Popular Un-Biblical Sayings and Adages

Last week, I submitted a post about some of my wife’s physical challenges and I made reference to that oft-repeated adage, “If you have your health, you have everything.” Well, as Christians we know that while it’s pleasant to have good health, it’s not the be all to end all. Our physical bodies have a limited shelf-life and as we age, the aches and pains increase and more serious illnesses begin to intrude. That’s obviously a generality. Many children have significant medical challenges. If you have Jesus, you have everything. Health, wealth, and all other temporal circumstances are fleeting.

There are many other sayings and adages that are used within popular American culture that are contrary to the Bible and sometimes, even we believers repeat them. Let’s take a look at a few more:

• “We’re all God’s children” and “We all worship the same God.”

Everyone is God’s creation, but only those who accept Jesus Christ as Savior by faith alone are adopted into God’s family. John 1:12

• “He’s/she’s in a better place now.”

This one is quite popular at funerals, but in most cases the speaker presumes upon a nebulous “better place” that has no Biblical substance. Jesus said most souls are on the road to destruction. Matthew 7:13-14

• “Nice guys finish last.”

The world teaches dog-eat-dog competition, but Jesus taught do unto others. Luke 6:31

• “To thine ownself be true.”

We need to be true to God and His Word, not to our own imperfect ideas and opinions. Proverbs 21:2

• “God helps those who help themselves.”

God certainly doesn’t want us to be lazy, but we should always have a a prayerful awareness that He is Lord and Master and sovereign over all of our circumstances, holding our very next breath in His hand. Psalm 62:5-12

• “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

Only God is good. This is a fallen world and we are all sinners deserving eternal punishment. Repent of your sin and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith alone. Mark 10:18

• “She’s a real saint.”

All of those who repent of sin and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior are saints. The Roman Catholic notion of individuals who are so holy that they were unquestionably able to merit Heaven and were canonized as “saints” is anti-Biblical. 1 Corinthians 1:2

• “What goes around comes around.”

If all of us got what we deserved, we would all go straight to hell, but God is not the god of Hindu karma. The Good News! is “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

• “A man was crossing the street when he was run over by a truck and died. He then walked up to St. Peter at the Pearly Gates…”

The above is a variation of the opening line of many a joke, that presupposes the Roman Catholic teaching that Peter and, by proxy, the pope and the Catholic church, control who enters into Heaven. Jesus Christ is the only Savior! Acts 4:12

• “You only live once.”

An appeal to hedonism. All those who accept Jesus Christ as Savior by faith alone are re-born spiritually and will live with Christ forever. Until the Lord takes us home, we are to devote our lives to serving Him. John 5:24

• “It would be just my luck if…” or “With my luck…”

Luck is not part of a Christian’s reality. Romans 8:28

There you have it, my short-list of un-Biblical adages and sayings. Can you think of any others? I’m certainly not volunteering as Deputy Barney Fife in charge of scrutinizing Christians’ use of popular anti-Biblical adages, but as followers of Jesus Christ, we (I’m including myself) should all be more careful with the words we use.