The fashionable faith today is Hipsteranity. Hipsteranity says you can pull one verse out of the Bible and make an entire theology out of it. The Bible is less of a divinely inspired book to which we are obligated to conform our lives, but rather a big book of quotes that can be mixed and matched any way one pleases. There are some guidelines however. One of which is, the proper frame must be progressive. Anything that smacks of objective reality to which we must conform our subjective selves is a form of oppression and is meant to be rejected/ denounced.
Another guideline is revolution. Everything one does as a “believer” should be to upset the status quo and “turn the world upside down”. The exemption to this is the status quo achieved by those who perceived themselves to be the revolutionaries when they were in their prime. Because they’re now nearing the end of their earthly journey, their status quo must NOT be interfered with.
There are a few others, but they are not the focus of this commentary. If you want to sum-it-up it can be done as follows: anything progressive is good, anything conservative is evil. If you pay attention to these religious organizations you’ll notice they only speak (affirm and validate) when the DNC, MSNBC, CNN speak, and are silent when these groups are silent. The definitions for “love” and “justice” are derived by copying and pasting directly from these groups web-sites, not the Bible.
Can you imagine one of these religious groups isolating Acts 17:30 where God commands everyone everywhere to repent? Neither can I, because repentance/ obedience are not values consistent with their true worldview.
These organizations like to take things which are clear and clearly stated and to make them complex and obscure. All of this is done because God is not revered. Jesus is ‘boyfren’, not lord. The idea of someone being lord to whom we all owe allegiance is anathema to their primary dominant value system. Thus, it’s rejected.
We must be very careful how we choose to interpret the Bible. The consequences for not doing so properly…could be eternal.