My wife and I have been blessed with three children and fourteen grandchildren. So we have some experience with babies. All babies are the same in at least one respect—they very easily become mono-focused. If you give a baby a rattle, it becomes the entire world for that baby. They become consumed with it, losing any awareness of anything else.
And that is just how it also is with “Bible Babies.” They become mono-focused on one or two verses in the Bible—as if the whole rest of the Bible does not exist. Once they’ve become fixated on their few verses, they are soon posting them on Facebook and talking about them to anyone who will listen. They are oblivious to the fact that most everyone sees them as Bible babies. We smile at them and nod—just like we smile at a baby consumed with his or her rattle. But we know they are just Bible Babies. And we hope they will eventually grow up.
The tragic thing is that some never grow up. They never seem to realize that God gave us the entire Bible, and that the messages it contains are consistent and harmonious. Therefore, our interpretation of any and every verse needs to harmonize with every other verse. If it doesn’t, our interpretation is wrong. So simple, but so difficult for some folks to grasp.
Worse, there are some Bible Babies who not only never grow up, but who just become Big Bible Babies. They become obsessed with collecting verses in the Bible that seemingly support their particular pet doctrine. Now, instead of just one or two verses, they have fifteen. And with those fifteen proof texts, they become “teachers” in their own minds. Sadly, they are able to persuade other Bible Babies to swallow their unbiblical doctrines. But they can’t persuade those who are mature—those who believe the entire Bible.
Another fascinating phenomenon of the Big Bible Babies is that they often get together with other Big Bible Babies to discuss how they are right and everyone else is wrong. Babies love to be with other babies. Sometimes they even have national conferences. They all bring their Bibles that have all of their proof texts highlighted in yellow. They consider themselves to be “theologians.” Actually, however, they are just Big Bible Babies.
The moral? Psalm 119:160 says, “The sum of Your word is truth.” No single verse or passage in the Bible is the sum of all God’s truth. The entire Bible, however, is. Don’t be a Bible Baby, or worse, a Big Bible Baby. Go back and read all those verses that you haven’t highlighted. They are just as inspired, true, and relevant as those you have highlighted.
