More than One Verse
17/05/13 04:19
It often surprises me when individuals and groups take a single verse from the Bible and treat it as if it is more important than other verses of the Bible. To be sure, proof texting occurs with other documents, but there are entire religious movements that are based on taking one or two verses from the Bible without considering the context and applying them in vastly different circumstances. It is a kind of reverse theology. Instead of reading the Bible with an open mind for what it teaches about God and religion, some people decide what they believe and then go to the bible for sentences and phrases to support the beliefs they already have.
I suppose that it is easier to point out the beliefs of another and call it proof texting than it is to examine one’s own beliefs in the light of the whole bible. It is likely that someone could comb through my writings and sermons and point out examples of proof texting. I have tried to be led by the scriptures rather than the other way around. I follow the lectionary for my preaching precisely because I believe that rather than the preacher choosing the text, the text should choose the preacher. Each week I face the challenge of taking the texts that I have been given in this particular discipline and applying them to the circumstances of the community that I serve. Occasionally I am able to do so with grace. Sometimes I fail to see the obvious. Commonly, I discover something about the text that I had not noticed in previous readings.
As a result, I am reluctant to claim that I know exactly what any verse of the Bible means or how it should be applied to contemporary living. I think that our understanding and faith continue to grow when we are open to being led by the words of scripture.
I have quoted Psalm 127 over and over again. I have used it as the basis for prayers at Habitat for Humanity building sites. I have quoted it in devotions for church committees and groups. I have quoted it to police officers and other first responders. It is one of the songs of ascents that have been attributed to Solomon. Like other Psalms, it was transmitted orally for many generations before ever being written down, so it is difficult to know exactly how long our people have been using it, but it has been thousands of years:
Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat –
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.
These days, however, I am a bit reluctant to use that psalm in some contexts because it has become the rallying cry of those opposed to the use of modern contraceptives. The choice whether or not to use birth control should, in my opinion, be a matter of personal decision, not public policy, but I think it is safe to say that the Psalms don’t have a solid position on the use of modern contraceptives because no such contraceptives were available in the time that our people began using the psalms. It is a bit like trying to find a psalm that addresses cloning or space travel or any other technology that didn’t exist when the psalms were first written.
Governor and Presidential candidate Mitt Romney made a reference to the psalm in a graduation speech at Southern Virginia University: “Get married, have a quiver full of kids if you can.” I don’t know whether or not Governor Romney, who is a Mormon, was appealing to fundamentalist Christians in his speech, but at least his speechwriters should have known that the Quiverfull Movement is a name given to a group of fundamentalist Christians who have used that verse from Psalm 127 as a reason to give up all forms of contraception and have as many children as they can. Quiverfill families often reach up to a dozen children.
I suppose that if you wanted to proof text the psalm, you might point out that the psalm gives the reason to have many children is that those with many children “will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.” Do you think that Romney, who is trained as a lawyer, purposely set out to have a large family so that he could win in court?” It seems unlikely.
To take only one psalm is to miss the simple fact that there are all kinds of families in the Bible. Abraham and Sarah had only one son. Jacob fathered children with four different women. John the Baptist was an only child. Ruth gave a son to Naomi so that her property rights could be re-established. There are lots of stories about families in the bible and there is no one single model that is prevalent. The culture surround the time that Biblical stories were written was very patriarchal, but there are stories of strong women and reconfigured families and adoptions and no single model of family life emerges as the only one where people are beloved by God.
If you take the verse literally, it might make you shudder to think that some people think of their children as weapons of war. The comparison of children to arrows in the Psalm doesn’t mean that children are to be used as weapons.
I won’t get into the simple fact that Solomon didn’t believe in monogamy and the psalm has been used to support the argument that men should have multiple wives.
There is a sick joke that I have frequently heard. The story is that a man is very depressed and goes to his pastor for advice. The pastor instructs the man to consult his bible for hope and peace. The man leaves the pastor, goes home, and opens his bible randomly. The first verse he reads is “And Judas went out and hanged himself.” The man closes his bible and tries to find meaning in the verse. Finally, he decides to try again and opens the bible once again to read, “And Jesus said, ‘Go and do likewise.’”
Sometimes it takes more than one verse to draw meaning from the scriptures.
I suppose that it is easier to point out the beliefs of another and call it proof texting than it is to examine one’s own beliefs in the light of the whole bible. It is likely that someone could comb through my writings and sermons and point out examples of proof texting. I have tried to be led by the scriptures rather than the other way around. I follow the lectionary for my preaching precisely because I believe that rather than the preacher choosing the text, the text should choose the preacher. Each week I face the challenge of taking the texts that I have been given in this particular discipline and applying them to the circumstances of the community that I serve. Occasionally I am able to do so with grace. Sometimes I fail to see the obvious. Commonly, I discover something about the text that I had not noticed in previous readings.
As a result, I am reluctant to claim that I know exactly what any verse of the Bible means or how it should be applied to contemporary living. I think that our understanding and faith continue to grow when we are open to being led by the words of scripture.
I have quoted Psalm 127 over and over again. I have used it as the basis for prayers at Habitat for Humanity building sites. I have quoted it in devotions for church committees and groups. I have quoted it to police officers and other first responders. It is one of the songs of ascents that have been attributed to Solomon. Like other Psalms, it was transmitted orally for many generations before ever being written down, so it is difficult to know exactly how long our people have been using it, but it has been thousands of years:
Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat –
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.
These days, however, I am a bit reluctant to use that psalm in some contexts because it has become the rallying cry of those opposed to the use of modern contraceptives. The choice whether or not to use birth control should, in my opinion, be a matter of personal decision, not public policy, but I think it is safe to say that the Psalms don’t have a solid position on the use of modern contraceptives because no such contraceptives were available in the time that our people began using the psalms. It is a bit like trying to find a psalm that addresses cloning or space travel or any other technology that didn’t exist when the psalms were first written.
Governor and Presidential candidate Mitt Romney made a reference to the psalm in a graduation speech at Southern Virginia University: “Get married, have a quiver full of kids if you can.” I don’t know whether or not Governor Romney, who is a Mormon, was appealing to fundamentalist Christians in his speech, but at least his speechwriters should have known that the Quiverfull Movement is a name given to a group of fundamentalist Christians who have used that verse from Psalm 127 as a reason to give up all forms of contraception and have as many children as they can. Quiverfill families often reach up to a dozen children.
I suppose that if you wanted to proof text the psalm, you might point out that the psalm gives the reason to have many children is that those with many children “will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.” Do you think that Romney, who is trained as a lawyer, purposely set out to have a large family so that he could win in court?” It seems unlikely.
To take only one psalm is to miss the simple fact that there are all kinds of families in the Bible. Abraham and Sarah had only one son. Jacob fathered children with four different women. John the Baptist was an only child. Ruth gave a son to Naomi so that her property rights could be re-established. There are lots of stories about families in the bible and there is no one single model that is prevalent. The culture surround the time that Biblical stories were written was very patriarchal, but there are stories of strong women and reconfigured families and adoptions and no single model of family life emerges as the only one where people are beloved by God.
If you take the verse literally, it might make you shudder to think that some people think of their children as weapons of war. The comparison of children to arrows in the Psalm doesn’t mean that children are to be used as weapons.
I won’t get into the simple fact that Solomon didn’t believe in monogamy and the psalm has been used to support the argument that men should have multiple wives.
There is a sick joke that I have frequently heard. The story is that a man is very depressed and goes to his pastor for advice. The pastor instructs the man to consult his bible for hope and peace. The man leaves the pastor, goes home, and opens his bible randomly. The first verse he reads is “And Judas went out and hanged himself.” The man closes his bible and tries to find meaning in the verse. Finally, he decides to try again and opens the bible once again to read, “And Jesus said, ‘Go and do likewise.’”
Sometimes it takes more than one verse to draw meaning from the scriptures.