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Lost in translation: verses misread, practices invented

A verse taken out of its context or its language can turn into a practice Scripture never asked for. Here we read each one in its setting.

A single verse, taken out of its context or out of its language, can turn into a practice that Scripture never asked for. A word that meant one thing to the first listeners can mean something quite different to us, and a sentence pulled from its paragraph can be made to say almost anything.

In this section each lesson reads one well-known verse in its setting and in the language of those who first heard it: what comes before and after, who is speaking, to whom, and what the words meant then. Then we ask what Scripture actually asks of us.

Many sincere believers use these verses in the ways we describe, out of real love for God. We don't write to mock anyone. We want to do what the Bereans did, who "searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" Acts 17:11. You're invited to test what you read here the same way.

Lessons

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