-and-choosing which verses he wants to apply, to that which he hopes will happen with his church. It's a case of one man's wishful thinking coupled with some Old Testament verses that seem to bolster his paradigm.
Isaiah 54:2-3 - He writes: "YES! I honestly believe this is getting ready to happen here at [our church]!" He then goes on to tie that in with the mention of his upcoming sports-themed sermon series. Reality check: Yet another promise based on Israel, mentioning the enlarging of tents, being stretched and spread out, the overtaking of desolate cities. The verse is also prophetic of the eventuality of Christ for the Gentiles. No doubt, this pastor is primarily interested in words like "Enlarge" which appear in the verse. The verse is then adapted to apply to some supposed promise of increasing size and influence of his own megachurch, in part - through some upcoming creative 'sports' sermons. This is all so similar to the subjective interpretation used in the New York Times bestseller "The Prayer of Jabez". Remember that book? I had an unsaved family member who prayed the Jabez prayer everyday, to enlarge his territory, which for him meant to "accumulate more money and get rich". The book encouraged him to claim that verse for himself. But really, you could plug anything you want into formulas like this. If you want more of it (whatever it is) then this scripture can be made to apply to you. It's really sad to see influential leaders of large churches gladly embrace a shallow Jabez error of "enlarge your territory".
Isaiah 61:4 - He writes: "I believe there is a group of pastors out there that this verse applies to! The church in America is NOT in good shape, the population is INCREASING in our country and the church is DECREASING! In a time where we should be experiencing EXPLOSIVE growth the church is in an EXPLOSIVE decline. BUT...there is a group of pastors out there who God has called to rebuild the ruins...to repair what is broken" then he goes on to assign a second meaning to this verse for 'volunteers' at his own church: "people who give their time to selflessly serve each and every week. If this is you - THEN YOU are a part of this verse...God is using you to build the church". Reality check: The immediate context of this passage is the devastation of the land of Israel while in captivity, and it's future hope of rebuilding. As you can see from the verses leading up to it though, this passage is prophetic of Christ. This pastor however, seems to be keying off of phrases like "repair the ruined cities", which he applies to "churches in America". The verse gets further stretched, when he applies it to "volunteers" who are helping to build his own church; those that help to park cars, greet visitors, and babysit kids in the church playland facility, etc. This is a tremendous 'reach' and an outright twisting of scripture.
Are you seeing a pattern here? The bible is being used like a Magic 8 Ball that says only what the church leader gives it permission to say:
I'm not even saying that this church leader is doing this on purpose. I think he's so convinced of his ideas, that these verses just seem to jump off the page at him. But if we are going to take this kind of fast-and-loose approach to scripture, there's a million things we could apply passages like that to.
Let's say for example, that your aunt is really run down from chemotherapy, and you long to see her restored back to good health. So one morning you are reading your bible and you run across the verse in question. You think "hey, I think that's God telling me that He plans to build her up, and restore her former self, from the devastation of her cancer". How many people have had those kinds of false hopes from reading the bible incorrectly, only to find out later that God was trying to teach them longsuffering instead, or He had some other purpose besides improving their immediate earthly existence.
The bible is not a Magic 8 Ball. There's actually a right way to study your bible that will keep you safely within the bounds of God's intended meaning. It's called hermeneutics, and as one description page tells us:
"The most important law of biblical hermeneutics is that the Bible should be interpreted literally. Literal Bible interpretation means you understand the Bible in its normal/plain meaning. The Bible says what it means and means what it says. Many make the mistake of trying to read between the lines and come up with meanings for Scriptures that are not truly in the text. Yes, of course, there are some spiritual truths behind the plain meanings of Scripture. That does not mean that every Scripture has a hidden spiritual truth, or that it should be our goal to find all such spiritual truths. Biblical hermeneutics keeps us faithful to the intended meaning of Scripture and away from allegorizing and symbolizing Bible verses and passages that should be understood literally."
That's good advice that would have helped to keep our megachurch pastor from seeing only what he wants to see on the pages of scripture. Hermeneutics would have helped him from seeing his idols in the biblical texts. Especially since this pastor admits to having never attended seminary, he would benefit from the CrossTV Workman videos that show Christians how to rightly interpret God's word.
Do you know of any other popular pastors who are twisting scripture to support their concept of 'relevance'?
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