“God makes Christians sick in order to teach them something.”

Is it true? No.

This teaching/belief is often paired with one that says that God wants Christians to suffer. The confusion so often comes in when people read in the New Testament of the testing, character building and correction God brings about through our suffering. However, to equate this with sickness or everyday difficulties of life is to remove it from its context. The context of every New Testament reference to needed or “beneficial” suffering is that of suffering for Jesus’ name’s sake.

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. Hebrews 10:32-34

Read some accounts of Christian martyrs through the ages, of Christians imprisoned in the former Soviet Union and even today in China, to see the difference. (You can contact me for places to read these stories.)

Nowhere does the Bible, Old Testament or New, command wives to obey their husbands.

Sarah was commended for obeying Abraham but never commanded; it was her choice. (1 Peter 3:6) However God commanded Abraham to “listen to whatever Sarah tells you” i.e., do what she says, in regard to Hagar. (Genesis 21:12)

Instead, wives are told to submit to their husbands, which means to “voluntarily come under” with the idea of working together for a common cause. (Ephesians 5:22) Interestingly, all Christians are to “submit to one another”—that includes husbands submitting to wives. (Ephesians 5:21)

“Do all you can do and when you’ve done all you can do, God will take over.”

`For in him we live and move and have our being.’ Acts 17:28

Jesus did nothing, said nothing on his own; everything came from his Father. (John 12:49) It’s not a question of our trying with all our might—us, then God, but God working in us, through us and around us from the start. Why waste time and effort since time is so short? That is not at all to say that we are to sit around and do nothing, but we are to be obedient and bear fruit (deeds)!

“He’s too heavenly minded to be any earthly good.” This one is based on the false premise that to be spiritual is to be aloof, distracted and isolated. Jesus was none of those and you’ll never find anyone more heavenly minded or spiritual. He was always fully present and full of action, “making a difference” in the lives of people around him. Those who are “heavenly minded” do the most good on earth. The key is obedience to Jesus’ commands, not being less heavenly minded.

“You have to add common sense to your spirituality—you’ve got to be practical.”
If common sense is common why is it so uncommon? The slightest observation shows that (good) sense is often lacking in the general population, though the definition varies by the observer. That which is often assumed to be inborn, instead has to be taught. Think of it, we have to be taught such basic things as walking and talking, so how are we supposed to automatically know how to fix things or make good decisions (for example)?

Suppose that we substitute the word “pragmatism”, meaning “practical, testing the results of all concepts by their practical results” (Webster’s New World Dictionary), which seems to be the purpose of this saying. To insist that spirituality isn’t enough alone and must have pragmatism added to it is to compartmentalize God and his life and power; it’s to say, “God can handle only certain parts of my life but I have to appeal to human nature for the rest”.

As followers of Jesus, we are to obey everything that he commanded (Matthew 28:20) and walk in his steps (1 Peter 2:21) whether it is convenient or seems practical—or not. We’re not given any other choice.

“Never pray for patience or bad things will happen in order to build your patience.”

Is it true? No.

God definitely expects us to be patient, so much so that patience is part of the fruit of the Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:22

Life is full of patience-trying situations and people already! There are plenty of opportunities to exercise that which is supposed to be active in our lives including self-control and the leaving behind of our sinful nature. (Fruit in the Bible represents deeds.) We do absolutely need his strength and power to behave as he has commanded us. So pray, but rather than praying for patience we would do better to pray for strength and focus to do what we already know to do–that is, be obedient. And no, I don’t think bad things will happen as a result of prayer—just a testing and a greater awareness of the need.

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:9,10

Christians were never instructed by Jesus or his disciples to tithe. This teaching came many centuries later with the proof text of Malachi 3:8-11

“You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.” Malachi 3:8-11

The tithe has been reemphasized in the past three or four decades primarily by evangelical pastors and prosperity teachers, who preach adamantly on one hand that we’re saved by grace and that it’s impossible to fulfill the Law of Moses and on the other insist under much threat of curse on personal goods, finances and lives—one even equated it with salvation, that Christians must follow the Law by tithing.

Curiously, this “Christian” version of the tithe in no way resembles the Levitical tithe or the tithe Abraham gave to Melchizedek but is much more demanding. God commanded the Israelites to tithe food not money and to eat it themselves. (Deuteronomy 12:5-7) Only in the third year were they to give it to the Levites, who were to in turn divide it with the “aliens (immigrants), orphans and widows”. (Deuteronomy. 26:12-13)

Christians are never to be put under the Law! Paul had some scathing things to say about those who attempt to put them there and those who allow themselves to be put under the Law. (Read the book of Galatians).
Read more about “tithing” on my Freeing Truths blog:
http://freeingtruths.blogspot.com/search/label/Tithing%20part%201   http://freeingtruths.blogspot.com/search/label/tithing%20part%202
http://freeingtruths.blogspot.com/search/label/Tithing%20part%203

Is it true? No.

Other versions of this adage are “All truth is God’s truth,” “Despoil the Egyptians” meaning make something good out of the bad; “Eat the meat and spit out the bones,” meaning that one should hold on to the good but leave the bad parts behind; or “God can speak to me through anything.” A guy in my Christian youth group claimed, “God can even speak to me even through a Satanist bible.” I wish I’d thought quickly enough to respond, “Right, and he’d say, ‘Put that down!”

But the apostle John said, “no lie comes from the truth”. (1 John 2:21) So how could the truth come from a lie? Jesus, in his warning about false prophets, said, “a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” (Matthew 7:17) He added that people don’t pick grapes from thorn bushes. (Matthew 7:16)

Too many Christians are looking for truth “in all the wrong places,” in thorn bushes instead of looking to Jesus who is “the way and the Truth and the life.” (John 14:5) Why waste time on the false when you can go straight to genuine? (This is not to say that we shouldn’t know what’s going on. I’ll cover this part in another listing.)

Part of the problem is their definition of “truth”, which comes out something like, “whatever works.” Lots of lies “work”—for a time; ask the Roman Emperors, Hitler, even former President Nixon. What they did “worked” for a time but that doesn’t mean they were operating in truth! Jesus spelled out the way to know the truth, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31,32) How much better to be set free than to choke on bones!

Is it true? No.

As one preacher put it, “If you have moderation in all things, that would mean moderation in sin—that it’s okay to sin as long as you didn’t do too much of it and this cannot be!” This saying has nothing to do with the Bible in content or principle!

Instead, Jesus urged the Laodiceans–and us, to be hot or cold (refreshing) and not lukewarm. (Revelation 3:15,16) Our prayers are to be fervent (James 5:16) and persistent (Luke 18:1) and we are to love one another deeply. (1 Peter 4:10)

Jesus was continually behaving in ways that were anything but moderate—healing ALL the sick (Matthew 8:16), and on the Sabbath (Mark 3:2). When he fed the multitudes, he didn’t just feed them a snack but enough to satisfy every one and have a large amount of food left over! (Mark 14:20)

In addition, Paul insisted that there shouldn’t be,“even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed,” (Ephesians 5:3)—no moderation there! He further urged that followers of Jesus are to “ have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness,” (Ephesians 5:8) not even a little bit.

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. (Romans 12:11)

(Fervor: great warmth of emotion. Zeal: intense enthusiasm. Webster’s New World Dictionary)