A Duck is a rabbit!
(Notice the result when the duck is tipped slightly to the right)
In the same way that the above duck has been manipulated to make it appear as something else, many people will turn the plain teaching of God’s Word this way or that in order to make the divine pattern suit their own “picture” of religion.
For instance, Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). Yet these folks who have discovered that a duck is a rabbit will turn to John 3:16, which reads: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should no perish but have everlasting life” and say that we are saved by faith without baptism.
Moreover, the Lord also stated, “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery” (Matthew 19:9). Yet these folks who have discovered that a duck is a rabbit manipulate the passage, and claim that the two marriage partners referred to in this verse are the “innocent” and the “guilty” – instead of the one who puts away and the one who is put away. (This sets the table for their next contention: that the “innocent” have the unlimited “right” to “put away” the mate who is guilty of fornication – even when the “guilty” mate’s fornication is committed after the unlawful divorce.) Cp. w. An excerpt from Ron Halbrook’s rebuttal to Bob Owen
However, the God of truth (not the author of confusion, I Corinthians 14:33), has instructed us to “rightly divide the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15), “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:14). Moreover, His apostle also wrote, “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple” (Romans 16:17-18).
When one reads Christ’s simple teaching regarding divorce and remarriage, it is easy to see that those who put away their mates were not always the “innocent” party in a divorce for fornication. Likewise, those who were (what He called) “put away” were not always those guilty of fornication.
Thus, a duck remains a duck and a rabbit a rabbit, and you can’t duck that by trying to split hares.
- edited, original author unknown