10 common phrases that reveal ignorance of biblical truth …

Is biblical illiteracy really that bad among professing Christians?

Yes.

Yes it is.

And it’s not just biblical illiteracy among Christians that’s a serious problem, a majority of those professing to be Christians don’t have a biblical worldview and deny core tenets of the Christian faith.

Just a sampling of posts across social media on any given day will often reveal professing Christians posting something they hold to be true, but actually reveals ignorance of biblical truth. Here are just 10 examples of phrases commonly used by Christians today that not only are not true, but are in contradiction to what the Bible teaches:

1. The phrase “my truth” or “your truth.” Inherent in this little snippet of a phrase is the idea that any human being can craft and maintain truth on their own, that we all have our own version of what is true, and that our version is, indeed, true. But we are NOT creators or sources of truth, and just because you might believe something doesn’t make it true. So what is truth? Jesus gave us a couple insights about what truth is:

“Pilate said, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus responded, ‘You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true,'” Matthew 18:37.

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me,'” John 14:6.

The only person who can accurately and rightly use the phrase “my truth” is Jesus Christ!

2. “You’re enough.” No you aren’t. An understanding of biblical truth is that none of us are.

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard,” Romans 3:23.

We are so “not enough” that our lack required God’s intervention if we were to have any hope. The next verse reveals that God did, indeed, intervene so that we can become acceptable in His sight:

“Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood …” Romans 3:24-25a.

3. “I deserve better” or “You deserve better.” American society will tell you that you only deserve good things, if not the best of things! The Bible tells us we’ve all sinned, that we were enemies of God because of our sin, and that we deserve nothing but God’s judgment and wrath. So be careful about tossing around the word “deserve,” you don’t really want what you deserve!

4. “You have to do what makes you happy.” Many people today use this little phrase as the guiding principle in their decision-making — if something makes them happy, it’s good and acceptable, and if it doesn’t make them happy, it’s not acceptable and should be discarded. The problem is that so many find an initial (but limited) happiness with something that is sinful; sin is never acceptable, even if it might momentarily provide a false sense of happiness. The American Declaration of Independence may state that everyone has the right to the “pursuit of happiness,” but the Bible teaches us that it is by delighting in the Lord that we discover a means for happiness (Psalm 37:4).

5. “You have to look out for yourself first.” Some phrase this like, “You have to take care of number one [meaning self] first.” Scripture never teaches that even in our own lives that we are “number one” or should be our own first priority. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too,” Philippians 2:3-4.

6. “I love Jesus but I hate the church.” For some, it’s almost trendy to talk about loving Jesus but hating the church, which is a glaring revelation of ignorance by such people about how much God loves His church, that Jesus is the head of the church, that the church is the bride of Christ, and it’s for that bride that He will return. So you might want to rethink boasting about hating the bride of Christ by digging much more deeply into what the Bible actually teaches about the church and your inseparable part of it if you really belong to Jesus.

7. “Everything happens for a reason.” This is a popular phrase used by Christians and non-Christians, but it’s not something you find in the Bible. Yes, God is sovereign, but that’s not the same thing as this little phrase. The closest scripture in the Bible to this phrase is Romans 8:28, which states, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” That does not mean “everything happens for a reason,” but that whatever happens, or in spite of whatever happens, God can bring that about “… for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

8. “He has good/bad karma.” When I hear a professing Christian say something like this, I wonder if they have any clue they’re referring to something taught in Hinduism and Buddhism and tied into their teaching of reincarnation, but is not part of Christianity and not in the Bible! Many mistake Galatians 6:7, which states, “Don’t be misled — you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.” That may sound similar to a very shallow and uninformed idea of karma, but that is not what karma means. One question: Why would a professing Christian want to attempt to apply teachings from false religions to anyone’s life?!

9. “Love is love.” Not even close! Scripture has much to teach us about love, including this profound truth: “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love,” 1 John 4:7-8. If God is love, to attach love to anything sinful is a serious way of disparaging God Himself.

10. “I believe God would want me to be happy.” Believe it or not, I have most often heard this phrase made just before someone made an empty attempt at defending their desire to practice sexual sin. Yes, God would like us to be happy, but it’s not even close to His top priority for us, which is to be holy people who love Him foremost and obey Him. That makes God happy, and for those who really are His children, that’s the work He is doing in their lives:

“Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him,” Philippians 2:12-13.

So how about you? Does what you think, say, or post reveal biblical truth or ignorance of it?

Scotty