God's message is simple but it is also profound. An old friend, Pastor Dr. Arthur Bergren of First Lutheran Church of Geneseo, Il (http://firstgeneseo.org/) wrote something once to me that was once again proven true recently in my life. He said he didn't like (wasn't comfortable) basing a whole theology belief on one scripture.
This is sound wisdom.
Why?
It's not that you can't find truth in one scripture. You can and you will, and no matter what you've heard scripture doesn't contradict itself. If there appears to be a contradiction you need to go deeper. God is and always has been and always will be the same. He never changes. All truth is based on Him.
Let's say I tell my child not to touch the stove because it's hot. She touches the stove one day when no one is looking and finds it cold. She could say I lied to her. A few years later I might tell that same child to touch the stove, show her how to use it safely. Am I contradicting myself? No.
Comparing this to God's truth only goes so far, but you can see how things that contradict each other on the surface actually might be part of a deeper truth.
Why this thought came into play recently was that I read in a magazine article that it is blasphemous, against God, for a woman to work outside the home. The verse that was sighted was Titus 2:5. It says, Young women should be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored.
All women should be workers at home (the women are the caretakers and nurturers of the home and family) but that doesn't mean they can't work outside the home. If this were the case, then how could we explain Deborah the prophetess and leader of men in battle? Or, how about Lydia in Acts 16 who sells purple fabrics? Or what about the women who followed Jesus and were the ones who provided the money for Jesus and His disciples to live on?
When we take one scripture out of the Bible and use it to validate our agenda we get a bit screwed up. Our perspective gets a bit off and we can lose compassion and openness to others.