Fish Bones
A while ago I was watching a YouTube video, and I heard a saying I'd never heard before. The girl in the video said that when it came to things you learned in life, you had to "eat the fish and spit out the bones," meaning that you had to decide what you would take from something, that you had to pick and choose what you would accept and what you would reject, what worked for you and what didn't.
She used this as an example of how she could participate in yoga even though she doesn't believe in Hinduism. And while I agree with her in regards to yoga, and that this idea can be helpful in some situations (during my counseling classes, I had to decide what theories worked best for my personality and pick and choose between techniques), this idea can also be rather dangerous.
You can't pick and choose when it come to God's Word.
You can't decide to accept the part about the Flood but reject that God created the earth.
You can't decide to accept the part about Jesus healing the sick but reject that He is Who He said He is, the Son of God.
You can't decide to accept Paul's teachings about communion and reject what he says about women pastors.*
We don't get to pick and choose when it comes to the Bible. Every bit of it, as 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us, was inspired by God. He put it all in there for a reason, and it certainly wasn't so that we could decide what we wanted and what we didn't like kids going through the toppings at the fro-yo.
I confess, I don't know a lot about cults, but from what I understand of them, a lot of them do exactly this. They pick what they want from God's Word, and add what they want to it. A little here, a little there.
So when it comes to almost anything else, whether it be exercise programs, how-to-advice, etc., I think there's no problem picking and choosing what we want from them. As long as we remember we can't do that with God's Word. It's all or nothing where it's concerned
*Trust me, when I was a little kid and first learned this, I was really bummed. I wanted to be a pastor. That's why my blog is for women (although guys are welcome to read it). As women, we have a different but equally wonderful ministry, helping, teaching, and encouraging each other even though we're not the ones giving the sermons every Sunday. And whereas Priscilla did help Aquila correct Apollos' faulty understanding, notice how she did it. With her husband. I could be totally wrong on this, but I don't think Paul teaches that we should let the guys do and believe whatever quietly, regardless of how off the mark they are. But I do believe he teaches that we should try to get another guy to approach them about the issue, just as a guy should try to get a lady to approach a woman. We as woman are just not to be in the positions of leadership over the church. That's the men's job.
She used this as an example of how she could participate in yoga even though she doesn't believe in Hinduism. And while I agree with her in regards to yoga, and that this idea can be helpful in some situations (during my counseling classes, I had to decide what theories worked best for my personality and pick and choose between techniques), this idea can also be rather dangerous.
You can't pick and choose when it come to God's Word.
You can't decide to accept the part about the Flood but reject that God created the earth.
You can't decide to accept the part about Jesus healing the sick but reject that He is Who He said He is, the Son of God.
You can't decide to accept Paul's teachings about communion and reject what he says about women pastors.*
We don't get to pick and choose when it comes to the Bible. Every bit of it, as 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us, was inspired by God. He put it all in there for a reason, and it certainly wasn't so that we could decide what we wanted and what we didn't like kids going through the toppings at the fro-yo.
I confess, I don't know a lot about cults, but from what I understand of them, a lot of them do exactly this. They pick what they want from God's Word, and add what they want to it. A little here, a little there.
So when it comes to almost anything else, whether it be exercise programs, how-to-advice, etc., I think there's no problem picking and choosing what we want from them. As long as we remember we can't do that with God's Word. It's all or nothing where it's concerned
*Trust me, when I was a little kid and first learned this, I was really bummed. I wanted to be a pastor. That's why my blog is for women (although guys are welcome to read it). As women, we have a different but equally wonderful ministry, helping, teaching, and encouraging each other even though we're not the ones giving the sermons every Sunday. And whereas Priscilla did help Aquila correct Apollos' faulty understanding, notice how she did it. With her husband. I could be totally wrong on this, but I don't think Paul teaches that we should let the guys do and believe whatever quietly, regardless of how off the mark they are. But I do believe he teaches that we should try to get another guy to approach them about the issue, just as a guy should try to get a lady to approach a woman. We as woman are just not to be in the positions of leadership over the church. That's the men's job.
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