Another Bible Cartoon: Love Versus the Bible

This is one of my most popular and controversial cartoons on the topic of scripture.

Jesus says to a group of people holding their bibles, “The difference between me and you is you use scripture to determine what loves means and I use love to determine what scripture means.”

This upsets some because to them Jesus IS the Bible, completely conflated and equated.

They don’t realize that they are committing the unavoidable hermeneutical method of reading into the text their understanding of what it means (eisegesis).

They can’t be blamed because we all do it. It can’t be helped!

They may presume they’re doing exegesis, but they can’t. It’s impossible to simply let the text speak for itself.

We all have our own hermeneutic.

Example:

If you have a shallow and restrictive understanding of love, you will find your small understanding of love confirmed in the Bible. You will find your verses that permit you to limit and even withhold love.

But if you have a love that tries to appreciate and include everyone, then indeed you will find your verses that confirm you are endeavoring to love as you believe God loves, universally and unconditionally.

We all bring to the text our own minds (whether they are open or closed) and our own hearts (whether they are hard or soft) and will read into the text our own predispositions.

So then, it comes down to the personal internal work of self-awareness, humility, and a willingness to learn and grow.

This almost always happens during deconstruction.

Which is why so many of you totally get what I’m talking about here.

While those who are entrenched in their beliefs simply cannot comprehend what we’re talking about.

(PRINTS AVAILABLE!)