Boy, the Parson Horne is on a roll. This post on his blog really hits the nail on the head about reading the Bible. We have turned the Word of God itself into a "sytstematic theology" by dividing it into chapter and verse and using it as a repository of proof texts.
I recently watched an ordination exam (a very ordinary exam) where the candidate was asked to rattle off a whole string of proof texts. The pattern normally goes something like this:
Examiner: "Jesus' high priestly prayer?" Candidate: "Uh, John 17." Examiner: "Baking with human dung?" Candidate: "Hmm, wow...uh, Ezekiel 5?" Examiner: "Sorry son, its Ezekiel 4."
But how do the great biblical theologians handle proof texting?
Exhibit A: Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "' You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"
Exhibit B: Hebrews 2:6 It has been testified somewhere, "What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?
The imprecision is appalling...unless the point is to know and love God's Word rather than knowing all "about it." We need to get caught up in the story and not just study the text. There is a time for studying the text but we are called to love the God who gave the text to us and for us. We could spend all of our time getting lost in the owner's manual without ever getting onto the SeaDoo and taking a ride.