Published by Both those who read and believe the bible, and those who don’t, regularly misquote several parts of it. There are for some reason, favourite parts of scripture which are generally misquoted or misused. I have laid out seven of them below, the ones which I think best illustrate my point.
Money is the Root of All Evil
It is often said that money is the root of all evil. In fact, this is one of the most notable short “quotes” from the bible that has been converted to everyday use. In 1 Timothy 6:10, it says, “For the love of money is the root of allevil…”
We see that this is very different. One is saying that the object is evil, the other is pointing out that it’s our attitude to that object which can be evil.
Jesus Was in a Stable When Wise Men Came to Visit Him as a Baby
In school plays, and in writings about the birth of Christ, we more often than not hear/read about the wise men visiting Jesus in a stable. This however, is not from the bible.
Matthew 2:11 says that they visited him at a house. Remember that the only reason Mary and Joseph were forced to stay in a stable was because they could find no other accommodation since everyone else was in town for the census. They did not chose to be there, especially with a little baby on the way. It makes sense that they would’ve found alternative accommodation as soon as they could. By the time the wise men came to see them, they had moved their new born to a more comfortable abode. Any parent would.
Jesus Was Born on Christmas Day
If we celebrate Christmas, then we more likely than not, believe in Jesus and the bible which tells about him. If we do believe the bible, it makes sense to take it in its entirety. The bible does not say that Jesus was born on Christmas day, regardless of what the songs and commercial announcements want us to believe.
It is fine to say that Christmas is a day to remember the birth of Christ, or a day we’ve set aside to celebrate his arrival on earth. But it is not accurate to perpetuate the lie to our kids that Jesus was born on Christmas day, because there is no record that this is actually the case. The bible certainly does not give us a specific day, it does not say that he was, nor that he wasn’t. It is widely believed that the Christmas day was a pagan holiday which was converted into what it is today, after the Romans became Catholics.
Jonah Was Swallowed by a Whale
The bible says in Jonah 1:17 that God prepared a big fish to swallow Jonah up, and he was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
Nowhere in the book of Jonah or in any other part of the bible does it say that this fish was a whale. In fact, it is more likely that this fish was not a whale since God prepared it, it could have been a fish that we’ve never seen. It could have been specially prepared so that it had none of the stomach juices which would’ve normally digested food in three days’ time. Why we say the fish was a whale is anyone’s guess.
Everything Happens for the Best for Everyone
We like to give comfort by saying that the bible says that everything works together for good (or happening for the best). That whatever we go through in life, it would work itself out somehow and we would see in the future that whatever happened in the past was actually for our learning, and to build up our perseverance. This is true, but not across the board.
According to the bible Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love the Lord, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
This “things happening for the best” therefore, refers to them that love the lord.
The Sabbath day is Sunday
People who worship on Sunday tend to claim that the “Sabbath Day” of the bible was Sunday. This is completely wrong as the bible clearly says that the seventh day was the Sabbath. (Exodus 20:10)
Sunday is the first day of the week, and Christian worshipers worship on this day because the first Christians did. (Acts 20:7, 1Corinthians 16:1).
This they did because Jesus said to remember his death and resurrection when we come together to break bread. What better day to do it than on the day He was resurrected from the dead. The Sabbath was for the Jews’ worship. The first day of the week (not referred to as the Sabbath at all in the bible) is the day for Christians’ worship.
Three Wise Men?
The bible talks about the wise men, but nowhere does it ever say that there were three of them. Children’s authors and song writers now perpetuate this idea without knowing where it has come from. I think that the world has decided that there were three of them because they brought three different gifts, but we have no idea exactly how many men were there.
Finally, Deuteronomy 29:29 says “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
If one believes by faith, then it is easy to take what is given and wait until the day when more can be revealed to us.
Abdella,
I left mine…….on a couple of comments..
Why do you think the point about Christmas day is interesting?
Harry (see, I can leave it again and again)
Jesus guys! Get over it, it\’s only a bloody novel… you don\’t see any websites devoted to Roald Dahl misquotes!
Romans 14:5
One person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.
Roberta
Collossians 2:16
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
How about the one: misquote “you’ll know the truth and the truth will set you free?”
When Jesus said: IF you contine in MY WORD then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31.
this is good but we might have to search the Bible because evening and morning is the first day… and he had had to rose to our saturday evening which will be the Jewish frist day… the entire calender system is different… Sunday worship was brought in by the Roman Catholics
Roberta,
I appreciate your time to post these scriptures….However, they really have nothing to do with our discussion concerning the Sabbath of the Lord our God…You are correct…We should not judge anyone over, well, just about anything….These texts do not mean the Sabbath the way you seem to think they do…If I were to ask you how come you “esteem” Sunday over Saturday or any other day, what would be your response….?
I have studied these texts you use for some time now, and yes, the truth will set us free…Using scripture out of context is something that has been around longer than you or I have….Jesus is the truth and He is the one we need to go to….
Kenny is pretty much right on the mark….Folks seem to really get in an uproar about “how do you really know which day is the Sabbath” when in reality, the question could just as easily be “how do you really know which day is the first day”…..Nobody seems to have any issues knowing what day the first day, or the Day of the Sun, is…The Bible tells us in 6 of the 8 places in the New Testament that the first day “began to dawn” after the Sabbath…
Judging our brothers and sisters on anything is wrong…Jesus tells us that in many places in the Bible…However, He does not tell us that He changed anything concerning worship at all, including the day to do so….
Is it important?….Just read Isaiah 14 and Rev. 13 and 14 and you will see how God really feels about worship….Giving Jesus all the praise and glory we have is required of us as His “sheep”…False worship, as Kenny was referring to, is not accepted…Many people forget that Jesus looks on the inside, not the outside…..If we buy fancy new clothes to show off during Christmas and Easter in our local churches, that does not mean we are putting Jesus first in our life…
You are very correct – the truth will set us free and put us, and keep us, on the road to the Master…The Holy Spirit will make sure we get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth if we will take time to compare scripture with scripture and not put anything “man-made” in a place where only God is allowed….
I do have a question though…….If man, and not God, can say that “the first day of the week is now to be considered the Lord’s Day because it is the day He was resurrected on” would it be ok for me to change any of the other 9 commandments?..How about “it is alright to kill someone if they break into your house to protect yourself even though God says “thou shall not kill”…or how about “It is ok to lie to protect my family or job’………or how about “it really does not matter that ‘the church’ has taken away the commandment about not bowing down to idols and seperated the 9th commandment to make them 10 again”….or how about “it is ok to steal a little now and then from the company because we have so little and they have so much…….It just amazes me that some people, and especially churches, feel they have the ability to just change something God has made as if they were equal with Him…
Why is it that people get in an uproar if someone even thinks about changing the other nine commandments and yet they can’t even keep the only one commandment that God said to “remember”?…..Acts 5:29 should be our guide about everything….Read it, and you will know what God really wants for us today and why…
Harry
@ Harry,
I really appreciate all of the scriptures you have put up here in defense of proper Sabbath keeping.
I was wondering, do you also keep God’s Holy Days and reject man’s Christmas and Easter? I know this is not the topic of this thread, but I am curious.
=DJ
Anne, You assume that Jesus rose on Sunday. Yes, He was gone from the tomb by early Sunday morning, but He could have risen on Saturday!!
DJ,
Um, not sure what you mean by “was wondering, do you also keep God’s Holy Days”. If you are referring to the “holy days” of the Mosaic laws that were nailed to the cross, no I do not adhere to them since they were “fulfilled” or done away with when Christ became “THE” sacrifice for all mankind.
I do not observe “Christ-mass” as most people do…There is no mention in the Bible that we are to make any big to do over the day when Christ was born or when He died. I have often wondered why December 25th is celebrated when there is no Biblical reason to do so… As for Easter, well, the same deal with the “missing text” concerning the keeping of his death some way…However, if you would like to see what happens when the people of God do a “sunrise service”, it is in the Bible…The one place it talks about the sunrise service took place with His people looking toward the sun and their backs were facing the Sanctuary…Not too many good words to them about doing that…
Before anyone gets too bent, study will tell you that the time which the Bible speaks of about the birth of Jesus would really be what we call the time between October and November somewhere…It is a fulfillment of prophecy, it was a part of the most crucial last events in the act of salvation itself, as was the resurrection…The asscention into Heaven was a fulfillment of prophecy as well…All of these things were done to prove that Jesus was indeed just who He said He was…
I would think that anyone who wants to “worship” the birth of Christ would surely be able to defend such a thing with Scripture, but alas, there is nothing about Christ-mass or December 25th…However, if one does a search about that date, they will find out that Tammuz, mentioned in the Bible, was supposed to have been born on that date…If you do a search on Tammuz, you will find he was a pagen god…If we have no Scripture to back things up, no matter how many people think it is right, maybe we need to look at why we do these things…In His prayer in the garden, Jesus says “sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth”. My opinion – if it can’t be proven by Scripture, it is not truth…
On a side note, I would like for someone to tell me how to justify “worshiping the birth of Christ” on December the 25th, and then lying to their children about Santa Claus…If I tell my kids that Jesus loves them, lives far away, and gives them what they need, and I tell them Santa loves them, lives far away, and gives them what they want, and they grow up and find out I lied to them about Santa, what do you suppose they are going to think about Jesus?…
Harry
J Foo,
Your typed Anne, “You assume that Jesus rose on Sunday. Yes, He was gone from the tomb by early Sunday morning, but He could have risen on Saturday!!”
I think I would like to see some scriptural proof of this…Each of the the 6 places that talk about the resurrection of Christ in the New Testament, says something like “as the Sabbath was ended, very early in the morning on the first day of the week”…If you understand how God made the days, that is recorded in the book of Genesis, you will find out that His “clock” goes “from even to even”, or, as we would say today, “from evening to evening”…Continuing to search, we find that “from the going down of the sun” is also used…So, if we track time as God did, we see that the Sabbath ended at “the going down of the sun” on the seventh day, and any time after that until “the going down of the sun” on the first day would be considered the first day, or what we now call Sunday…
Yes, this does not say “He rose on the first day of the week”, it does say the tomb was empty, as you are alluding to…However, Jesus said He would be in the grave and after 3 days he would be resurrected. Any time before the first day, since He died and was buried on the sixth day, would not fulfill His “prophecy” of 3 days…
Perhaps you would have more scripture that I could look at…
Harry
Harry,
I appreciate your comments. I don’t know when Christ rose. I always assumed scripture told us it was on the first day of the week, Sunday. As I read the relevant passages, I became convinced that scripture does NOT tell us with certainty. In addition, in Matthew 12:40 Jesus says “For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights”. Bear in mind that Jesus adds importance to his statement in the preceding verse when He says in 12:39 ” An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah”. This is THE sign. Why would Jesus say three days AND three nights when the scrbes and Pharisees demanded a sign from Him, if he didn’t mean three days AND three nights? If He rose on either the seventh day OR the first day, His prophecy would not be fulfilled if He died on the sixth day. I don’t know when He rose, and I’m convinced the timing can not be proven by me or anyone else from scripture. The important thing is that He did rise! The rest is a mystery with the answers obtainable only in Heaven as far as I can tell. Blessings on you!
Why does everyone only talk about 10 commandants when there are a total of 613.
Just in case you would to know deceit is the root of all evil, you see there wasn’t any money in the garden located in the eastern part of Eden. In fact it was a long time before money was invented. The Thou shall not kill, is meant to say Thou Shall Not Kill With Malice, ie out of anger,hatred,envy,rage or jealousy. This is why our laws are first or second degree murder. I have been to war and I did Love my enemy and respect him.
Adam and Eve wer NOT the first people on earth, those created on the 6th day were. and i can prove it. There is sooooo much more.