This is unfortunately true of a lot of religious folks. They live by the letter of the law, and ignore the intention.
(I work with a pair of identical twins for the overstock night shift. They know I’m atheist, so they’ve made it their business to preach their religion at me non-stop.)
Twin #1: “So, [my name], you think about what we said on Tuesday?”
Me: “Not really.”
Twin #1: “Come on, man. This is important stuff.”
Twin #2: “Yeah. You wanna go to h***?”
Me: “Nope.”
Twin #1: “I mean, I just don’t get you.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Twin #1: “If you don’t believe in God, where do you get your morals from?”
Me: “Uh…”
Twin #2: “Yeah. The only way to know right from wrong is with God.”
Me: “I don’t think so.”
Twin #1: “Well, it’s still true, dude. It doesn’t matter what you think.”
Twin #2: “Right. You should… hang on.”
(Twin #2 gets a call on his cell phone and answers it. He turns away from his brother and me but keeps standing there.)
Twin #1: “[My name], dude, do you think murder and rape are okay?”
Me: “No.”
Twin #1: “Well, that’s God, man. The only way you know that stuff is not okay is God.”
Twin #2: *on the phone* “…You picked up my bike okay? No problems getting it? Cool…”
Twin #1: “How about lying? Or stealing? You think it’s okay to do that?”
Me: “No.”
Twin #2: *on the phone* “..You think you could roll back the odometer about 5,000 miles…”
Twin #1: “Well, it was God who said lying and stealing are wrong, man. It’s right there in the Bible.”
Twin #2: *on the phone* “…Yeah, I know. But I’ve got somebody coming out to look at it and he said he didn’t want it if it was too used…”
Twin #1: “So you KNOW that stuff like killing and raping and lying and stealing and being a racist and all that stuff is wrong. How do you explain how that’s wrong without God?”
Twin #2: *on the phone* “…Oh yeah, you think you could paint over the rust on the brakes and the engine block, too? I’m pretty sure I could get at least two grand more out of this guy…”
Twin #1: “God is righteous, [my name]. He’s going to punish people for doing all that stuff. You don’t want to go to Hell, do you?”
Twin #2: *on the phone* “…Also, I think the front tire has a hole in it. No, no, don’t patch it. Just put more air in it. It only has to look full until the guy buys it…”
Me: “Wait, wait, wait. Are you guys listening to each other here?”
Both Twins: “What do you mean?”