Twisting Scripture

Two months ago, I read a post that a page I followed had linked to on Facebook.  I was curious, so I went to the article and read it on the site Gentle Reformation (www.gentlereformation.com.  The title of the post was "A Letter to the Inactive Member".  As I read even the first paragraph, my heart became unsettled.  Something was implied in the first paragraph that was a slight twisting on Scripture.  It wasn't directly stated, but it was there, so I read on to see what the author would say as he wrote on.

What the author, Kyle Borg, implied in the first paragraph of what he wrote was a particular interpretation of the Parable of the Lost Sheep from Luke 15.  I felt he implied that when the shepherd has to go after the lost sheep that the lost sheep is negligent because he/she is causing the shepherd to neglect the other ninety-nine--and that is irresponsible and unfair to the shepherd and the other ninety-nine sheep.

These are his words as to why it is of concern if a member of a church is going to service, but not actively participating outside of the worship service each Sunday: "But it’s not only a great discouragement for a pastor (and congregation), it is also a good reason for concern. An inactive member is one of the sheep that has gone astray and requires the shepherd to leave the ninety-nine to go after the one."

When I read the author's words, I felt concern in my heart, but I knew that the best thing to do was go directly to the scripture--the Bible.  So, I opened my Bible to Luke 15…

The parable says this:

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 15:1-7, NIV

The point of the parable when I sit and read it is not the shepherd being resentful or that he has to leave the 99 other sheep, but rather that he misses the one and rejoices when he finds that lost sheep.  There is no name calling or belittling of the sheep--"What a dumb sheep you are!  How could you go get lost like that?!"  Instead, there is rejoicing.  The shepherd is glad that he has found the lost sheep.  The parable is introduced by the Pharisees having an accusation about Jesus that he receives and eats with sinners.

This week I have been listening to Rosaria Butterfield's newest book, "The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in our Post-Christian World".  Early in the book she talks about the paradox of Christianity--Jesus ate with sinners but did not sin like sinners; He lived in the world, but he did not live like the world.  Jesus was eating with the sinners because He wanted to.  It was intentional.  

Often it can be tempting to take our own world view and apply it to God's Word.  I know I did by picking the words irresponsible and negligent to describe what “being required to go after the sheep” means that the shepherd feels towards the lost sheep.  But, the man who wrote the post is a pastor.  Is he tired?  Does he feel that he had to neglect his congregation because of the people who were members but weren't attending and he felt he had to go chase after them?  I don't know.  I don't know him.  I am sure that his experiences as a pastor shaped what he wrote and the choice to describe the shepherd as being required to go after the lost sheep because of the actions of the lost sheep.  

But, we have to be careful not to take scripture out of context.  The Parable of the Lost Sheep is not about the Shepherd being resentful that he had to leave the 99 sheep to go find the one.  The focus of the parable is on finding the lost one and that every sheep is important--even the one that gets lost.  Much rejoicing is had when the sheep is found!

Recently, I heard the story of a friend who grew up in a church that twisted the meaning of the word grace.  The meaning the members of the church were taught sounded like the truth, but wasn’t Biblical.  It changed so much for my friend.  

Twisting scripture is dangerous.  One thing I had pointed out to me a long time ago is that while we may want to know other details about a story in the Bible, the details that are there are included on purpose.  My concern about the way this pastor interpreted Luke 15 and the lost sheep is that the focus then shifts to the shepherd and what he "is required" to do, instead of the verse that mentions that the Pharisees were concerned that Jesus cared about the sinners, even ate with them and then Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep-- a sheep was lost, the shepherd went to find the sheep, and rejoiced when he found the sheep.  There is no mention in the Bible that the Shepherd was required to go--instead it is implied that he wanted to go and rejoiced when he found the sheep!

The premise for this post about inactive members was only the beginning of my concerns about it.  I found that I had several other significant concerns about the assumptions and conclusions the author made and I have been struggling for the past two months about how to express these concerns so that they might be heard.  I wanted to post this article first before I delve into those in a future post...