Even the Devil can quote scripture

Very often, when Christians attempt to argue over biblical teachings, and when all else fails for them, when they can no longer cling to their beloved presuppositions and are faced with plain biblical truth (about the Biblical concept of marriage for example), they fall back on something similar to this:

" ...Scripture can be turned around or bent in any direction we please."

Another way of stating this, although less kind overall, is to say the following:

"Even the Devil can quote scripture."

Could such a person ever accept a biblical definition of marriage? Even if the majority of professing Christians work from secular definitions? I wonder if such a person would have the strength of conviction and the faith in God to be able to withstand the inevitable scorn and persecution that would be placed on them by the mass of Churchianity, if they were to say anything else. Hmmm...I would certainly hope so, but must wonder indeed.

I had this experience several years ago, with a man who argued, rather angrily, that David was punished for polygamy! Well, it didn't take very long for me to show him that what he was doing was reading his own ideas and prejudices and presuppositions into Scripture, and in fact there was nothing in the Holy Bible at all that supported his idea. He somehow had the notion that somewhere in the Bible it would say "David was punished for polygamy", because this is what he thought. It is what he was taught, and heard many times. It was wrong. He did not like to be shown he was wrong. Davids' sin was adultery and murder, not marriage, not polygamy. well, the next thing out of his mouth was "Even the Devil can quote Scripture", and off he ran, never to be heard from again.

Leave Scripture completely in context. Completely! Read it from cover to cover, end to end. If you were able to do so without ever "knowing" what it already says, if you were able to discard what you have already been taught, if you were able to lay aside your preconceived notions and presuppositions, the cultural bias, you would simply not come away with the idea that polygamy (marriage!) was ever anything other than marriage, and is approved of by God, sanctioned, protected, and honorable.

Grace & Peace,
Joshuah