Have you ever heard a statement made that is claimed to be biblical and thought, “Where is that? Is that really what it says?” Have you then gone to the scripture to look it up? If you haven’t, you should. The only place to seek the truth is to read it, but be mindful that the translations we read are not 100% accurate. None of them. The men who translated the Bible, most would have done so with no ill intent ; however, it was impossible to translate the original Hebrew and Greek into, for example, English, in a one-for-one sort of way because the alphabet would be different and words would not have existed, and even the meanings of words could be different. Do the work ; look it up.

No matter how good you think your understanding is, I can almost guarantee you have heard and believed things thought to be from the Bible that are not in there. It doesn’t matter how good you think your pastor is or how much you trust him. He may also just be repeating these Christian sentiments that are not biblical out of tradition. I’ve been a Christian for over 30 years, and I’ve heard a lot of teaching and preaching in that time, and I’ve also been convicted of things over that time, and sometimes it’s, “Is that really what the Bible says? Where is that?” It’s not only good for you to question what you hear ; you should, and then look for the answer in the scripture , not man.

I’m not going to pretend I know everything ; I don’t. My goal here is not to make you believe me or convince you of my thoughts, feelings , and opinions. My goal is to help you think and ask the questions, but more importantly , to search for the truth so that you may grow in your knowledge and relationship with Christ.

Intro

For the past few years , I’ve been making an effort to study the Bible without any presuppositions; to leave behind most, if not everything, I’ve ever been told the Bible says and what men say it means. I’ve been looking at the words on the pages very differently . Just read it and let it tell you what it says. It’s really not hard to understand or read. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you in your understanding. Ask yourself, if God wanted men to write this, why would He make it so that we couldn’t understand it? Why would He make it so we need this man, that man, that expert, that scholar, or whomever, to tell us what it says?

I’ve been doing Bible study for quite some time, but these last couple of years have led me in a different direction. I imagine what I’m going to write will be a multiple-part study over a course of time, and that many people won’t like what I have to say or even agree with me. It’s okay ; you don’t have to. I’m going to point out some misunderstandings and the truths I’ve found in reading the Bible, and you can decide for yourself. Pay attention when you read or watch anything from anyone, even your pastor , when they make claims about what the scripture says (that includes me) .

Look up the scriptures used and pay attention to how they are used. It’s so important to look at them not just in the context of the surrounding verses, but also in the other chapters, the time period, the audience, etc. Knowing who the writer is speaking to and what was happening is important. Far too often, I see Christians adding ourselves into the scripture ,adding what’s happening in our lives today into the scripture. That is really not how we should be reading it (perhaps another post on this in the future) . I hope you’ll agree or at least be open-minded when I say the Bible isn’t about us ; it’s about Christ , from beginning to end.

I am barely going to scratch the surface here, and please remember I am not here to judge you, to accuse you, or to offend you. This is from my heart, out of compassion for people and my desire that people would seek to know God’s word for what it says. Most of these things will not affect one’s salvation, as that was accomplished at the cross by the Messiah. I may list things you’ve never heard or things you’ve heard many times. The point is to consider what I’m saying and please read the scriptures. Look for future posts on this issue because there will likely be more.

Claims and Truths

1. The Claim : A) Satan put Jesus on the cross or perhaps you think the Jews did, or the Romans. B) He defeated sin on the cross. Some would argue his death “payment” defeats sin.
   • The Truth: A) Jesus laid down his own life for us by the will of the Father; John 10:14-18, John 15:13, John 19:10-11. B) Jesus did not defeat sin, but he defeated death (permanant seperation from God). Sin still exists. Because of his shed blood we can be reconciled to the Father and no other way. Maybe this is nitpicky but it makes a difference to me. What did his death mean? That we can be forgiven of our sins and made righteous through him. Romans 3:21-26, Romans 6:22-23, 1 Corinthians 5:13, Matthew 26:28, Hebrews 9:22. He was the chosen substitute to accomplish this task for us. Isaiah 53:4-6 He did so willingly.
2. The Claim : Jesus beat or whipped people (showing violence) while cleansing the temple.
   • The Truth : This one I’ll be honest may not be very common, as in my 30+ years of being a follower of Christ, I’ve never heard it until the past 5 years. I was truly shocked to hear this description of my Lord. I searched for the explanation and came across that this is something that people do hold to. It’s easily refuted. This claim comes from this passage, John 2:13-16, specifically verse 15 which says, “After making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables.” To be quite frank, claiming this verse says Jesus whipped people is a gross mis-interpretation of scripture and wholly against the person of Christ. There are just far too many examples of Jesus being non-violent to think that he became so in this situation. Take Matthew 10:16-20 , Matthew 5:9 , and Matthew 5:38-39 as just a few. If you are one to have believed this false claim, I implore you to study deep the person of Christ by way of the scripture. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the truth. Jesus was non-violent and that fact is supported by scripture. Proponents of this view have created their own version of Jesus, one who would not be considered a “passivist”. In this way they can justify use of force against another person. This is just not Biblical.
3. The Claim : If you harm a child the Bible says you should have a millstone tied around your neck and drowned.
   • The Truth : This one is another one of those that I am shocked by because read in context the meaning of the scripture is very clear. Yet I’ve heard this several times from a few who call themselves Pastors. They claim Matthew 18:6 makes this claim that if you harm a child you should then have a millstone tied around your neck, or in modern day, that you should be harmed in return. Now I am certainly not advocating for harming children. Far from it. Why I mention this verse is because it’s being used incorrectly and I think Jesus’ point here is important and gets completely overlooked when you use it wrong. I’ve even heard one Pastor use this verse in conjunction with allowing children to participate in events/days like Halloween (and I do no advocate for Halloween either, in fact, my family does not participate). Let’s look at this verse, or rather, this passage. Read Matthew 18. It would be wrong to pull out one verse from this passage where Jesus is answering a question of the disciples. They asked in verse 1 “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”. Jesus responds by what appears to be having a child (from the crowd of followers) come to him and used as a symbol of innocence and humility. He goes on to explain that unless someone would become LIKE that child they would not enter the kingdom. This message carries throughout scripture that the proud would find it difficult or impossible to enter the gate. (James 4:6, Luke 16:19-31) Verse 6 then says, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.” So this is an issue with translation of the original text as well as not paying attention to what is actually happening in this scene, and who Jesus is talking to and what he is trying to convey. Once read in context and understanding of the time it’s obvious Jesus is talking about new believers, or causing a brother (or sister) to sin. It has nothing to do with children or violence. Which does not mean it’s okay to harm children. That is obviously wrong. However, that’s not the context of this verse. Is it important to know the difference? I think so.
4. The Claim : Where 2 or 3 are gathered, Christ is there.
   • The Truth : So this continues off of Matthew 18. And in the future I want to get into more of these types of mis-represented verses. The claim itself may not be false, but how it’s being used, is. Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.” Sure that’s sounds like the claim. But what is the claim? How is it being used? It in my experience is ALWAYS used in conjunction with prayer or church gathering. Is that what Jesus was saying? Was Jesus saying as long as 2 or 3 are gathered in prayer, he’s there? Was he saying as long as 2 or 3 are gathered in church, he’s there? That can’t be. The concept of “church” didn’t even exist then. Raise your hand if your Pastor has used this verse in either or both of these suggestions. How about in group Bible study or group prayer? I’m raising mine. What is Jesus actually saying though? Again, go back and read Matthew 18. The whole thing. This section of this chapter is speaking about offenses between believers; how should we resolve conflicts between the brethren. Look at verses 15 and 16, “¹⁵ “If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. ¹⁶ But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.” It is plainly obvious this is not about gathering together as a church body or for prayer meetings. You can decide if you think this is important. I do.
5. The Claim : Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart to come inside
   • The Truth : This one makes me nuts and it comes from Revelation 3:20 “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” This verse is commonly used as a “salvation” verse to win souls. The claim is that Jesus is waiting for you to open the door to your heart. But what’s the truth? Is Jesus knocking and waiting? The scripture does not make such a claim. So what then is the meaning? Well read the verse in context of the passage, Revelation 3:14-20. This verse is from the letter written to the church of Laodicea. This church is one Jesus, through John, says is lukewarm. They are neither hot or cold in their faith and obedience and seem to have forgotten Christ. They have become useless to the kingdom by leaving Christ out of their lives. Jesus’ message here is calling this church back to him because by not doing so they will not inherit the kingdom. He will spit them out. His desire is to be in full fellowship with believers. This is not a message to unbelievers about salvation. I far too often hear this used that way and things added to it such as “praying Jesus into your heart”. This is not what the Bible says at all. Is this important? Yes. I’ve seen first hand the dangers of telling people this. They are waiting for some feeling inside them and than doubt their salvation. Children are especially affected by this wrong messaging. Jesus does not live in our hearts. Jesus is alive and he sits beside the Father (Mark 16:19-20, Colossians 3:1). When you accept the free gift of life as a result of Jesus bloodshed, the Holy Spirit should move in to your life as your counselor, to convict, and as a helper. If you garner anything from this one verse it should be that this is a reminder, or a warning, that if you claim Jesus yet don’t live for him, Jesus will spit you out, or deny you before the Father. (Matthew 10:33) John 3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

I didn’t even begin to tackle the immense amount claims that when matched up to scripture don’t ring truth. These 5 I did mention, you can dig much deeper into them for your own understanding. I have more of this that I hope to post later. These types of posts take time to study through my notes, scripture and narrow down details so as to not make a post be an hour long read. If you like this content I’d appreciate you sharing with others.

The Christian Standard Bible is the version of the scripture used in my article. https://read.csbible.com

Everything written by the author is in her own words aside from quotes referenced and the author maintains the copywrite