The Truth, the Whole Truth

The link above points to an article on CNN by Ken Davis, who has  a great book out called, Don't Know Much About History.  He discusses the current stir about Paul Revere that Sarah Palin stirred up with her comments.  He stays out of the politics (thank you!) and instead talks about what the story really is, complete with context and detail.  As someone who really loves history and has taught it and read a lot of it, I really appreciated his article.  He makes a great point which I quote here.

But it is also dangerous when people "cherry pick" pieces of the story to suit their purposes, when the foot is cut to fit the shoe. A sanitized but incomplete, or worse, wildly inaccurate, version of history can be cited to support just about any political stand. Like scripture, the words and deeds of the Founders, mixed with bits and pieces of American mythology, are trumpeted to support positions on every issue from individual rights, states' rights, gun rights or gun control, to taxes, immigration, public prayer and, most dangerously, taking the nation to war.

As I was reading this, I was thinking, that's just like what people do with the Bible, and then he made the same point!  So often both Christians and Non-Christians take verses out of context, misquote verses, misapply verses, or sometimes just add verses that aren't even in there.  It is too easy to start with the point you want to make or believe and then go looking for proof texts to make you right.  Instead our approach is supposed to be to come the the Word honestly, letting it tell us what it says instead of the other way around.  We need to be prepared to set aside our biases, our traditions, even the things that we were taught by people we love and respect, and let the Bible tell us what it says.  And we need to do that by reading the whole thing and considering it as a whole, not cherry picking out the parts you like or don't like.  As Davis says,

But we prefer holding onto a tidy scenario of pride and patriotism that is neither accurate nor memorable, if we remember at all. Instead, we settle for ignorance, as periodic surveys of American knowledge of history routinely prove. Or we cobble together a sketchy narrative combining fact and fiction to comfortably fit our political agendas.

That is sad. And dangerous. It is sad because history is compelling, fascinating and instructive -- if we tell the real story.

The same can be said of the Bible.  It is sad and dangerous when we misuse Scripture.  Scripture is compelling, fascinating and instructive--if we tell the real story.

Finally, this is a good reminder that, as Christians, we should strive to be intellectually, historically honest and knowledgeable  Too often we have celebrated ignorance and given the cause of Christ a black eye as a result.  Jesus knew His stuff, we should too.