To Quote Out of Context
斷章取義
斷章取義
文: 陳瑩
斷章取義，孤證立說，是撒旦一貫的作風，叫人因錯用神的話，發生嚴重後果時，就懷疑神，正中了撒旦的詭計。因此讀經要謹慎小心，讀得完全，思想神的話要全備，不是枝枝節節，是整個的，不是斷章取義，對全本聖經必須有通盤的瞭解與認識。引用經文前，要分清楚那段經文當時是向某些人說的？在甚麼時間，甚麼地方，甚麼情景下說？當時人以甚麼身份說？萬不可刪掉一句，揀一句合己意的來「自圓其說。」如果執其一端遽認已窺全貌，徒然證明自己的愚昧無知。例如傳道書說︰「加增知識，加增憂傷。」保羅也說︰「知識叫人自高自大。」有人就排斥知識，認為它有損靈命。焉知所羅門說這話是有其個人特殊的經歷，故有此感嘆，故不能亂作比較，以偏慨全。沒有經歷就沒有發言權。正如「盡信書不如無書」這話祇有孟子有資格講，因他已達到此境界。目不識丁，無心向學的人絕不能以這話，為理由而不求上進。保羅說了上文，仍有下文，他說︰「有了信心，還要加上德行，還要加上知識。」讓知識帶領行走中道，不偏左，不偏右，因德行有時過份（參考傳道書7︰16行義過份）需要知識平衡。保羅責備以色列人有熱心，卻不按真知識。所謂「好仁不好學，其蔽也愚，」神絕不用這種人。神所揀選歷代讀聖經的人都是世界上頭腦最好的人。因聖經是本大書，要花功夫去讀，不單要尋找事實，還要背要記，要分析，綜合和比較。倪柝聲說得好︰「一個讀聖經的人在神面前是一個仔細的人，不是粗心的人。」
To Quote Out of Context
By: Dorine Chan
Quoting out of context and putting forward an argument with uncorroborated evidence are constant tricks by Satan. He induces people to misuse God's word and suspect God when there is serious consequence, which make people walk into Satan's trap. So be careful and thorough when reading the Bible. And be complete when thinking of God's words, not bits and pieces but the whole; not quoting out of context, but having a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the whole Bible. Before making references to the Scripture in the Bible, we should make it clear who the targets of such Scripture were at that time, and when, where, under what circumstances such Scripture was said, as well as the person concerned said such Scripture in what status. It is absolutely unacceptable to delete one sentence and pick another desirable one to "self justify". Depicting the full view of sea with certainty only after seeing a drop of water is only a way to prove one's ignorance. The Ecclesiastes said: "He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." Paul also said: "Knowledge puffeth up." So some people refuse knowledge, thinking that it is detrimental to spiritual life. But they do not know that such words of Solomon were exclamation based on his unique personal experience, therefore we should not make inappropriate compare and generalize. One has no right to speak without experience. Just as that only Mencius was qualified to say: "We would rather be short of books than believe all that they say", because he had reached the high level. Illiterates and unmotivated people must not use these words as justification for failure to make progress. Paul said the foregoing words and there were still following texts. He said: "Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge." We should let knowledge lead our walk in the middle way, not left, not right, because virtue is sometimes too much (see Ecclesiastes 7:16 righteousness over much) which needs knowledge to balance. Paul blamed the Israelis for being enthusiastic but not according to true knowledge. It's like what Confucius has said: "To love benevolence without loving learning is liable to lead to foolishness." God would never use such kind of people. In the history those who were chosen by God to read the Bible were the world's smartest people. As the Bible is a monumental work, we need to take efforts to read it. Not only to find the facts, but also to recite and remember, to analyze, synthesize and compare. Ni Tuosheng once said it well, "a person who reads the Bible is a careful person before God, not careless one."