I Never Said That!
You may recall from an article I wrote called Show Me that there are many things people think are necessary for practicing Christianity that the Bible never orders or even suggests. But even if we throw off the trappings of Churchianity, some groundless assumptions can still remain.
Many things Christians believe are extrapolated from very little scripture. And it is these extrapolations, sometimes stretched to absurdity, that divide believers. Now this is not to say that there aren’t any gray areas, or that we can’t make allowances for differences of opinion (which may also serve the purpose of testing our attitudes toward those we disagree with). But instead of spinning our wheels on the same basic Bible stories, why not use the time to actually “look under the hood” of our personal convictions and examine them in the light of what God has actually told us?
So here is another list of things people typically assume are true, but are either not in the Bible or are highly disputable.
- Adam’s sin caused the death of man’s spirit
- there is such a thing as a “sin nature”
- men are to rule over women in every sphere of life
- Christian men are to rule over other Christian men
- the scriptures can be called allegorical wherever we choose
- we are to take over various areas controlled by demons
- God punishes people for doing things he forced them to do
- there is something called a “sinner’s prayer”
- Jesus will return after we create a “Christian” kingdom here on earth