Start by Reading

As I am sure one gathers from the title of my blog, I am a Christian. If you follow my blog, you know that I am specifically a Catholic Christian. I am writing today about a phenomenon common to all of us.
I am very enthusiastic for my faith and enjoy sharing it with others. I am also very enthusiastic about scripture (the Bible). I often see postings on blogs and social media sites. Some are very good and feature thoughtful commentary on whatever they are covering. Some are not. These posts are invariably trolled. The trolls are the worst.

The thing that drives me bonkers every time is when people make things up and say they come from scripture. There are two ways I most often see this occur; either the person claims to be quoting the Bible when they aren't or they quote the Bible but add in their own commentary which has nothing to do with the scripture they quoted.

When someone says "the Word says" or "the Bible says" and does not include a scripture reference, that is reason to be wary. I have caught this tactic many times. Something just doesn't quite look right about the quote, and a quick check using an online concordance reveals that it isn't actually scripture. Respectfully pointing out the mistake often brings a deluge of insults. That's a very Christian way to handle it, right?

Then we have the armchair commentators. They like to choose a phrase or two from here and a phrase or two from there and then string them together with their own words in such a way as to force the scripture into their theological viewpoint. If you look up the quoted verses and read the passages they belong to, they actually say something entirely different than armchair commentator claims. If you would like to be insulted by these types, all that is necessary is to quote the entire passage they pulled out of context.

It bothers me when people claim to be following scripture, but they don't actually know what the scriptures say. It bothers me that so many are out there claiming to have understanding when they haven't gone to the trouble to actually read the scriptures themselves.

The point I am trying to make is that since the Bible is readily available and most of us are literate, Christians should take the time to actually read the scriptures and learn what they say for themselves. When I have seen so many people offended by the mere suggestion that they read the scriptures for themselves to gain an understanding of what they say, I know there is a problem. To that I say this "If you can't be bothered to read the scriptures, stop posting online as if you know what they say."