Thanks for your comments Illys. I couldn't help but think of a comment I read by Sir Ian McKellen, who is a well known actor, atheist, and homosexual.
He was asked whether it was true that he would tear pages out of the bible.
He confessed that it was true and that he was offended by "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable," as translated by the New International Version; the King James Version uses the word "abominable."
He said he didn't proudly deface the bible, but thought it a choice between tearing out the one page or throwing away the whole bible. Going on to say that when he stayed at hotels that he didn't want that scripture just inches from his head where he slept.
I couldn't help but wonder if the bible being so close to him, made it hard for him to sleep because God's word was speaking to him even when the book wasn't open.
My point being that he took one verse and decided that he didn't like what he read and closed his mind to what else God was saying. Did he know that you can read more verses, perhaps elsewhere in the bible that further explains why God allowed that to be put in the bible? Or did he just read that one verse and thought the bible was not worthy to learn more of what God had to say? Had he read on and read of the love of God, of where there is forgiveness and healing when we put ourselves in the arms of the Holy One, perhaps he would have looked at the verse differently? That God Himself, died on the cross for our sins, so Sir Ian could be freed from his sins and helped to be set free from the addiction to them.
But apparently Sir Ian was offended right off the bat and his heart and mind closed. He held tight to his right to sin. He didn't want to hear God tell him what is the best way to live our lives or how to be holy as He is holy. I'm sure we can all relate. We all have our pet sins that we don't want to give to God.
That is why it is so important that we take the bible as a whole and not in part or we miss the whole message.