Selective scripture

If we apply the derived principles approach only selectively, then we are the ones deciding what does and does not have value as God’s Word. Inevitably we will choose only the passages that we can readily attach to principles that we already believe are true. In this scenario, we are using Torah not to establish a moral system but to undergird one that we have already decided is valuable and coherent. In this case Torah is used as little more than illustration.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 173

<idle musing>
And we are all only too familiar with that approach, aren't we? It's the recipe for division and strife as we argue about trivialities, siphoning the gnat and swallowing the camel...
</idle musing>