Is God the author of sin and evil? Do we actually have free will? Did Jesus die for everyone,

or just some? In For Calvinism, Michael Horton provides a deep and thoughtful response to some of the

most common misconceptions of Calvinism. He explores the historical roots of reformed thought,

unpacks doctrines like election and perseverance, and encourages faith and practice in today's world.

This month, when you support our work with the gift of any amount, we'll send you a copy of this book for Calvinism.

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slash offers. I want to talk about what might be the most wrongly used Bible verse.

Matthew chapter 7 verse 1, Jesus's words, judge not that you be not judged. Now at the outset,

it's worth saying that in the world we presently live in to judge another

person is seen as maybe the worst possible thing you can do. How many times have you heard a person

make a statement and then immediately follow it up with, but I'm not trying to be judgey, or I don't

want to judge anyone? The thought that someone would tell another person that they're doing something

wrong or that they're doing something wrong

or that they shouldn't live a certain way is seen as not being politically or socially correct.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but the idea is simple. Who are you to judge

someone's personal life choices? And it's at that moment that people pull Jesus's words here

out of context and say, see, even Jesus himself said you shouldn't judge.

There's a real danger here.

And it's that often we use isolated Bible verses to support some decision or idea we have without actually looking at the context of those verses.

In other words, rather than going to the scriptures for guidance,

we're trying to make them say whatever we want them to say to support a decision or a lifestyle

we've chosen for ourselves. That is to twist the scriptures to our own destruction. And I think

...