Jonathan Davis was indignant. In 2013, as a Ph.D. candidate at the University of New Orleans, he had been tracking bull shark activity in Lake Pontchartrain. So he was excited when the Discovery Channel wanted to film his work. Unfortunately, Davis’ joy ended when he saw the final product.
He was horrified to find that his work had been misappropriated to boost ratings for “Shark Week,” – a smear campaign against sharks that made him look like a voodoo shark hunter. Since then, several other researchers have denounced editors for their misuse of interviews and filming to ignite controversy in the aquatic world.
At the heart of the problem, is the same old issue: no one likes it when people twist and pervert their words. Most of us get upset when someone takes our work and misuses it to teach something opposite of our beliefs.
And people do it all the time. Even with inspirational material. Take for example, the inspirational calendar which quotes Luke 4:7, “if you worship me, all will be yours.” But the passage was a temptation of Christ by Satan, not words to live by for the Christian!
Imagine, therefore, how God feels about those who would twist and pervert His Word and work for their own glory.
If you have made a decision not to follow God’s Word, or if you don’t believe that God exists at all, that is certainly your decision to make. And no matter how foolish I might think that decision is, it is your right. God gives us all the freedom to choose whether to follow Him or not.
But why? Why oh why, would you try to convince others and yourselves that the Bible doesn’t say what it clearly says? I might suggest that the effort tells us much about the nature of humans.
Why not say, “who cares what God thinks!” I’ll tell you why. Because there are far too many obvious features of this world that prove there was a beginning, a beginner, and an intelligent design to life. Everything else is foolish when put in the light of, “who cares what that infinite being who made everything thinks.”
Rather, if we admit what nature clearly teaches, and if we acknowledge that the Bible is worthy of being followed, then we must cease to pervert His Word to justify our sins. Those who do say are like the “untaught and unstable” men who distort Paul’s words, “as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).
Don’t be fooled! God is not mocked. Quit trying to find loopholes! He will not eternally allow His Word to be twisted and perverted by evil men with evil plans. Make your decision to adhere to the Word and live eternally in His glory!
