The Butterfly Method

I enjoy a well-written novel. Always have. Sometimes it’s just wonderful to lose yourself in a good story. Of course, the challenge is finding one that doesn’t dishonor the Lord and His Word. And quite a challenge that is.

A few weeks ago, I decided to read a Historical fiction novel that is labeled “Christian”. I don’t have particularly high expectations with this label anymore and I am always curious to see if it really IS Christian. Most skirt around the Gospel and remain pretty vague but, thankfully, they aren’t filled with offensive content.

This particular novel, however, was interesting in that it basically promoted the belief that everyone is saved (what is called universalism). The author basically took all the happy and comforting promises from scripture and applied them to everyone.

Jesus’s death saved every person in the book and, thus, they were all entitled to God’s wonderful promises. There was no sin. No repentance. No Gospel. No indwelling of the Holy Spirit. No sanctification. God loves everyone and, therefore, everyone is going to heaven. Sure, it’s because of Jesus that everyone can feel so loved but why Jesus even had to die if there is no sin is simply never explained.

A few days later I was listening to an exposition on Ezekiel (I have been trying to understand this book at a basic level as I was reading it) and the teacher, in order to help us understand the context of the book, told us to turn to Jeremiah 29. In the midst of that, he asked how many people love verse 11 and have embraced it as a promise to themselves personally—

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. (Jeremiah 29:11)

He went on to say how it is such a bad practice to take these Old Testament verses that are specifically promises for Israel and apply them to ourselves.

He then went on to call this the “Butterfly Method” of reading the Bible. People just flit and float to the happy verses and take them for themselves. They imbibe the pleasant promises and the verses that bring good feelings. And then completely ignore the hard-to-understand and the unpleasant.

In fact, they even flit to promises that weren’t for them because they are such happy promises. The promise in Jeremiah 29:11 is not for us. Admittedly, there is a principle behind the promise that is repeated in the New Testament (Romans 8:28-29) but we mustn’t pull verses out of context in the Old Testament and apply them to ourselves. A lot of false teaching has been a result of this practice. As serious Bible students, we need to understand the difference between a specific promise and a principle.

If we take a step back, we can see why it is so tempting to use the Butterfly Method of scripture study. We live in a culture that thrives on the pleasant and the good. We love a good happy ending. To focus on anything unpleasant or negative has become one of the greatest sins in this culture.

We have been steadily brainwashed with the message that “positive is good” and “negative is bad”. This is a very destructive message.

And here is the thing…

Is the Bible true or is it false? Either the entire Bible is true. Or the entire Bible is false.

We simply cannot just pick and choose what we like from the scriptures, while ignoring or changing the passages we don’t like.

That is simply intellectually dishonest. And it is self-serving.

The Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible. It is cohesive throughout and proves itself over and over for the serious student who takes the time to actually study it.

The entire Bible IS true. We may not understand it all and we may even abhor some of its messages, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s true.

Oh, that we may be courageously willing to accept the difficult messages while, at the same time, embracing the wonderful promises. It isn’t an either/or. It is always AND. We need to study and accept both.

May we be wise and courageous Bible students who trust in God and His Word—every single word of it.