Pretexting Scripture is Not Good!

The following is advice I gave to a dear friend who believes the Sabbath-day test is still required for the church and whose constant practice is pretexting - taking passages out of context to support one’s preconceived notions or beliefs. Here it is:

“Good evening (my friend),

I can never disagree with God’s word, but I do with what I deem the wrong interpretation of it. Over the years I have studied nonChristian beliefs and couldn’t help but notice an abundance of pretexting - reading into Scripture what one already believes. That is, strongly adhering to one’s personal, preconceived beliefs and using Scripture out of context for support. That way, God’s word is subservient to one’s mindset.

My basic hermeneutical principle is reading the Bible like I do a one-dollar bill - literally. 1 on a dollar bill means one. The same with 5, 10, 20, etc.

That’s how I interpret the following passage:

7 “For if that first covenant (Torah) had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second (Brit Hadashah).

8 “Because finding fault with them, He says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.’”

10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”11 “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.”

12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

13 “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away”

(Heb. 8:7-13).

That’s as clear as a 1 on a one-dollar bill.

Now, if I have a preconceived belief, I’d pretext the passage to make it mean something else, what I want it to mean.

I love you, my dear friend.

🙏🏾❤️”

Blessings!