Saturday, November 22, 2014

November 23, 2014

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.