After sorting through ideas and praying about what the next topic should be about, this idea was born: the myths and truths of the Christian faith. Upon observation, there are quite a few misunderstandings. Sadly, most of them are ideas stemming from popular false TV evangelists and public figures such as Joel Olsteen, Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, and the likes. This post includes 5 of the top myths and truths and elaborates on why the Bible is true and without error.
The myth: Christians are without sin once they get saved.
The truth: Every Christian is still a sinner. And by a sinner, I mean the ones that nailed Christ to the cross. There are over 84 scriptures in the Bible that discuss salvation alone and over 105 that reference sin. Paul is very clear in Romans 3 that there is none righteous among the human race due to our fallen nature. I greatly wish we didn't have to deal with sin.
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges skillfully and expertly portrays the pursuit of holiness while on Earth. He further discusses the myths and truths tied around the theology side of the Christian Faith.
"Through our union with Christ in His death we are delivered from the dominion of sin. But we still find sin struggling to gain master over us, as Paul depicted so vividly: 'When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.' (Romans 7:21). We may not like the fact that we have this lifelong struggle with sin, but the more we realize and accept it, the better equipped we will be to deal with it." (Bridges, p. 59).
Below are some of the scripture references that discuss salvation and the fallen sin nature, key points of evidence why the Bible is true and without error due to no contradictory statements.
The Sin Complex
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, English Standard Version.
"Fall all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23-24, ESV.
"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wished to be a friend of the world makes himself and enemy of God." James 4:4, ESV. This verse is easy to quote out of context. James is not stating here that you cannot be an ambassador for Christ in settings such as college or any other secular platform (i.e Jason Lisle, a Christian astrophysicist and creationist who has secular colleagues). What he is referring to is proclaiming to be a Christian and yet have a love of the World's system that promotes abortion, murder, double standards, idol worship, witchcraft, etc.
Making the Difficult Decisions Easy
Below is attached a copy of a lesson held at my church. I have gained permission from the source to add it to the blog. The source has asked to remain anonymous. I hope this explains further the sin nature that Christians still struggle with and how we grow in Christlikeness.Detailed in this lesson are principles that account for the basis for the myths and for the truths as well.
The myth: We can lose our salvation.
The truth: both God's wrath and love are eternal. As a one-time atonement of sin, the wrath of God was fulfilled and the love of God was displayed. This means that every time we sin, we do not need to take him off the cross and re-crucify him. This is the bottom line true meaning of this false doctrine of non-eternal salvation. However, this theology alone has led millions astray and proclaimed a standard that no human can ever amount to. Christianity makes sense when you understand sin, fallen human nature, and the need for a savior. Below are scriptures that discuss salvation.
Salvation Scriptures
"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." John 10:28-30 ESV.
"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." 1 Peter 5:10, ESV.
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." John 3:36, ESV.
Many Christians struggle with the assurance of their faith, but one that doubts whether salvation is eternal also equally doubts the power and holiness of God.
Myth: Good merit alone will grant you treasures and earn you a spot in heaven.
Image used from Unsplash.com
The truth: Without Jesus, we are nothing. For example, take into account the Pharisees. They practiced prayer, rituals, and feasts publically. They wanted credit from the culture instead of God. History repeats itself. If deeds alone could earn us into Heaven, there's no need for Jesus' atonement on the cross or a law. Our deeds are as filthy rags in the presence of the Almighty King who is perfect.
Repentance Scriptures
"To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn!" Isaiah 8:20, ESV.
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:27 ESV.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of the father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'" And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." Matthew 7:21-23, ESV.
The myth: In order to get more numbers in the church, we have to change the message of the Gospel.
The truth: this is an age-old practice even in Biblical times in synagogues. It is also a stumbling block to churches who practice it such as Bethel and Hillsong. Change delivery tactics, not the Gospel. This is also the catalyst for the charismatic movement that has swept through most churches. They reinvent Jesus to fit their mold. The belief is that if you change the Gospel, you'll get more "followers."
In reality, for most churches, it has become about the numbers rather than true inward conversion. Jesus mentioned that not all the crowd following Him were following him for the right motives. When churches change the Gospel, they are altering God's word. Below are scriptures that emphasize this point as well as links to videos. These links expose false Christianity and showcase authentic Christianity, exposing the myths that are rampant from false theologians and the truths that are overlooked in Scripture.
False Teachers
"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." 2 Timothy 4:3-4, ESV.
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1, ESV.
"An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophecy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?" Jeremiah 5:30-31, ESV.
Myth: the Bible has been translated so many times and is no longer valuable.
The truth: this is perhaps one of the most quoted excuses for unbelief. Please note that "translated several times" does not mean "revised several times." Yet, a good majority of the world today believes man's word over God's, and part of it is due to colleges and how people are raised. Applying this to the secular system, every single textbook would have to be thrown out if it was translated so many times. Every single new scientific discovery would have to undermined as it would cancel data. However, let me note that a lot of colleges use textbooks that have been revised. The huge issue in the public school system of K-12 is that they use textbooks made from a man who saw history from the victim, or the supposed victim's point of view, instead of remaining objective.
Textual Evidence
I will agree that not all words from the Hebrew and the Aramaic translate well in the sense that the words used today that were used to originally translate the Bible don't mean the same thing, i.e the word "replenish." This word in Hebrew is the male form of the word and is used in Genesis 1:28. However, the Hebrew word does not mean "replenish."
The word "replenish" was used in the King James Version to mean "to fill," with respect to supply, stock, or habitation. It was first documented to be used in 1612, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (Stacia McKeever, "Contradictions: Full of Meaning: Replenish or Fill?" Answers in Genesis) See this here at
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/12/22/contradictions-full-of-meaning. This automatically disproves the Gap Theory that was proposed by Thomas Chalmers, a Scottish theologian of the Free Church of Scotland. See the following websites:
Answers in Genesis has a segment called "Stop Trusting In Man's Word" where they elaborate on these concepts over the span of 1 hour and 15 minutes. It is currently on PureFlix and may be able to be searched on Google, Bing, or Yahoo.
Historical Evidence
The other issue facing society includes improper teaching aspects such as "separation of church and state." Did you know that this law was made to avoid being like other countries that made religion part of the government where the government was forcing conversion, or being killed on the spot? If you didn't grow up learning that in the public school system, don't worry, I didn't either. It's all part of an agenda being pushed. It wasn't to keep the "church out of the government" like most children grow up believing. That is inevitably false.
The letters written to the bishops of the church were written in response to this law passing. It was to keep the government out of the church! There are no original copies of the Bible, but that doesn't mean there aren't originals of the text or historical accounts. This makes the text reliable.
The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible by Joseph M. Holden and Norman Geisler is an excellent source of information regarding the authenticity of uncovered artifacts. It further maps out the myths and truths in greater detail.
Not by Human Hands Scripture
"All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16, ESV.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." Matthew 5:18, ESV.
"Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1:20-21.
In Closing
Please feel free to leave a comment below if there are any further questions, prayer requests, or topic requests!
God bless!
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