A note from Pastor Travis 7/15/21

Dear FUMC Family and Friends,

When I was in seminary, I heard a story of a man who used various passages of the Bible to prove that his Old Testament professor was the beast described in the book of Revelation. The point of this exercise wasn’t to condemn his Old Testament professor, but to illustrate how the Bible can be misused and manipulated to prove any point. The term for doing this is “proof texting.” Sometimes it is done unintentionally, other times in a misguided attempt to prove a particular point of view, and then there are times that it is done to make the Bible a weapon to attack others. This is when it is most dangerous, and, sadly, there are many illustrations of this being done throughout history. For example, when I was a boy, I heard people use the story of Noah’s son Ham being cursed by Noah, found in Genesis 9:20-27, as a defense for their racism against black people. They claimed that black people were black as a result of a curse, and that it was a punishment from God. Using this passage as a weapon, they justified not only their hate, but cruel and oppressive actions and laws. This passage was even used to justify slavery.

As people of faith, who take the Bible seriously, we must always be on our guard against proof texting. In order to avoid it in our own lives and counter it when we see it, we need to be involved in faithful study of the Bible, prayerfully using the tools of study that we have inherited to examine the Bible, both a particular passage and its wider context within scripture. This is an important process in which all Christians are called to engage, not just pastors. Though it can be intimating, we shouldn’t shy away from it. Bible studies, Biblical resources, pastors, and, most importantly, the guidance of God’s Spirit, are all there to help.

There are many tools to help us examine Scripture. Methodists have a unique frame work to apply to issues we face in our lives and the world. It is called the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, and it is especially useful when we seek to appropriately use Scripture to avoid proof texting. This method is composed of four parts. The first, and most important, is Scripture. We use the tools of Biblical scholarship to determine a faithful understanding of a passage of Scripture within its context and the context of the entire Bible, so that we can apply it to our context. The second is reason. We step back, examine our interpretation of Scripture and its application in a situation using the God-given gift of our ability to reason. What does our reason tell us? The third tool is experience. Again, we step back, examining our interpretation of Scripture and its application, using the lessons of our experience. It is important to note that experience, first and foremost, is our experience of who God is, how we have encountered God in our lives and the world, and how our experience of God has led us to live as people of faith. The final tool is tradition (really, it should be called “traditions,” as we recognize that many traditions make up our tradition). Tradition cannot be reduced to how the people who have come before us have acted or what they believed. It is much more complex than a simple observation of the past. Rather, it is the inherited traditions of how the church and Christians of the past, guided by the Spirit of God, have faithfully approached the Bible and issues in their society and sought to faithfully engage them within their contexts. As we look at our tradition, we reflect upon the tools that they used and their process as much as we do their answers. This allows us to honor their circumstances as we apply our learning and the collective wisdom of the past to our own circumstances. 

This is why Bible study is so important and useful. It helps us strengthen our “interpretation muscles” and helps us develop our interpretation skills. This fall we will have new opportunities to engage in Bible study together. I encourage you to keep a look out in the next two months for study opportunities and to join us this fall in one of our short-term studies. Together we can grow in our understanding of the Bible and how we apply it to our lives. 

Peace and Grace,

Pastor Travis