I have noticed many things that are taught by Christians (or those who claim to be Christians) that are, at best, not supported by Scripture. And at worse, contrary to what the Bible says. Today, we're going to focus on things that the fundamentalists (of which I once was, and still am to some degree) get wrong. I am hoping to list every single lie that is believed by fundamentalists, and which is specific to fundamentalist doctrine. But to end on a positive note, I also hope to list every single true thing that is believed by fundamentalists, and which is specific to fundamentalist doctrine. And these will be very brief summaries as each one could be a blog post in and of itself. Also, since I will not edit a blog post after it has been published, if I miss anything here, there probably will eventually be a part 2.
The Lie | The Truth |
---|---|
The Bible is [literally] the word of God/written word of God. | The Bible contains the written word of God, but it not literally the word of God. |
The Bible claims to be the word of God. | The Bible makes no such claims. |
The Bible claims to be inerrant. | |
You can either trust the whole Bible or none of it. | There is no reason to treat the Bible as an "all or nothing" book. |
The Bible has no contradictions. | There are some contradictions, but very few in number. |
"Scripture" in the Bible refers to the whole Bible. | "Scripture" in the Bible refers to a subset of "Old Testament" writings (namely the Law and the Prophets), except for 2 Peter 3:16, where it also refers to Paul's epistles. |
The Bible should be taken literally. [not all fundamentalists teach this] | Not everything in the Bible is meant to be taken literally. |
It's in the Bible, therefore it's the word of God. | Circular reasoning. Besides, not every book in the Bible claims to be the word of God, nor are given such attribution by other books in the Bible. Being the "word of God" was never a requirement for inclusion in the Bible. |
It doesn't belong in the Bible because it's not the word of God. | |
"Scripture" and "the written word of God" are the same thing. | Not all Scripture is the "written word of God", nor is all "scripture" [literally "writings"] in the Bible directly attributed to God. |
Every word in the Bible was dictated by God. | There are many places where this is true, such as where God is telling Moses or another prophet what to tell the people. But there are many places where this is not only false, but would be useless to us if it were true. |
Rejecting one book in the Bible will lead to rejecting the whole Bible. | This is only true for those who bought the lie that the Bible is an "all or nothing" book. Otherwise, there wouldn't be people who believe that Paul is a deceiver while simultaneously believing Jesus is the Messiah and the other apostles were legit. |
All books in the Bible have equal authority. | There is a hierarchy of authority in the Bible starting with Torah at the top, followed by the Prophets, then everything else. |
Not believing all of the above is compromising God's word with man's words. | All of the above claims are man's words. |
It is now morally necessary to wear clothes because of sin. | God never gave any such mandate or moral obligation. |
The laws against incest were given out of necessity. | The laws against incest were put in place to (1) set God's people apart from the nations [Leviticus 18:1-5], and (2) keep all sexual relationships within the bounds of what God intended. |
Sins are only forgivable through a blood sacrifice. | There are many instances in the Bible where God forgave people without a sin offering being presented, notably with David's adultery and murder, and the many times that Jesus forgave people just because of their faith. And there is a sin offering that is just flour [Leviticus 5:11]. |
That should be all of them. Now to end on a positive note, here are all (hopefully) of the fundamentalist claims that are correct, or close enough.
Claim | More Accurate Version (if any) |
---|---|
The Bible should be taken as plainly written. | For the most part, the Bible should be taken as plainly-written. [Hebrew idioms in both OT and NT need to be taken into account.] |
Everything God says is true. | |
Genesis is the foundation of the Gospel Message of Jesus the Messiah. | Genesis, along with the rest of Torah, is the foundation of the Gospel Message of Jesus the Messiah. |
Compromising Genesis compromises the Gospel. | |
The Bible has a 100% prophesy-fulfillment rate. | |
Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died a sinners death to pay for our sins, and rose from the dead on the third day. | Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died a sinners death, and rose from the dead after three days and three nights. |
Jesus is the son of God and is God. | |
Jesus is the Messiah. | |
Jesus is God in the flesh. | |
If you do not believe Moses, you will not believe Jesus. | If you do not believe Moses (which includes obeying him), then you will not believe Jesus. |
It is because of the Fall that we wear clothes. | It is because of the fall that we began to wear clothes. |
God created everything in 6 days and rested on the seventh. | |
Death, disease, and suffering are the result of the Fall, and were non-existent before then. | |
The Flood of Noah literally covered the Earth in water. | |
There is no such thing as "pre-history". | |
Man and dinosaurs were created together and lived together. | |
Living things reproduce after their kind. | |
All people and nations came from Adam through Noah. | |
God created all things "very good". | |
Sin corrupted God's very good creation. | |
Death is the result of sin. |
Don't forget: If you think I missed anything (I probably have) or got something wrong (I probably have), constructive criticism is always welcome on this blog.
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