Saw this floating around, and thought I would give a side by side comparison. This meme replaces “turn their ears from the truth” with “they won’t listen to what the Bible says.”
What’s the difference?
Simply put, the Bible, as we know it, and as it is implied here, didn’t exist at the time these words were written.
The concept is true, but the impact is insidious.
By correlating “the Bible” with “what is true”, you take away the readers trust in their God-given ability to use logic and sound reasoning.
You breed a fear of questioning the tenants of the religion they were raised in.
You create an “us vs. them” mentality.
You remove the quality of worshipping God with your whole mind, and replace it with the expectation of “obedience to those in spiritual authority over you”. (Which by the way, isn’t a biblical concept. Jesus removed hierarchy.)
One component of Spiritual abuse is removing the peace of a relationship with God and replacing that peace with the fear of getting it wrong. Because, eternal consequences.
Impact over intention.
Contrary to the beliefs of many, the Bible was never meant to be taken literally. Individual books need to be read and understood in their entirety in light of the context of the culture, and original audience.
The book of Timothy was written to Timothy, not to present day American Christians. We benefit, but we are not the intended audience.
If you disagree, feel free to apply 1 Timothy 5:23 just as literally.
If drinking wine is a suggestion for Timothy only because of culture, time, health, etc. so is the rest of the letter.
If the rest of the letter is literal, so is the command to drink a little wine.
Either way, enjoy!
The Ashley Smith Blog 