Protestants--when you cite scripture...?

Finally someone puts the question in words...

First of all, Scripture is the sole rule of faith for the believer. It is our authority, and it the measuring stick for all of our beliefs. Sola Scriptura. That is why we quote it. We don't argue our faith with our opinions or our own ideas. We use what we believe to be God's

Unfortunately, there are far too many within our ranks who do not have a firm grasp on sound doctrine. They rip verses from their context and they assign their own meanings to them. I've been a Christian for 35 years, and I'm still perplexed by the misuse of Scripture ~ especially when a verse is used as the ultimate proof for a situation that it doesn't even apply to.

The Bible does indeed contain answers to many of life's questions, but it usually takes a long time to adequately explain the meaning of a particular verse. Pastors can preach an entire sermon on one verse alone. If Protestants were to put that much effort into our explanations, we would post entire walls of text, and no one would read it.

I do look at its surroundings. I look at the context and time period in which it was written. I have taken Biblical classes at an intense Biblical college.