Cherry-picking the Bible
Religions often cherry-pick verses from the Bible to prove their point of view, without also acknowledging others that disprove their point of view. Here’s an egregious one I just noticed in the new LDS seminary manual for the New Testament, where we see an entire lesson built around 1 Corinthians 11:11:
Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
The lesson mentions this one verse eight times to show that Paul taught marriage between a woman and a man is absolutely essential. Modern LDS prophets have taught no one can enter the Celestial Kingdom without being married in the temple. And I agree, that’s the LDS doctrine and I would never argue it isn’t. However, this lesson leaves out the fact that Paul actually believed celibacy was preferable to being married (1 Corinthians 7:7-9):
For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
Paul was celibate, and he is saying he wishes everyone could stay celibate like he is. He even tells widows and unmarried people to stay unmarried if they can help it. It looks to me like Paul didn’t get the message that marriage is required to earn exaltation. The Book of Mormon also fails to mention the marriage requirement. (Hint: it’s because it wasn’t a requirement in Paul’s time, and it was something Joseph Smith came up with years after dictating the Book of Mormon.) I guess this proves the LDS church means what it says when it has replaced the “Scripture Mastery” concept with “Doctrinal Mastery”. They would rather have seminary students learn the doctrine the way modern prophets have taught it than actually learn what the scriptures say. I personally am not one to take any scripture too literally, but I cringe when I see a single verse cherry-picked while other contradictory verses are ignored.
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