9 Unbiblical Statements That Bible-Loving
Christians Believe
By Shane Pruitt
One of the greatest gifts that God gave mankind was the Holy Bible
because the Bible is literally God revealing Himself, and
communicating Himself to mankind in written word. Anything and
everything that we know about God comes from these Holy Scriptures,
and they contain the totality of what we need to know about becoming
a Christian, and everything that we need to know about living the
Christian life.
Orthodox Christianity teaches that the Bible was inspired and
authored by the Holy Spirit of God using human instruments. It also
believes that in it’s original languages of Hebrew, Greek, and
Aramaic; it is without error and fault.
However, there are many things that Jesus-following, Church-going,
Bible-believing Christians believe that are completely unbiblical.
How does this happen? Often, we’ll hear someone quote a statement
that sounds nice to us, and we’ll begin repeating it as though it’s
Biblical truth without ever researching it in the Scriptures. Several
of these unbiblical statements have gained enough traction that many
people believe they’re actually Bible verses. Not only are the
statements unbiblical; most of them teach the opposite of what the
Bible teaches.
Here is a list of nine popular unbiblical statements that
Bible-loving Christians tend to believe:
- God helps those who help themselves.
This statement is actually anti-Gospel. Self-reliance and
self-righteousness, or the attitude of trying harder and doing better
actually gets in the way of the work of God. Jesus saves those who
die to themselves:
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone
would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me (Matthew 16:24).”
- God wants me to be happy.
It’s a common belief that God exists to be our “personal
genie” waiting to give us our every wish. It’s amazing how we
will justify our sinful actions by saying, “God just wants me to be
happy.” Happiness is tied to feelings and emotions that are often
based on circumstances, and those change all the time. God wants us
to be obedient to Him, trust Him, and know that everything He does is
for our good, even if it doesn’t make me feel “happy” in that
moment.
“And we know that for those who love God all things
work together for good, for those who are called according to his
purpose (Romans 8:28).”
- We’re all God’s children
Although, God has created everyone. . .not everyone relationally
belongs to Him. Only those who have repented of sin, placed their
faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and possess the Holy
Spirit of God inside of them can claim Him as their Father:
“But
you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry,
“Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God (Romans 8:15b – 16).”
However, those who don’t have Jesus as their Savior, nor have
the Holy Spirit of God inside of them actually belong to Satan:
“And
you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,
following the course of this world, following the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
disobedience (Ephesians 2:1 – 2).” “By this it is evident who
are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:
whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one
who does not love his brother (1 John 3:10).”
- Cleanliness is next to Godliness
The people around you may appreciate you staying clean, but this
is not Scripture. Parents may us this unbiblical statement to
motivate their kids to clean their rooms. However, I’d suggest
using an actual biblical statement:
“Honor your father and your
mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God
is giving you (Exodus 20:12).”
- God won’t give you more than you can handle
Actually, all of life is more than we can handle. The point of
living in a fallen world is not for us to try really hard to carry
our heavy burden, but rather give-up, quit, and surrender to God,
that’s what faith is all about. Every thing is more than I can
handle, but not more than Jesus can handle:
“For we do not want
you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in
Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we
despaired of life itself (2 Corinthians 1:8).” “Come to me, all
who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew
11:28).”
- We all worship the same God
Yes, there is only one true and living God:
“know therefore
today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above
and on the earth beneath; there is no other (Deuteronomy 4:39).”
However, He only accepts worship that comes through Jesus
Christ, not Muhammad, Buddha, Joseph Smith, etc:
“And there is
salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).”
- Bad things happen to good people
Often we place ourselves in the judgment seat of what is good and
bad, or who is good and bad. The most popular way to make that
judgment is by comparison. For example, Bob is a good guy, because he
is not as bad as Sam. However, according to the Bible we’re all on
equal ground because none of us is inherently good:
“as it is
written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10)’.”
- When you die, God gains another angel
Plain and simple. Humans are humans, and angels are angels. This
remains so even in eternity. In fact, angels are intrigued by the
interaction between God and His “image-bearing” humans:
“It
was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you,
in the things that have now been announced to you through those who
preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven,
things into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:12).”
- We’re all going to the same place when we die
There are two possible destinations when we pass: Heaven and Hell.
However, only those who are in Christ will be with Him for all
eternity when they physically die:
“Jesus said to him, “I am
the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me (John 14:6).”
The fact that many of us Christians believe these unbiblical
statements shows our unfortunate overall biblical illiteracy. Instead
of swallowing popular statements hook-line-and-sinker; may we be like
the Bereans in the Book of Acts. When they heard Paul preach, they
wanted to research the Scriptures themselves to authenticate what he
was saying:
“The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away
by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish
synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica;
they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures
daily to see if these things were so (Acts 17:10 – 11).”
What are some more unbiblical statements that you’ve heard
Christians commonly use? Feel free to add to this list by commenting
below!
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