#Christians ignore #Context almost as much as an @AmericanAtheist does - @MattWhitmanTMBH #ContextualClues #OutOfContext #OriginalContext #ModernDayContext

'I'm a Christian.'

Reading that statement, your subconscious mind probably tells you "This guy is one of those people who believe every Christian fairy-tale & every statement (mostly in memes posted on Facebook) that's accompanied with a 'Scripture citation' (book chapter:verse)."

But I don't. Oh, the stories are good; and I 'preach' the stories (because of the deeper truths they teach ... and no, those aren't 'truths' like "God is my Daddy who loves me and has a mansion for me in his house in Heaven"; but the truth that that story teaches ... something like 'I'm not burdened by guilt over the things I can't control').

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The word “Context” is built on words that mean “With, Together (|Con-) + to Weave, |Make, Fabricate.”

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People will often take passages of The Bible out-of-context, and of-course they sound ludicrous—cut a square out of a crocheted-blanket, and of-course the threads of the blanket (both in the square and in the blanket surrounding it) will unravel if you're not very careful!

That applies both to passages that atheists cut out to ridicule (like the passage Ten Minute Bible Hour mentions atheists use to accuse Christianity of 'condoning genital-mutilation') and -passages that Christians themselves cut out!

A prime example is the famous John 3:16–"For God so loved the world that he gave His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (or some other paraphrase of the text)–which many Christians (myself included, for the longest time) take to mean something like 'believe that Jesus is "The Son" in the Holy Trinity (of "The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit"), that He died as a sacrifice for humanity's sinful nature, and your life-force will never end but -will be transported to paradise when your Earthly flesh wears out' (or something).

But that message is very-much 'out-of-context'—the original words were reportedly said by Jesus, to a Pharisee (a member of a group of Jews who believed that the dead would be raised back to life at some point in the future), while He was still alive! The words had nothing to do with His Passion, -crucifixion & -resurrection, nothing to do with dying for our sins ... that was all added by Disciples/Apostles & the disciples after them (who taught their disciples, who taught their disciples, and so-on and so-on from His generation to our own).