God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (Jn 3:16-17)
Growing up in the Baptist tradition meant that isolated Bible verses were drilled into our heads. We even had Bible Sword Drills (trust me, it’s a Baptist thing!) so that we could practice looking up chapter and verse of specific scripture passages. Well, one thing I learned as a Catholic is that when studying the scriptures, context is everything. As Baptist kids, we all knew John 3:16 by heart . . . but very few of us ever heard of John 3:17.
