Thursday
night in his national prime time address, The President quoted a Scripture
verse near the end of His remarks. The Verse was from Exodus 23:
“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be
foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.” Exodus 23:9
President Obama quoted this verse to lend the force of
Scripture to his justification of an execute order many claim is illegal and
unconstitutional.
To set the record straight allow me to put that verse in its
proper context:
“Do
not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious
witness “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a
lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not
show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit. “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey
wandering off, be sure to return it. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you
fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with
it. “Do not deny
justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a
false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to
death, for I will not acquit the guilty. “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those
who see and twists the words of the innocent “Do not oppress a
foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you
were foreigners in Egypt.” Exodus 23:1-9
When
you see that verse in the context of the verses that preceded it, not only does
the verse not support his argument but the truth and justice this passage calls
for would, in fact, indict him!
Twisting
Scripture to justify your point of view is a dangerous practice. And in
fairness, the President is far from the only person guilty of using Scripture
out of context.
Pastors have done it.
Lay
people have done it.
Church
denominations have done it.
Every
one of us must follow the Biblical admonition to “study to show yourselves approved, a workman who needs not be ashamed,
rightly dividing the Word of God.”
If
a person has no qualms about twisting Scripture to fit his purposes, that person
would probably have no problem twisting other highly revered authoritative
documents like, for instance, the United States Constitution.
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