WEBVTT 00:00:01.870 --> 00:00:05.790 I'm Andy Johnson. Welcome to the Church of Biblical 00:00:05.790 --> 00:00:09.029 Sanity. Topic of today's mini sermon is called 00:00:09.029 --> 00:00:14.429 Twisted Scripture. Someone accused me of twisting 00:00:14.429 --> 00:00:18.570 scripture to fit my political perspective. You 00:00:18.570 --> 00:00:21.149 twist the meaning of scripture, they said, to 00:00:21.149 --> 00:00:25.910 fit your political perspective. Now, I didn't 00:00:25.910 --> 00:00:29.469 know that wanting to stop the bullying and the 00:00:29.469 --> 00:00:33.409 beating, the imprisonment and killing was a political 00:00:33.409 --> 00:00:38.469 perspective. I didn't know that wanting to feed 00:00:38.469 --> 00:00:42.570 the hungry, attend to the sick and poor was a 00:00:42.570 --> 00:00:48.270 political perspective. I've been accused of twisting 00:00:48.270 --> 00:00:53.090 scripture, but what scripture was twisted? And 00:00:53.090 --> 00:00:57.479 how did I twist it? And perhaps I might be provided 00:00:57.479 --> 00:01:03.799 with a straightened version. If the new wine 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:08.359 does not fit into your old wine skin, you say 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:12.140 that the new wine twists biblical scripture and 00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:18.219 you throw it out. So let me twist some scripture 00:01:18.219 --> 00:01:28.670 at you. Psalms 51 .10 says, O God, and renew 00:01:28.670 --> 00:01:37.189 a right spirit within me. A clean heart. The 00:01:37.189 --> 00:01:41.650 heart is a metaphor for emotions and dispositions. 00:01:43.930 --> 00:01:47.569 A disposition is a state of mind that creates 00:01:47.569 --> 00:01:51.510 an inclination to think or act in certain ways. 00:01:52.969 --> 00:01:58.909 And renewal speaks to transformation. The twisted 00:01:58.909 --> 00:02:04.069 scriptures that I read cause for us to be disposed 00:02:04.069 --> 00:02:09.569 to perceive, to react, to emote in ways that 00:02:09.569 --> 00:02:13.930 nurture others, that nurture the self, that nurture 00:02:13.930 --> 00:02:18.830 the community. We are disposed to take care of, 00:02:18.930 --> 00:02:26.020 to be responsible for. Jesus and St. Paul had 00:02:26.020 --> 00:02:28.919 much to say about the conditions of the heart. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:34.120 So let me twist some more scripture at you. Jesus 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:37.659 said in Matthew 5 -8, the Beatitudes, blessed 00:02:37.659 --> 00:02:43.240 are the pure and heart, for they shall see God. 00:02:44.979 --> 00:02:49.060 The Gospels and the Epistles. call for us to 00:02:49.060 --> 00:02:53.139 take care of each other, to be responsible for 00:02:53.139 --> 00:02:58.379 each other. That person hiding in the basement 00:02:58.379 --> 00:03:04.719 is trying to feed our family. They escaped from 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:08.500 conditions of poverty, lawlessness, and violence 00:03:08.500 --> 00:03:15.400 to feed our children, to give our children a 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:21.039 better life. And if it were your son or daughter, 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:26.199 your husband or wife, your mother or father hiding 00:03:26.199 --> 00:03:30.080 in the basement, would the conditions of your 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:36.180 heart change a little bit? Here's some more twisted 00:03:36.180 --> 00:03:41.340 scripture for you. Matthew 12, 34, Jesus says, 00:03:41.780 --> 00:03:47.490 you brood of vipers. How can you speak of good 00:03:47.490 --> 00:03:53.229 when you are evil? For out of the abundance of 00:03:53.229 --> 00:03:59.229 the heart, the mouth speaks. You, my fine conservative 00:03:59.229 --> 00:04:02.830 Christian friends, you speak about the love of 00:04:02.830 --> 00:04:07.050 Jesus, yet you would deny food to the hungry 00:04:07.050 --> 00:04:12.729 and health care to the sick and poor. Who's twisting 00:04:12.729 --> 00:04:19.279 scripture? Matthew 15, 18 to 20, Jesus says, 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:24.259 but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:28.980 the heart. And this defiles a person, for out 00:04:28.980 --> 00:04:33.899 of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:40.740 sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.560 These, Jesus says, are what defile a person. 00:04:45.740 --> 00:04:48.339 Now, my fine conservative Christian friends, 00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:52.459 you seem to focus a lot on adultery and sexual 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:57.480 immorality, making me wonder what's in your heart. 00:04:58.379 --> 00:05:03.579 And you conveniently ignore all the Trump administration 00:05:03.579 --> 00:05:09.860 is blatantly doing. The murder, the theft, the 00:05:09.860 --> 00:05:16.079 false witness, and the slander. You don't seem 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:20.740 to get too worked up about these things. You 00:05:20.740 --> 00:05:27.860 have selected umbrage. Matthew 5, 8, Jesus says 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:32.720 again, blessed are the pure in heart for they 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:39.500 will see God. You talk of law and order, of human 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:44.269 decency. Yet, you turn your backs on the girls 00:05:44.269 --> 00:05:48.529 who are raped and trafficked, and you protect 00:05:48.529 --> 00:05:53.149 the rich and powerful. You support Trump. You 00:05:53.149 --> 00:06:00.670 do this by proxy. St. Paul tells us, put on your 00:06:00.670 --> 00:06:05.089 new self. We've been made in the likeness of 00:06:05.089 --> 00:06:10.939 God. And I would invite people of all faith traditions 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:16.600 and of no faith traditions to put on those new 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:23.360 self -suits and listen. Listen to the likeness. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:28.939 Renew a right spirit within you. Be pure in heart 00:06:28.939 --> 00:06:35.259 and see God. See God in the actions and the interactions. 00:06:35.709 --> 00:06:36.629 of people.