Bible teachings can’t be applied randomly

THE following story, or a version of it, is sometimes used to encourage theology students away from bibliomancy (randomly opening the Bible for guidance).

Once upon a time, a man opened the Bible at random for guidance. He read Matthew 27:5: “Judas... went away and hanged himself.”

Unhappy with that advice, he opened the Bible randomly and stumbled into Luke 10:37: “Go and do likewise.”

By now feeling alarmed, he randomly opened the Bible again. This time he came to John 13:27: “What you are about to do, do quickly.”

The interpretation and application of the Bible demand effort. Is it not manifestly absurd to cite Psalm 137:9 in a debate on abortion? Does God ever command anyone to smash infants against rocks? Does Dr Nick Canning (Writeback, July 10) really think that Psalm 137:9 is relevant when assessing the Bible’s ethical guidance on abortion?

There are a range of other Old and New Testament texts which seem to support the personhood of the developing foetus-embryo-infant.

I cite just one. Ecclesiastes 11:5 reads: “Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind, or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.”

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