Though I Walk Through the Valley of The Shadow of Death

One of the unfortunate side effects of growing old (aside from the inevitable toll time takes on the body) is the fact that those around you, loved ones, friends and acquaintances, begin to pass from this life with greater frequency. This was made more obvious and real this week when I received word that my great aunt, who was a sort of second mother to me, passed away. No doubt those of you reading this will likely have experienced the death of a loved one at one time or another.

Generalities, Generalities!

One of the things that we humans engage in without giving it a second thought is the use of generalities when we’re trying to prove a point. For example, you may have a person trying to prove that a certain politician is less than honest by saying something to the effect that “everyone knows that all politicians are dishonest.” Thus, we cement our belief in the dishonesty of the one by appealing to what “everyone” knows  about the others. This is no different when it comes to religion in general and the Bible specifically. As you know, I’ve been reviewing a work by a former member of the church of Christ (or CofC) that is scathing in its accusations and unsparing in its criticisms. This week, I’ll review the author’s penchant for using generalities to try and prove his points.

Proof Texting and Its Dangers

I read a blog article some weeks ago where a Roman Catholic apologist discussed the issue of proof texting and its uses. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the term, proof texting is the use of a select number of texts (usually a verse or two each), to try and “prove” your premise. For example, we in the church of Christ are famous for our use of Acts 2:38 to try and prove that baptism is for the remission of sins and that, without it, no one can be saved. Now, I’m not at all saying that such use of that verse is necessarily wrong. Nor am I implying that there are not doctrines that are very well contained within a couple of verses (take for example what Paul declares to be the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). But I am saying that we can run afoul of the truth of Scripture when we make it a habit to develop our theology from a few isolated verses here and there.