Scot McKnight recently published The Blue Parakeet, a book that challenges Bible believers regarding how they read the Bible. After a powerful testimony regarding God answering his prayer to send the Spirit into his life and how this led to his passion for reading, the author takes his reader on a brief tour of how Christians pick and choose what they believe and practice. He writes: "What I learned was an uncomfortable but incredibly intriguing truth: Every one of us adopts the Bible and (at the same time) adapts the Bible to our culture. In less-appreciated terms, I'll put it this way: Everyone picks and chooses. I know this sounds out of the box and off the wall for many, but no matter how hard we try to convince ourselves otherwise, it's true. We pick and choose." While McKnight grants that "picking and choosing" must be done, he wants the reader to ask what guidelines or principles of interpretation allow the picking and choosing as we apply the text today. Are we free to pick and choose and it pleases us?
McKnight then offers some illustrations of picking and choosing: Sabbath-keeping, tithing, foot washing, charismatic gifts, surrendering possessions, and contentious issues. Here's one that struck me as interesting. Leviticus 20:13a prohibits homosexuality and Lev. 20:13b requires death for the offenders. How does one pick and choose which parts of this verse to apply today? Do you believe 13b should also be applied today?
So I'm curious about your experiences with picking and choosing religious practices today? How have you seen this done? How are you doing it?
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