6. The apostle Paul was a misogynist.
Christianity was actually the great liberator of women, evidenced in countless ways by Jesus and the early church.
For his part, the apostle Paul heralded women as teachers and leaders in a day when the testimony of women was not even accepted in a court of law.
7. The New Testament accounts of Jesus were written so long after His life that there’s no way of knowing what He really said or did.
The four gospels were written quite close to the time and life of Jesus. What has become known as the “Magdalen Papyrus” from Matthew dates as early as 125 A.D. Most of our earliest copies of the original manuscripts date within a generation of Jesus.
8. Everybody knows you can interpret the Bible any way you want.
Hermeneutics, which is the science of interpretation, does not support such interpretive anarchy.
There are rules that govern the interpretation of any document, such as grammar, context, historical background and authorial intent.
9. Any and every fellowship or association of Christians is “the church.”
In the Bible, the local church was a defined, purposeful gathering of believers who knew they were coming together to be a church.
There were defined entry and exit points to the church; clear theological guidelines navigating corporate and community waters; the responsibility of stewarding the sacraments; specifically named leadership positions; and, of course, a singular mission.
10. David and Jonathan of the Old Testament were clearly gay lovers.
To believe that two men can’t be intimate friends without it being sexual is more a reflection on our culture than on the biblical story of David and Jonathan.
Reading a homoerotic byline into their relationship is not exegesis, but eisegesis.
