Do we actually care about what the Bible says?

It has been a while since I have posted anything, I have been debating whether or not I truly want to blog or just let the blog serve to update on Israel travels. I have decided as long as I am writing things, I might as well make them available to people who are interested in what I have to say (which I imagine is very few), and to those who randomly stumble onto my blog.

I have been volunteering in the Children's ministry at church for a few months now, and this past weekend found myself offended by the use of Scripture. On a quick side note I find most teaching to children in churches lacks any thoughtful preparation of Scripture for them. However the church I attend make a big deal about teaching Biblical truths about God to kids no matter there age. The topic for the morning was marriage, one of the passages that we used to instruct the kids was Ephesians 5. The part that the study guide used was only that husbands are to love wives as Christ loved the church. This is very true, however if we are going to use a passage of Scripture to teach on a topic, I find that we need to use the Scripture in its context, in order to accurately reflect what the text says.

I am convinced that if somone is going to teach on marraige out of Ephesians 5, he or she should mention the command given to wives in the passage, and spend some time looking at what the passage is saying it meant when Christ gave himself up for the church.

One of my favorite websites is WebMD, I can now diagnose and treat myself without going to a physician. All I do is look up whatever ails me, such as a back sprain, and figure out what I need to do to remedy my situation. I find this is how we use the Bible now. We pickout a topic that we do not understand and look at what the Bible has to say about it. (More than likely, in the same manner as WebMD, we use an internet Bible search too) The Bible was not written as a medical guide where a person can find a solution to a particular issue. It is written at a specific occasion to a particular audience, to serve a certain purpose. Which means that if we choose to find what it means or is speaking about we must not consider a sentence out of context without consideration of the intent of the author. We must search deeply into the context of the book and the Bible as a whole to understand what God is revealing to us in Scripture.

This is not just something that should be done when teaching children, this process needs to be evident in pulpits, homes, and lives of believers.