I find that I have a very visceral reaction to people who quote Scripture: I immediately dislike them.
When a person quotes from the Bible, I tend to think to myself, Oh dear, please stop being such an insufferable, sanctimonious prick. You judge people as much as anyone else, only you sound arrogant in your humility.
I suppose there is nothing intrinsically wrong with quoting Scripture. The problem is that people cannot do it without sounding horribly pretentious. More problematic is that it's nearly always done in a hypocritical manner. The judgmental adulterer tells us to let he without sin cast the first stone. Et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseum.
Another part of my problem may be that many (if not most) people who quote Scripture do not know what they're talking about. Many so-called Christians cannot name the four books of the Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). Many so-called Christians cannot name the first five books of The Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). And yet they're super-awesome at telling me that I should examine the log in my own eye rather than looking upon the speck in my brother's eye.
Regardless of why I have such a visceral reaction, I do. I cannot stand to be around those who quote the Bible or those who assert that they live and breathe the teachings of Christ, thereby refusing to judge people, all the while judging those who are not nearly as pious as they.
4 comments:
omg. i love you for posting this.
thank you.
I suppose it's ironic then, that your post was focused on judging and hating others.
I do not claim NOT to be judgmental. But nothing I said was hateful.
have you ever thought that maybe your aversion to people that quote scripture is simply a mind set developed from all the hypocritical or seeminly hypocritical chrisitans you met and maybe also coz you havent taken a moment to really try look at the scriptures yourself. i guess we all quote things and hang it around our necks as probable mementos to guide us to be better people. its not hypocrtical, its the human need to be good and looking up to things that we feel may (or maynot be) attainable as benchmarks...i love scripture, i read it, it makes perfect sense... and most times i know that its where i wanna be and what i wanna do but i cant do it on my won...however they are promises and reminders for God about our own lives bends...give it a shot
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