Catch-All Bible Verses: I Will Set No Wicked Thing Before My Eyes

found online by Raymond

 
From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:

Last week, I wrote a post entitled, Catch-All Bible Verses: Is the Human Body the Temple of the Christian God? Today I want to deal with another catch-all Bible verse, Psalm 101:3:

I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

Evangelical preachers love this catch-all verse because it allows them to demand of congregants abstinence from seeing and using things or having contact with people, churches, and ministries they have deemed “wicked.” Whether something is wicked is determined by the pastor’s personal interpretations of the Bible, social, cultural, and religious experiences, and personal preferences. In other words, something is wicked because the pastor says it is, end of story. Since he is the man of God, the one chosen by Jesus to lead and teach the church, congregants are expected to believe and follow his “Biblical” pronouncements. If he says a certain behavior or inanimate item is wicked, then congregants are expected to nod their heads up and down and say, Amen brother, preach it!

Things labeled “wicked” are considered off-limits — Kryptonite to true Christians. Congregants, wanting to be obedient to God and his man, the pastor, bow — at least outwardly — to the subjective pronouncements of church leaders.

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One thought on “Catch-All Bible Verses: I Will Set No Wicked Thing Before My Eyes”

  1. Even when I was a Christian, I wondered about the point of verses like this. The Bible’s “great wisdom” seems trite at best: don’t be cruel, don’t be foolish, don’t give in to temptation that will hurt you, don’t spend all your time around people who will lead you astray, etc. It’s very strange to me that many millions of people find this awe-inspiring and study it frequently as if it reading the same trivialities again and again will enlighten them.

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