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Selective Scripture

Every sacred text contains enough material to justify almost anything — if you pick the right verses and ignore the rest.

This is how it works: someone quotes a passage to support their position on marriage, war, economics, or social order. The passage is real. It is genuinely in the text. What is missing is the other passage — sometimes just a few pages away — that says something very different. The text has not been falsified. It has been edited by omission. And omission is the most effective form of dishonesty because it never technically lies.

This is not a problem unique to religion. Scientists do it with studies — citing the ones that support their hypothesis while burying the ones that don't. Politicians do it with history — quoting the founding documents selectively to suit present agendas. Media does it with data — presenting real numbers without the context that changes their meaning. The mechanism is always the same: present a fragment as the whole.

The antidote is boring but effective. When someone hands you a quote that perfectly supports their argument, look for what they left out. Read the surrounding text. Check for contradictory passages. A position that can only survive through careful selection is a position that knows it cannot survive full exposure.

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