Why reading scripture in context is important!

It is my opinion that scripture must be read in context. You find the meaning in scripture by reading other scripture. This post is sparked by another blog I was directed to (by that blog's author) in which the author of that blog states that reading scripture in context is wrong and scripture is meant to be read out of context. The exact quote from the site is: " you must read the Bible HIS way Isa 28:9-10, 2 Tim 2:15 (OUT of context). The whole world is deceived Rev 12:9 because they read the Bible Satan's way (IN context)."

Lets look at the verses sited:

Isaiah 28:9 Who is he trying to teach?
Who is he trying to instruct?
Infants just weaned from milk?
Babies removed from the breast?
10 For he says: “Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.” 

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.

Revelations 12:9 So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.

Using these scriptures, she tries to claim that each line should be taken by itself on its own.  In doing this, you can make scripture mean ANYTHING you want.  (The verse in Isaiah is actually talking about drunk priest, if you read the verses before it.  The priest were teaching people simple things: law after law, line after line, a little here, a little there: but Isaiah was saying the priest needed to teach the deeper things of God.  The people were grown adults and need more than the milk of scripture, they needed more than the pureed and mashed up food, they needed real bread).  Lets look at this verse from Luke: (Better yet, lets look at it in the KJV, since that is the only "real" version of scripture according to the other poster -- There will be a post on that later).

Luke 4:7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

What a wonderful promise scripture gives us if we read this OUT of context.  If you will worship me, all shall be yours.  This is wonderful, all we have to do is worship God and we shall get everything.  WRONG.  This is one verse where contexts matters!  Did you know the devil said this?  He said this when tempting Jesus.  Go read the rest of Luke 4.  Get the context and you won't like this verse anymore!

Yes, 2 Timothy 2:15, states you should correctly teach the word of truth.  But how do we do that?  We look at scripture, ALL of scripture, as a whole.  Not just one part.

Genesis 40:8 Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God?"

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:20 First of all, you should know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Interpretations from scripture come from GOD and only GOD.  HE is the one who wrote it and HE is the only one who can tell us what it means.

In order to fully grasp what the Bible is trying to say, you must read the passages in context, in context with the verses around it, in context of it's book, and in context of the Bible as a whole.  Another belief I hold to is that the Bible is true and does not contain any contradictions or mistakes.  If you allow the Bible to have mistakes or contains things that are not true, then you cannot believe any of scripture.  Who are you to judge the book of God?  If one thing is false, then all of it is false because we have no way of knowing what is true and what is not.  We cannot pick and choose what WE (man) think is true and what is not.  As we see above, it is God's word.

By taking scriptures out of context, you open up for contradictions.  The Bible cannot contradict itself if every single part of it is true.  If you read a verse and think, but what a minute, it contradicts this other verse over there, then you are interpreting those scriptures incorrectly, in my opinion.  They are both true, so you must look at other scripture to see the full meaning.

Matthew 12:25 Knowing their thoughts, He told them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

Here, Jesus says division in a kingdom, home or city (and this can be extended to ANYTHING, even scripture) cannot stand.  If you divide scripture and only take a small part for living, it will not benefit you the way knowing and believing all of scripture, as a whole will.  You need all of scripture to live a Godly life.  You need all of scripture, together, to rightly know God and his plans for salvation.  You cannot understand one concept in the Bible by reading one line.  God's salvation plan is more than John 3:16.  If  you divide the Bible into small parts and twist them to mean what you want, you are spreading a false gospel.  If what you believe is not backed up by ALL of scripture, then what you believe is wrong.

Yes, the whole Earth is deceived by Satan.  That is why we cannot reply on any Earthly interpretation of the Bible.  We must rely on the Bible to interpret the Bible.  If we do not understand one part of scripture, we must look at other scripture to help us understand.  The only way to stop a false prophet is to show them the truth of scripture.  The scripture is the only truth we have.  We cannot rely on our own understanding.  We must rely on God.

1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. 2 For I didn’t think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a powerful demonstration by the Spirit, 5 so that your faith might not be based on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.
6 However, we do speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written:
What eye did not see and ear did not hear,
and what never entered the human mind—
God prepared this for those who love Him.
10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything,even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

"Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit." Hence, scriptures.  God revealed the scripture to the original writers.  God reveals the interpretations to us through the spirit.  We must read the word God gave us through the prophets and apostles and rely on his spirit for guidance.  God did not give us a bunch of little verses and say "do with this as you please," he gave us a whole book and said "read and obey."  All of it.  Not just part.  Not what makes me feel good.  Not what I like, but ALL of it.      

Reading the Bible IN context helps us grasp a full understanding of scripture.  Pulling verses out of context could get you sucked up in one of the Devil's lies.  (Luke 4:7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine." (KJV) -- Remember, this is a promise of the Devil, not God).  Context is important.

Abortion

Well, another friend has posted something that has gotten my mind started and it just can't stop!  I have got to write on this.  I know this can be a very touchy subject, so please keep in mind that these are my opinions.

Abortion, the ending of a pregnancy, whether is occurs naturally or spontaneously or if it results from man's intervention.  You cannot do anything about a spontaneous abortion.  Those are ones that occur naturally.  There is either a genetic abnormality or something wrong/not just right in the mother.  This post is to address those abortions that result from man's intervention, which results in the death of the baby.

It is MY choice.  It is my body and I can do with it as I please.
How selfish can you get?  What about the baby's body?  Oh, they do not get a choice.  They must do what the mother decides.  If she wants the baby to die, then it is ok, because the baby is in her body.  The child's life is worth less than her own, so she can be like God and decided it the baby will live or die.  (And yes, I am using baby to describe the child in the womb.  The turn "fetus" may be what is acceptable to science, but that turn is just another name to describe a baby in the womb and the turn "fetus" just takes away from the humanity of the baby in the womb)  In many cases (not all) it was the woman's choice to have sex and pregnancy is a consequence of sex.  If you do not want to have a baby, then do not have sex.  There are contraceptives available to those women who wish to still engage in sex, and while they are not 100% effective, they are still there and available for women to use.

What is inside me is not a person, so it is ok.
So, when does it become a person?  You know, that one week old baby in the womb has the same DNA as a 1 week old baby outside the womb.  What makes us human and not monkeys or dog or fish?  Our DNA.  It is my believe that you are a person from the moment you are conceived.  

Isaiah 49:1 The Lord called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.

The Lord clearly thought Isaiah was a person before he was born.  He even gave Isaiah a name.

Jeremiah 1:5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah was chosen before the womb.  Once God chose to make him, he was set apart for the work of the Lord to be a prophet.

Luke 1:15 He (Jesus) will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb.

Here the Messiah was filled with the Holy Spirit before he left the womb.  

It is clear in the Bible that baby's in the womb are recognized by God and that he considers them special and important before they are ever born.  Why can we not value the life in the womb like God?  I know why.  We are selfish.  We want things our way and when something happens we do not like (like an unwanted pregnancy) we take action to "fix" it.  We disregard why we are in the situations we are in and instead of dealing with the consequences, we take the easy road out and do want is good for us now.  We think we know what the future would be like as a single mom, or even in a marriage with an unwanted child, but we can never know how it will affect us unless we let it happen.  We fear the unknown and want to keep thing the same.

Some people even argue that since the baby is dependent on the mother for it's life, then it isn't truly a person.  The baby cannot survive outside the womb, so it isn't "alive."  While that is true, that the baby cannot survive outside the womb FOR A TIME.  Just because the baby is in the womb does not mean it is not alive.  The baby does not become alive once it exits the womb, it already is alive!  But how long must the baby stay in the womb before it can survive outside?  Well, you cannot say for sure.  It is different from baby to baby.  Some can survive as early as 25 weeks and some at the same 25 weeks would not live past the birth.

Women just do not understand what is happening in an abortion.  
Yes, they understand they are stopping a pregnancy.  The unwanted "fetus" will no longer be there.  It is just a blob of tissue that isn't really alive anyways.  What they do not understand is that from early on in the pregnancy, the "fetus" looks like a baby.  It moves like a baby.  (The fetus is moving its limbs and body).  It has a heart beat that is detectable by ultrasound from the 6th week.  (It is actually sooner than that, but the length of pregnancy is measured from the first day of your last menstrual, so it is probably closer to 4 weeks of the actual age of the baby when it can be detected.)  I was six weeks pregnant when I found out I was expecting.  My daughter already had a heart beat.  She was already moving.  She was alive!  Just looking at the ultrasound you can see that!  Something that is not alive is still.  It does not move and it will not have a heart beat!

Rape and Incest.
This is one category that gets a lot of people.  Some one who is raped did not have a choice on whether or not to have sex.  Therefore, they did not have a choice on whether or not to get pregnant.  Why then should they have a choice to end the pregnancy?  Yes, it will be a constant reminder of what happened.  Yes, it is unwanted and not desired.  But, what did the baby do to deserve no chance at life?  All because the way they came into the world was not desirable, does not mean they do not deserve a chance at life.  The same goes for incest, whether consensual or not.

What really gets me are those people that fight so aggressively against domestic abuse and rape, yet they feel abortion is ok.  What about that poor, abused baby?  It did not even stand a chance to fight for it's life.  It was looked on with contempt from the moment it was conceived and abused in the thoughts of it's mother, though, until she had the abortion, could not physically harm the child.

The baby is going to be deformed or have a genetic disease.
And having a deformation or a disease makes one less human?   Does a person with a deformation or a disease not count as a person?  Even people who are excited to have a baby will consider or even go through with an abortion if told their baby is going to be born ill or deformed.  Why?  Doctors cannot tell with 100% accuracy what deformations or diseases, or even how severe anything will be, just from ultrasounds.  There have been cases where people were told their baby would have this or that syndrome and the babies were born perfectly fine!  There have also been parents who had babies who were told they were fine only to find out of some disease after they were born.  Does it make a difference WHEN someone learns of a deformation or a disease?  Whether in the womb or out of it?  It does not change their DNA.  It does not change how human they are.  It does not change the fact they are alive.

The mother will die or the baby would not survive anyways.This is the topic that gets me.  If the mother is pregnant and the pregnancy will result in her death, but she would be guaranteed to live otherwise, is an abortion ok?  I think in the event of a tubal pregnancy, then an abortion is necessary to save the mother's life.  I know it is rare for someone to survive a tubal pregnancy without intervention and even more rare for the baby to survive, though it has happened.  Most tubal pregnancies are found after a heart beat is present and the baby is moving and growing.  It is life.  It is life that puts the mother's life in danger.  If allowed to continue, then the baby will soon out grow the area and the tube will rupture.  This almost always causes the death of the baby.  The mother, without any intervention would probably die from blood loss.  The goal is to stop these before the rupture, to avoid the blood loss in the mother.

There are viable alternatives
Are you pregnant and not wanting the baby?  Well there are alternatives to abortion.  I believe there is a lot of misinformation out there about the foster system and adoption.  Many people think that all these women who are having babies and not wanting them are flooding the foster system that is already over burdened.  Well, that isn't completely true.  If there is a women who is not wanting her baby, that baby can go directly to adoptive parents without ever entering the foster system.  I know this because my cousins have a beautiful baby girl they took home from the hospital that they are in the process of adopting.  The baby never spent one day in foster care.  The mother decided she did not want to keep the child and then found (by word of mouth, not through an adoption agency) a couple (my cousins) who wanted to have a child but could not and they worked it out so that my cousins could adopt her.  They were present for the birth and took her home at the end of her stay.  Now, I know that their case was slightly unusual, but it can be done.  There are many adoption agencies that allow the birth mother to choose a couple from a variety of couples looking for children.  (I know several people going through this route to adoption).

I guess what I really want to say here is that an unwanted pregnancy is not the end of the world and it takes a stronger women to keep the baby than one who kills it.  An abortion is the easy way out and you do not even give the baby a change at life.  You put your own comforts and feelings above that of another and choose to kill the weaker to make your own life better.  It is clear that God values life, even life before birth. Children can be a blessing if you let them.  If not to you, then to someone else who would be willing to take them and care for them.

Genesis 21:22-34 -- Everlasting God

Genesis 21:22 At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. 23 Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a foreign resident.”
24 And Abraham said, “I swear it.” 25 But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.
26 Abimelech replied, “I don’t know who did this thing. You didn’t report anything to me, so I hadn’t heard about it until today.”
27 Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. 28 Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs?”
30 He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that this act will serve as my witness that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba because it was there that the two of them swore an oath. 32 After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines for many days.

Abraham made peace with Abimelech.  Abraham lived in his land and agreed to be loyal to him and his children.  The lambs were used as a symbol of the covenant between the two.

This passage mentions something specific about God.  He is the Everlasting God.  That means he is eternal.  He has been before us and will remain after us.

Isaiah 40:6
“All humanity is grass,
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath of the Lord blows on them;
indeed, the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flowers fade,
but the word of our God remains forever.”

Isaiah 40:28
Yahweh is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never grows faint or weary;
there is no limit to His understanding.

This passage elaborates on that concept a little more.  God does not grown faint or weary.  He understands everything.

Daniel 6:26 I issue a decree that in all my royal dominion, people must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel:
For He is the living God,
and He endures forever;
His kingdom will never be destroyed,
and His dominion has no end.

God is forever and his kingdom is forever!  What wonderful news for us believes to know God will reign forever and never be defeated.

And this following verse is a fitting ending to this post!  The words of Paul are perfect!

1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Genesis 10 -- Biblical Genealogy

Genesis 10:1 These are the family records of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They also had sons after the flood.
2 Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 And Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 The coastland peoples spread out into their lands. These are Japheth’s sons by their clans, in their nations. Each group had its own language.
6 Ham’s sons: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 7 Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And Raamah’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush fathered Nimrod, who was the first powerful man on earth. 9 He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord.” 10 His kingdom started with Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, 12 and Resen, between Nineveh and the great city Calah.
13 Mizraim fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (the Philistines came from them), and Caphtorim.
15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn, then Heth, 16 the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the Canaanite clans scattered. 19 The Canaanite border went from Sidon going toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and going toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.
20 These are Ham’s sons, by their clans, according to their languages, in their own lands and their nations.
21 And Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. Shem was the father of all the sons of Eber. 22 Shem’s sons were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.
23 Aram’s sons: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24 Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. 25 Eber had two sons. One was named Peleg, for during his days the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan. 26 And Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were Joktan’s sons. 30 Their settlements extended from Mesha to Sephar, the eastern hill country.
31 These are Shem’s sons by their clans, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.
32 These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their family records, in their nations. The nations on earth spread out from these after the flood.

Ok, one may read this and wonder why in the world this is in the Bible.  What does this record have to do with anything?!  Well the Jews were very diligent about keeping genealogical records to trace their linage to Jacob, then Abraham, then Noah and all the way to Adam.  It was important to show how they were God's people.  It also helps to show that the Bible uses historical records. This shows it is true!  Also, each family group, as we will see when we read further and get to the 12 tribes, has a specific role in the Jewish community.  Knowing which family you belong to, helps you know your role in society.

The genealogies were also important to point to Christ.  The Lord promises a savior to come from the line of David.

Isaiah 11:1 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Isaiah 11:10 On that day the root of Jesse
will stand as a banner for the peoples.
The nations will seek Him,
and His resting place will be glorious.

Jesse was David's father.  Knowing that the Bible is clear on whose line Jesus will come from helps us to establish the fact the Christ was fully man.  He was born from a woman, and is a descendant of Jesse, through David.  It also helps to establish that Jesus was a Jew, which means he was from God's chosen people.

Genesis 1:1 -- For HIS Glory

So, yesterday I left off with a question, why?  Why did God create the heavens and the earth?  I'm going to take this question one step further and ask why did God create all things?  The simple answer is that all of creation is here to glorify God.  Everything created is to glorify God.  God is all about bringing glory to himself.  He is God and he is worthy of all glory, honor and praise.

Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

The heavens testify to God's glory!  I know I have looked up at the sky many days and thought, "My God, this is a beautiful sunset (or sunrise)." or "The clouds are so beautiful!"  Those scenes then inspire me to thank God for all he has created and for allowing me to see his beautiful work.  How much more beautiful will the earth be when it is made new!

Revelation 4:9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

Our God is worthy of all glory, honor and power simply because he created all things!  He did not have to do anything else for us.  He created us, and as our creator he is worthy of our praise.

Isaiah 43:6
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

I am only going to focus on verse 7, but included verse six simply so I could have the whole sentence.  Here we see God say he created man for his glory.  We are here to glorify Him.  In all we do, say, think, etc., we are to bring him glory.

1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

So, today as I go about my daily rituals in caring for my family, I will endeavor to do it all for the glory of God.  Everything I have is by the grace of God.  Even though there are some days I wish I could just hid and stay under the covers all day and not deal with anything, I still need to be thankful for what God has given, even if I do not know how it will turn out or even if I do not personally enjoy what is happening.  I need to remember that the dirty clothes are a blessing. I have them because I have a family and we have cloths we can wear.  I need to be thankful for the dirty dishes because I know we have food to eat.  I am thankful for poopy diapers because I know my daughter's body is functioning properly.  There are many things I do not enjoy about this life (like laundry, dishes, diapers... etc) but I know they are there as a result of a blessing from God.   If I had no laundry, I'd be naked and cold.  If I had do dishes to clean, I'd be hungry.  If I had no poops to change, I'd have no children.