Twisted Words and Tortured Thoughts

Posting here lately has been on my mind, but not my heart. While I often have thought progressions that formulate in my mind, I sometimes don't get them processed to the point of resolution or closure. So it is difficult to put into words, when the process in my mind is incomplete. Sort of like a joke with no punch line, or a sermon with no conclusion.

But when the heart is behind the mind's thought process both in the inception of the thought and in the resolution of the thought, it is easier to put into words. And for a little while now I have not had my heart in blogging here.

But what I share today isn't really much thought process on my part as much as it is comment on a quote I heard on TV last night. We happened to catch an airing of the show "Search for Noah's Ark" on the National Geographic channel. If you haven't caught any of NG's stories on Biblical themes I recommend them. They seem to be as unbiased in their reporting as any programs I have seen.

During this program one of the commentators was the Reverend Dr. Francis H. Wade, retired rector of St. Albans Episcopal Church. In a video taped commentary on Noah's Ark Dr. Wade said, ""The Bible is like a person, and if you torture it long enough, you can get it to say almost anything you'd like it to say."

I was watching but having just returned from a pretty strenuous day of biking I was not as alert as I could have been. But that quote brought me to full attention immediately. Moments later our daughter Jill called and told me about the quote. She, of course, knows the struggle I have had with bible literalists, and she picked up on the quote as well.

I began to process that quote and thought, "this is a very good statement of literalist and fundamentalist operational agenda." Bear down on the scriptures until what you want or need it to say comes out of the pages. If you want to put your people in bondage to legalism, you can pull about anything you want out of the scriptures somewhere. And it is done in many pulpits around the world.

While I am up here on this soap box, I was reminded by my wife the other evening in the car about something that was said from the pulpit at my brother's funeral last April.

Not having a recording or a script of his message, I will have to quote him as accurately as I can. If I miss quote him and you know more accurately what he actually said I will be pleased to retract my statement and correct it.

The pastor said something close to "You may wonder why God took Brother Phillip home. I know why. Because God could see down the road and knew of the heartache and suffering he was about to go through."

I remember a murmur across the room of agreement. The comment was, of course, aimed at Phillip's wife who had been in the process of divorcing Phillip. A cheap shot to be sure, and a blatant lie besides. God didn't take Phillip home. A propane truck sent him home. A whole lot of difference. God did not plant or plan that propane truck to be suddenly in Phillip's path.

It was a tortured twist of scripture to suggest that God decided it was Phillip's time to die. And the people that continue to blaspheme God with this kind of teaching will answer for their lies.