Is proof texting Biblical?

[Dave Slayer]

Is proof texting Biblical?

 

[Tina]

.
Proof texting means using the Bible the prove doctrines, so how can it not be biblical ?

 

[Vince]

Actually, Dave is asking a valid question, "Proof texting" refers to basing a doctrine on a single verse (or short passage), while ignoring the context.

On the other hand, it is often used as a false accusation. When a text shows that a doctrine is wrong, proponents of the doctrine accuse their opponents of proof-texting, claiming that the Bible as a whole does not teach that doctrine.

 

[justvisiting]

Proof texting is commonly associated with taking text out of context. Which makes it a pretext. Which requires much errant proof-texting. (pick and choose your verses) to prove.

Taken from this site:
http://rustypeterman.blogspot.com/2005/ ... xting.html

Why is it that we Christians can divide up into thousands of different sects and all claim that we are following the Word of God? How is it that many of us can blithely embrace church practices and theological beliefs that are not rooted in Scriptural principle, yet read them back into the New Testament?

I submit that the problem is with our approach to the New Testament.

The approach most commonly used among modern Christians when studying the Bible is called "proof texting." The origin of proof texting goes back to the late 1590s. A group of men called Protestant Scholastics took the teachings of the Reformers and systematized them according to the rules of Aristotelian logic.

The Protestant Scholastics held that not only is the Scripture the Word of God, but every part of it is the Word of God in and of itselfâ€â€irrespective of context. This set the stage for the idea that if we lift a verse out of the Bible, it is true in its own right and can be used to prove a doctrine or a practice.

When John Nelson Darby emerged in the mid 1800s, he built a theology based on this approach. Darby raised proof texting to an art form. In fact, it was Darby who gave fundamentalist and evangelical Christians a good deal of their presently accepted teachings. All of them are built on the proof texting method. Proof texting, then, became the way that we modern Christians approach the Bible. It is taught in every Protestant Bible school and seminary on earth.

As a result, we Christians rarely, if ever, get to see the NT as a whole. Rather, we are served up a dish of fragmented thoughts that are drawn together by means of fallen human logic. The fruit of this approach is that we have strayed far afield from the practice of the NT church. Yet we still believe we are being Biblical.

Justvisiting
Finding supporting scripture is fine... Context is still king before...a word...or a particular verse.
Who was it written to? What is the general idea of the topic? Is there support elsewhere, that is clearly defined without symbolizing, or deriving inaccurate conclusions.
Extreme proof-texting: coming from two different verses
Judas hung himself
Go quickly and do likewise

 

[Vince]

Proof-texting has its strengths and weaknesses. I have seen several instances of a person not liking what the Bible teaches, so he'll go ten verses away from the passage, find an unrelated verse, and insist that the unrelated verse shows the context of the verse he doesn't like.