I collect a fairly large number for that super irritating moment in an online discussion when an obnoxious believer posts just a single verse reference and expects me to look up 1 Maccabees 29 (or whatever) and then extrapolate from that what their arguement is.
My personal favourite - and yes, I am going to do it - is John 11 35… but alas I am not childish enough to use it in arguement.
For wisdom to guide one’s life, Matthew, chapter 6:
Do your praying in private, your charity in secret, and fix your own sins before you whine about the neighbors.
For quoting completely out of context, Ezekiel 23:20.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Ephesians 4:32
“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
This is tattooed on my leg:
2 Corinthians 12:10
“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Also an atheist, but an atheist who owns half-a-dozen Bible translations, a Quran, etc.
Revelation 21:1 - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
Something about that phrase - “And there was no longer any sea” - always gives me goosebumps. Maybe it’s the implication that the world-to-come will be completely alien, so utterly unlike our world as to be unrecognizable.
2 Kings 2:23-24: “He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.”
I don’t know if i have a favorite verse, but the one (well, two) that i quote the most is numbers 5:21-22
here the priest shall administer the curse of adjuration to the woman, as the priest goes on to say to the woman—“may the LORD make you a curse and an imprecation among your people, as the LORD causes your thigh to sag and your belly to distend;e 22may this water that induces the spell enter your body, causing the belly to distend and the thigh to sag.” And the woman shall say, “Amen, amen!”
This is a magical test of fidelity administered to a woman whose husband accused her of cheating on him. And it looks to me very much like a forced abortion of the child, should it be a bastard, and not sired by the husband. The priest literally gives “bitter water” to the woman to execute this curse.
I tend to quote it in abortion debate to point out that there’s nothing in the old testament that would lead you to believe that a fetus is considered to be a human being. Rather, it’s valuable property of the woman and her husband, and the penalty for killing it is the penalty for a property crime, and in fact, abortion is even required in certain circumstances.
When I was in a college church group, we actually had a “Jehu Son of Nimshi Award,” which was given to whoever demonstrated poor driving skills when we went on road trips for retreats.