Good advice from the Presbyterians to the Baptists

I am reading the history of the Presbyterians in the United States and came across a great quote that I wish I had been taught in my Baptist schooling.

The Presbyterians were split into two groups (north/south) sort of like the Baptists and were working to reunite, but they were divided over several issues which they needed to come to some kind of agreement upon. As they worked together to resolve their differences (1982-1983) they established "guidelines" for interpreting the Scripture as they sought guidance from it. These guidelines were published by the reunited PC (USA) in 1992. There were eight guidelines. Here is the one that especially caught my attention:

"While a particular text may name a subject with which we are also concerned in the present, the assumption should not be immediately made that the contemporary subject is the same as that addressed in the biblical text or that the circumstances and conditions of the biblical writer and modern interpreter are similar."

Would to God more people realized how critical that guideline is! Well meaning people have ignored or neglected it and caused such terrible errors and misunderstandings!