The 2nd Greatest Enemy of Honest to Goodness Bible Hermeneutics

The 2nd greatest enemy but really has the most violations in terms of occurrences or violations, is personal BIAS.

Let me show in this discussion how virulently notorious this error is and yet this is the most violated by conservative or fundamentalist Christian groups and authors. This is another reason why intelligent non-Christians show very little respect for Christian values. They look at how biased and illogical even famous authors are then paint everyone else with a broad brush therefore belittling even the best Biblical moral injunctions of Scripture.  This is how otherwise, well-meaning Christian leaders actually corrupt Scripture or twist their meaning at the least.

And yet, if one were to research the proper context of Scripture, they would easily come up with common sense, highly logical interpretations that should gain the respect of even the most skeptic, if only to show that we are honest and consistent in our hermeneutics.

Wine

Many conservative denominations formally condemn wine as an offense and therefore a sin against God. Unfortunately, this is Biblically baseless and biased. Some of these denominations go as far as to call the Lord's Supper drink as "unfermented wine", obviously an oxymoron to those who are in the know, as if there is such a thing in this world.  If they had common sense, they should strike this out of their books since it shows either utter ignorance of what wine is or revisionism and bias since they attempt to force a re-definition of wine to fit their bias, a tactic known only to be exercised by liberal humanism.

In fact, if Jesus Christ Himself were alive today, he would not be welcomed by these denominations, much less invited to be a member. No, Christ would be rejected if they did not recognize Him, and they DON'T.  If the Bible is indeed our ONLY source of revelation about God and Jesus Christ, then they are reading Scripture with bias or colored lens and perhaps refuse to know Jesus in all aspects of His earthly life.

Let us examine some verses and do some honest-to-goodness exegesis.

Matthew 11:18-20New American Standard Bible (NASB)

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Luke 7:33-34New American Standard Bible (NASB)

33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

• Jesus was derided as a drunkard and a glutton in Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:34. Here Jesus was quoting what some of the conservative religious Jewish leaders were saying about him. Note that he did not deny this statement at all.  In fact he confirmed it by contrasting his lifestyle to that of John the Baptist! Interestingly, when Jesus said that wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. Hence, on the other hand, He was actually saying that what he was doing with "sinners" was wise and was yielding fruit for the Kingdom of God. 

Ephesians 5:18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

• Although Paul in Ephesians 5:18 advises the Ephesian church to be filled with the Spirit in contrast to being drunk with wine, the analogy was meant to be more of demonstrating what being filled with the Spirit should be like and (let us REALLY be totally HONEST hermeneutically) it is not necessarily a condemnation of drunkardness, much less, wine drinking.

Proverbs 3:10New American Standard Bible (NASB)

10 So your barns will be filled with plenty
And your vats will overflow with new wine.

• Wine is often pictured as a symbol of God's overflowing blessings. NEW wine symbolizes the continuous seasonal supply of blessings.  Who are we to condemn blessing just because a minory of stupid people abuse it??? 

Proverbs 31:6New American Standard Bible (NASB)

6 Give strong drink to him who is perishing,
And wine to him whose life is bitter.

• Wine is meant to comfort people in pain. In this passage, it is not even about physical pain but also emotional (or perhaps, even spiritual) pain.

Proverbs 23:20New American Standard Bible (NASB)

20 Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

This could be the best supporting verse for Ephesians 5:18. The Christian moral issue is excess and not usage. If we condemn drinkers of wine, we might as well condemn all eaters of meat!!!

John 2:10New American Standard Bible (NASB)

10 and *said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”

Marijuana and its use
Marijuana is CREATED BY GOD! However, we simply have to point out that God creates things for a purpose and is not to be abused.

Polygamy

To declare that polygamy is a sin, much less unbiblical is to ignore the clear narrative of Scripture.
To declare this as sin is to condemn Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, etc.
To state that this was tolerated by God during their time but not today is to invent your own version of the Bible and implicitly stating that God "changes" His OWN principles and is therefore NOT FAITHFUL to His Own WORD!
In fact, God even guaranteed to give David more wives if he wanted more rather than kill Uriah to get Bathsheba.

Polygamy is not a sin when taken into the proper context of Scripture and Bible history, even church history. I suggest the following as the proper context to practice polygamy.

1. Local society accepts it openly
2. The wives all agree to the practice
3. None of the wives is a divorcee. Only virgins or widows are allowed.
4. The husband takes proper care of all the wives and children in housing, food, clothing and financial matters.
5. The government does not declare it illegal

#5 does not necessarily make polygamy a sin against God. That is why it is listed last. It will only cause troublesome consequences for the polygamist.

Pre-tribulation Rapture

Thou shalt not use this concept to evangelize as you might be using a BLATANT LIE to win someone to Christ! (and the END does NOT justify the MEANS! when it comes to integrity)

The Pre-trib rapture view is among the greatest attempts of Scripture distortion imaginable, mainly because it is espoused by well-meaning, even highly-educated Christians. I have read many web site and blog sites that expose and explain its errors but I mention here only those points that deal with confusing doctrinal and/or hermeneutic issues:

1. There are only 2 historical advents of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first advent of the incarnation and the 2nd advent or the 2nd coming. The pre-trib rapture teaches a 3-advent theory or at best a 2 and 1/2 advent hybrid which is preposterous regardless of how the pre-trib people try to justify or explain which is visible and not visible, which is coming like a thief vs coming in all His glory (splitting hairs frivolously).  Note that the alternative interpretation of these 2 being ONE AND THE SAME EVENT is not only valid but also logical and historical. This is doctrinal heresy!  The Apostle's Creed declares that Christ is coming again but not in 2 parts!
2. If there are believers during the tribulation period after the Holy Spirit leaves the earth, then there are believers AFTER THE NEW TESTAMENT AGE that can become Christians WITHOUT THE SEAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. This is doctrinal heresy! this is like going back to Old Testament Theology where Christ Incarnate is not necessary for salvation.
3. The Bible mentions the church under extreme tribulation several times in the New Testament. That will not happen in the pre-trib scenario which is some form of escapism, a concept that is opposite of Biblical tenets of victory over tribulation.  In fact, Christ mentioned that if those tribulation days were not shortened or stopped, even the elect could fall. In fact, how will the church be purified if not by tribulation. The greater the tribulation, the more effective the purification! Now we can determine who is SERIOUSLY Christian!
4. There are alternative interpretations WHICH ARE MORE LOGICAL AND RATIONAL for each of the points that the pre-trib espousers quote from the Bible.
5. The context of "left behind" is the opposite of the intent of Scripture. The one taken is actually the one who is incarcerated or punished.

Common sense logical interpretation (based on the Bible of course) is a confirmation of revelation. A violation of common sense or logic shows that the Great Revealer has utterly failed to reveal.