If you’ve ever been going through a really difficulty time, you may have heard one of the following statements: God won’t give you more than you can handle. God helps those who help themselves. During times of suffering, you’ll be closer to God. This, too, shall pass. We hear them regularly, don’t we? We interactContinue reading “God won’t give you more than you can handle? [False ideas Christians believe about…difficulty. Part 1]”
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Practical suggestions for reading the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 5]
Did you know that a billionaire guy in England has built an amazing state of the art chocolate factory? His chocolate is known for its astoundingly creamy taste, and he attributes this to his unique manufacturing process. No other chocolate factory has anything like it. It is a chocolate river that ends up in aContinue reading “Practical suggestions for reading the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 5]”
Examining the literal approach to reading the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 4]
Did you ever hear the phrase that we need to read the Bible literally? In part 3 of this series we saw that a literal reading of some parts of the Bible leads to very bizarre results. Maybe the concept of reading the Bible literally should mean something else? Take Jesus. Jesus was a masterContinue reading “Examining the literal approach to reading the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 4]”
How genre is vital to the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 3]
We read the instruction manual for our car differently than we will read Shakespeare’s sonnets, right? We read the Declaration of Independence different than we read Huckleberry Finn. As we should. The authors of each of those documents are utilizing different literary genres to accomplish a purpose. Genre is a fancy word that just meansContinue reading “How genre is vital to the Bible [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 3]”
What is the Bible? [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 2]
What is the Bible? “Well, that’s obvious, Joel,” you might say, “the Bible is the Word of God.” Yes, that is the obvious answer, but it is not enough. It is true that the Bible is the Word of God, but it also needs some explanation that we don’t normally think about. As we sawContinue reading “What is the Bible? [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 2]”
The Bible is not the only Word of God [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 1]
Did you know there is another more ancient Word of God than the Bible? Keep reading to learn about it. Last week I started a series in which I am looking at common sayings Christians use and believe, thinking those sayings are biblical, but they are actually false, not in the Bible. OR the sayingsContinue reading “The Bible is not the only Word of God [False ideas Christians believe about…the Bible. Part 1]”
Love the sinner, hate the sin? [False ideas Christians believe about…Sin. Part 5]
Have you ever heard a Christian say, “love the sinner, hate the sin”? We hear that all the time. Maybe you’ve said it yourself. On the surface it sounds really good. We should be a people that love others no matter who they are. What could be wrong with that? If that was all itContinue reading “Love the sinner, hate the sin? [False ideas Christians believe about…Sin. Part 5]”
All sins are not the same? [False ideas Christians believe about…Sin. Part 4]
This week we have been fact-checking Christian statements about sin. In part 3 yesterday we looked at the phrase “all sins are the same.” Today we’re investigating its opposite: sins are different. There is an important sense in which sins are very, very different, and they are not the same. In part 3, we sawContinue reading “All sins are not the same? [False ideas Christians believe about…Sin. Part 4]”
All sins are the same? [False ideas Christians believe about…Sin. Part 3]
This week I’ve started a blog series that will run for 11 weeks, in which we are fact checking ideas that Christians believe that might be totally false or at least partially so. This week we are looking at ideas about sin. Check out the first posts here and here that introduce the series andContinue reading “All sins are the same? [False ideas Christians believe about…Sin. Part 3]”
Attempting to define sin [False ideas Christians believe about…Sin. Part 2]
What are some of the famous phrases that you have heard about sin? Have you heard these phrases before? All sins are the same. No sin is worse than any other. Or it’s contrast, some sins are worse than others. Love the sinner, hate the sin. You might look at that list and think, “ButContinue reading “Attempting to define sin [False ideas Christians believe about…Sin. Part 2]”
Engaging Scripture 