This.
I think this is particularly important for those of us who grew up in spaces that used the Bible to further conservative political ideology. Changing political positions does not necessarily mean we've rejected a flawed approach to Scripture.
One of the challenges of my adult life has been reframing HOW I think, not what I think. It's so tempting to use Scripture pragmatically, to subject it to certain goals rather than to subject myself to it.
Don't misunderstand. The Scripture speaks very directly to social questions. It is not silent about how we should exist in community & care for one another.
But it should confront & correct us first. We should learn to see ourselves, not just in honorable characters, but in the dishonorable. The Scripture comes for us as much as for our political opponents.
You know you're using Scripture as a prop for your political ideology when it becomes a weapon that only cuts one way. It's not that the Bible isn't dangerous; it's that it pierces us as quickly as anybody else.
Anyway, those of us who learned to wield the Scripture as a weapon against ideology opponents must learn a different way. Both irt Scripture & our opponents. Simply changing our minds on issues is not sufficient.
For me the biggest challenge of relating to Scripture in healthy ways is having humility to admit that I don't know it as well as I think I do. Despite YEARS of memorization & catechesis.
I mean, I memorized soooo much. To this day, phrases, quotes, & verses float around in my head & often come to mind unbidden. But just having knowledge of text doesn't mean I understand it or have rightly applied it to contemporary circumstances.
In some ways, this is exciting. There's always more to learn, more to understand. In others, it's discouraging, b/c I'm still learning how to let Scripture speak for itself when my trained instinct is to move straight to application & pragmatics.
