Benefit of the doubt

.
"The devil can site scripture for his own purpose!"

-- Shakespeare, "Merchant Of Venice" (act 1, scene 3)

Certainly.
Which is why it is imperative to look at the WHOLE picture before making up one's mind and passing judgment.


When I studied in Israel during the first semester of my Junior of High School, every Saturday morning I recited the "Shmah" prayer, the most basic prayer in Judaism:
"Hear O' Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One"
(Deut. 6:4)

After that part, there is a big ol' paragraph that is recited silently--
including the verse:
"Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them"
(Deut. 11:15)

Ironically, the way my prayer book was laid out, the verse was split up on two lines--
"Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye
turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them"


Woah!
If you just read the second half of the verse, you'd think it was saying "Turn aside and serve other gods..."
In other words, the OPPOSITE of its intention.

That works with sentence that starts with "Don't":
"Thou shall not
Murder"

"Do not
Put a stumbling block before the blind"

And I think we've all been in a dorm room, naked, when we hear a knock on the door.
"Don't come in!" we shout.
But, invariably, the person doesn't hear the "Don't" part and enters!

Agghhh! Embarrassing!

(hint-- that's why I usually precede the "Don't come in" with "I'm naked, go away!")

So, don't take anything at face value--
Give people the benefit of the doubt, because you don't know the whole story.

A fun "getting to know you" game: Go around the room and say something that, taken out of context, makes you sound like an awful human being.
Example:

When I was 15, I peed on my brother.

(he had been stung by a jellyfish... really... honest!... sick bastard)


"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
- Plato

That's good advice. Consider that the next time some jerk cuts you off in traffic or bumps into you in the hallway, or walks in on you naked, masturbating in his dorm room... for some reason... hypothetically speaking.

(ahem)

Note--
Earlier, when discussing my prayerbook, I quoted the King James Version of Deut. 11:16 just to be consistent.
Naturally my Jewish prayerbook was different, but barely--
"Take care lest you be tempted to
forsake God and turn to false gods in worship").