Don’t see the audio player? Click here.
According to Bible scholars, Scripture twisting is when we take Scripture out of its context or give it a meaning far removed from the truth it teaches. Scripture twisting is often used to distort what the Bible teaches about Christ’s identity, or to justify some self-centered activity we want to do. Some Bible scholars believe Jephthah, found in the book of Judges (chapter 11), might have been doing some Scripture twisting. He was on the verge of recovering land the Ammonites had taken from his people. As he prepared to take it back, he took an unnecessary vow that if God would help him win the battle, he would sacrifice to God whoever came out first to greet him after the victory. He won, but sadly, the first person to come out to greet him was his only daughter. Bible scholars are not sure whether he, in fact, killed his daughter, or whether he sacrificed her by preventing her from ever marrying. But Bible scholars do agree we should never make rash vows or twist the scripture, especially in light of what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5. Jesus said, “Do not make any vows! … Just say a simple, “Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one” (vv. 34, 37).
