There's a lot of folks who proclaim that the Bible is the way we should live our lives (if not mould our culture and laws) because what the Bible means is always plain and obvious and manifestly straightforward for all who read it.
And then you get a dolt like David Barton claiming that a parable about God's merciful salvation of all who turn to Him, whenever they do so, is actually scriptural proof that Jesus is against the minimum wage, economic justice, and labor unions.
As Shakespeare put it in The Merchant of Venice:
_"Mark you this, Bassanio,
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart:
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!"_
Not plain, obvious, or manifestly straightforward at all. #ddtb
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Barton: Employers Have no Obligation to be 'Fair' to Workers (and Jesus Agrees) | rightwingwatch.org
In the past, we have chronicled how David Barton uses the Bible, in particular Matthew 20:1-16, to promote an ultra-right-wing economic view by claiming that Jesus opposed the minimum wage and any sor…
Well, if you’re going to depend on a translation much-removed from the original, and make no attempt to read what passes for “original”, of course you can make it back up your ridiculous assertions.
@Marina – Except this is a case where it’s not even a matter of “Well, if they just used the King James Version, as God intended, it would all be clear.” Barton’s making a fundamental interpretative *choice* of treating the passage as divine employment law, rather than a metaphoric parable regarding salvation (akin in many ways to the Tale of the Prodigal Son).