Straight lick with a crooked stick

On another thread there was some discussion about something the Bible said or did not say, and it caused me to remember something.

Years ago one of the fundamentalist preachers I was raised under said something from the pulpit that was incorrect. It does not matter what. He was making a point and claiming Biblical authority when there was none. What he said was not bad, it was good, but he claimed the support of a specific verse when there was no support there.

Being an eager student of God’s word I immediately looked up his reference and discovered the Biblical authority he claimed was not there.

Very concerned I met with him privately later and explained my problem. At first he thought perhaps I had looked up the wrong verse, or that he had given the wrong reference. Rather than study any deeper in the scripture he simply restated to me the point he was trying to make (which like I said was good).

He said something along the lines of, “Hey I am not perfect and I may have gotten the verse wrong, but my point is still valid.” He then added, “You know, God can hit a straight lick with a crooked stick, and even if I am wrong sometimes God can still use it to make a point.”

Has anyone else ever heard that, “Straight lick with a crooked stick” line?

The idea that God can use us in our imperfection is true and wonderful. But when we teach something incorrectly or when we try to give Biblical authority to a point that is not in fact scriptural that is not being truthful to our congregations. When we say, "The Bible says . . ." and it doesn’t, we are setting our audience up for failure.

Once they have time to study, and once they discover that they have been misled and what we have taught is in fact error they will doubt everything we have ever taught. We run the risk of destroying their faith.

I praise God that He can and does use us in our imperfection. But I will never accept the teaching of a lie to justify the desired change in behavior. That is nothing more than using the end to justify the means and in the end both are destroyed.

I find examples of this throughout fundamental circles in areas from eternal security to modern technology and believe we should stand against it.

 

Thanks Ann, yes you know preaching or teaching the Words of God is a big responsiblity.

FYI, I did a google search and found the “Straight lick with a crooked stick” quotation listed as a southern proverb in several places. The oldest use I could find was in the work of Zora Neale Hurston in a 1934 novel (Jonah’s Gourd Vine) and in her 1942 autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road). In both cases Hurston, (who was a black woman) used the proverb, which she did not take credit for inventing, to describe her education at time when the education of Blacks in American and the education of Female Americans was far from where it is today.

 

Wow, thanks for the quotation Jerome, 1642, thats great.

I know it is the History geek in me coming out but I find the fact that a phrase spoken in the House of Commons in 1642 finds its way (albeit reworded a little so it rhymes better) into southern African-American literature in 1934 really cool.