When Scripture Contradicts Your Doctrine…

I am constantly confronted by people who are horrified that they have found (or worse, I have shown them) Scripture that contradicts and debunks their favorite doctrine…

Don’t panic! There is an answer! It is called…

EISEGESIS

This is a skill taught in the finest of Christian colleges and seminaries. Denominations have used it to “prove” their own distinctives… It is, however, a simple concept and quite easy to grasp…

To perform Eisegesis, you must stick with what you already believe… No matter what the cost. You are right and you know it. The Scripture is right but misunderstood. You go to the Bible with great determination and you find verses that prove that you are right and the common understanding of the passage in question is obviously wrong.

Having found at least two verses that prove that you are right, you must begin to think. (That is the really hard part.) If the painful and contradictory verse does not mean what it says, what does it mean? You must, by twisting logic and dumping common sense, come up with an explanation as to “what it really means.”

The Calvinists are masters at this. They know that Calvin was right and no Scripture that even hints at free will, can really mean what it really says… Problem is, there are a lot of those verses! They came up with a simple solution… redefine the words. Whosoever means Elect. All means Elect. None means Elect. Once you understand the concept, it is easy… Of course, Calvin was right!!!

Then, there is Romans seven. You know that Paul was perfect and could not sin… In Romans seven, Paul says that he sins… You spend months trying to explain why Paul could not have meant that he was a sinner when he said that he was a sinner. You come up with a five thousand word essay explaining how Paul did not mean that he was a sinner when he said that he was a sinner. Yea! You did it… And then, in a reply, someone quotes Paul again… “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (1 Timothy 1:15) Woops, this calls for another 5,000 word thesis… after all, we know that Paul was not a sinner.

When we have again proven that Paul was mistaken and that he really meant to use the past tense, that same pesky commentator comes up with another one… “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10) He notes that if Paul were to say that he was not a sinner, he would be calling God a liar…

What to do now? Simple, just keep at it… With good eisegetical skills you can prove anything…

David…