Wikipedia—and it army of public scholars—is a nifty tool for those moments when you just need some quick clarification of your now-faded high school education. Who again was that Pascal dude? How do you spell DNA’s full name? How many Brady Bunch kids took drugs? But as many of us know, Wikipedia is not the best source for precise truth. Too many engineers have been tinkering with the steel beams, if you know what I mean—which is fine if you’re just taking pictures of the stadium, but not so good if you’re planning on sitting on the top row during an earthquake.

Long before Wikipedia sprang from the public’s loins in 2001, Christians have been treating the Bible like open-source software.  My grandmother didn’t need a mouse to make her King James interpretations available, nor did the many churches I attended. At Bible studies and youth meetings, spontaneous chats and dorm-room discussions, the American public eschewed the experts and weighed in on their interpretations of scripture. Interpretation-by-public-opinion, at least for me, became the way I absorbed the truth about the Bible in my early years.

At first thought, the idea seems free and egalitarian. Isn’t that the heart of the Reformation—to put the power of literacy and discernment into the hands of the people rather than waiting for the church elite to interpret for you? Wouldn’t John Wycliffe, who fought to put scripture into the public vernacular, be pleased?

Perhaps. But unfortunately, the Wiki-Scripture phenomenon doesn’t come from over-handling the text, but ironically from under-handling it. When the Bible becomes part of the public’s general knowledge, it gets diluted, mangled, de-contextualized, and over-personalized. It becomes a set of handy flash cards for life’s “little rough patches” rather than the life-changing, inspired logos that John the apostle speaks of.

So, in tribute to my own superficial, Wiki-Scripture education, here is a small sampling of the verses that probably needed better editorial control.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7: 14)

This Old Testament verse has become a Red State bumper sticker—a promise that if only sinful Americans would just hunker down and repent from all their cultural sins, God would return us again to Founding Father-ish status. It’s a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy for the Christian optimist.

God’s reminder to Solomon, however, took place in context of the holy temple and God’s covenant with the Israelites. It is not a generic or nationalistic promise; it is the assurance that the covenant between God and his people still stands. It has a deeply spiritual application and not a patriotic one; otherwise, all our suffering brothers and sisters around the world should cross it out of their Bibles with a black Sharpie.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

Is there a more ubiquitous verse painted on the walls of Christian school gymnasiums, printed on plaques, hung up in counseling offices, or stuck on Amway-distributors’ refrigerators than this one? Most of you already know that we’ve mangled this verse in every way possible.

If you’re a woman—and you bought a set of pink ten-pound dumbbells at your local Christian bookstore with this verse printed on them—stop right now and read the entire book of Philippians. Paul, who experienced every condition of life, wrote this in prison to indicate the provision of God in every circumstance, whether in plenty or in want, whether in freedom or imprisonment, whether in comfort or pain. In context, the believing Christian doesn’t do all things, but perhaps faces all things with the assurance of strength. 

Judge not, lest you be judged.” (Matthew 7:1)

This is perhaps the non-Christian’s favorite Bible verse of all, the snappy comeback for nearly every moral evaluation. It is actually the perfect verse for a moral libertarian (although I find it strange when skeptics use the Bible—which they deem invalid—as one of their persuasive tools).

This verse, of course, is a harsh indictment against the hypocritical and judgmental spirit of the Pharisees and not some weird tolerance banner to be translated: Don’t make a moral evaluation on my behavior, you idiot! There is so much in the New Testament that speaks of transformative, holy, righteous living, one cannot imagine any verse that instructs us to suppress moral discernment.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

To parents everywhere, I say that the Bible’s Proverbs are likely to make you crazy. The  wisdom literature of the Old Testament is beautiful and succinct, but the Proverbs certainly aren’t magic formulas or psychotherapy trade secrets. If we were to apply this verse literally and directly, every child “from a good home” would be expected to become a model adult.

Wisdom literature, like the kind found in this verse, showcases probabilities, sound thinking, and spiritual insights. Without researching all the hermeneutical challenges of this verse, a good reader can still recognize that decoding the words train, way, should, and depart is fundamental to understanding the meaning. In short, Proverbs are deceptively simple; we might have to pull back the surface language in order to peek at the profound ideas underneath.

“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

If you ask most people what this verse means, they will answer with something approximating a Buddhist’s reverence for quiet meditation. But a reading of this Psalm indicates that in the midst of violence and chaos, God says to his enemies: Enough already! Quit all your chaos because I’m going to kick some butt here! It is hardly a call to peaceful contemplation, but rather a stern assertion of God’s powerful sovereignty.

There are plenty more to choose from. Most Americans have little tolerance for slow and thoughtful decoding; I’ve certainly been one of them. But shouldn’t we bring more deliberate study to reading the Holy Scriptures than we do to researching our term papers or padding our intellectual trivia-reserves?

Come to think of it, serious Bible study comes with the best open-source software available: The Holy Spirit.