misquoting scripture

You have probably heard the story about the man looking for direction from the Bible using what is called the close your eyes and point method. He holds his closed Bible in his hands, closes his eyes, quickly tumbles his Bible several times, then opens it with eyes still closed and points somewhere on the open page. Then believing this is a verse given him by God he opens his eyes and reads the scripture. Unfortunately the verse says “So Judas … went away and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:5)

Taken aback by such a verse, the man quickly closes his eyes and repeats the process, looking for another scripture. When he opens his eyes this time to his chagrin, his finger is pointing on this verse. “Go thou and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37b)

One of the practices, often warned about in Christian circles, is taking scripture out of context. In other words, quoting and/or applying a scripture passage in a setting that has little or no connection to the original time and circumstance to which it refers.

But consider this. It took just days