We have all heard someone who know make these statements. We may be guilty ourselves. Thankfully God is bound by His word, not by our beliefs. Just because you have heard a Christian say it does not make it true. In fact sometimes well meaning Christians get sucked into believing some pretty outrageous things. Here are a few we just need to get out of our vocabulary.
1.) WE'RE ALL GOD'S CHILDREN
Although God has created everyone, not everyone relationally belongs to Him. Only those who have repented of sin, placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and possess the Holy Spirit of God inside of them can claim Him as their Father: “But you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15-16). So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ … If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:26-29, emphasis mine in both verses).
2.) FOLLOW YOUR HEART
While it seems like loving and good advice, it's actually contrary to scripture. This along with similar quips, "follow your instincts" and "trust yourself" are just lies satan has wrapped in a pretty package, so as to further deceive us. Jeremiah said that "the heart of man is deceitful above all, and desperately wicked: who can know it." Jer. 17:9-10 The heart is the seat of the emotions which change day to day and moment by moment. Rather than trusting our own hearts the Bible suggests, " Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways submit to him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 True happiness comes not from following our hearts but from earnestly following Him.
3.) KARMA
More and more people who claim to be Christian refer constantly to Karma. Karma needs to be banned from a Christians vocabulary for a few reasons. It always suggests that you are looking forward to seeing someone in pain, or to get what they deserve. This is contrary to the attitude of forgiveness that Christ commanded us to have. Matthew 6:15 is clear that if we do not forgive others we ourselves will not be forgiven. Karma is not a Christian concept. It is mostly likened to the Biblical law of sowing and reaping. "Be not deceived God is not Mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall He also reap." Karma is a concept from Hinduism, and Buddhism, and locks a person forever into "getting what they deserve". It also leads into they concept of re-incarnation. It is the belief that your Karma now determines the kind of being you will return in, when you return in the next life. The difference in Biblical sowing and reaping, and in Karma, lies in repentance and Grace through Christ. Remember that if a Farmer plants the wrong seed, He can change His mind, till up the wrong seed before it harvests and plant the one He wants. Karma says You always get what you deserve. Grace says that through faith in Christ you can have better than you deserve.
4.) GOD WANTS ME TO BE HAPPY
It’s a common belief that God exists to be our “personal genie” waiting to give us our every wish. It’s amazing how we will justify our sinful actions by saying, “God just wants me to be happy.” Happiness is tied to feelings and emotions that are often based on circumstances, and those change all the time. God wants us to be obedient to Him, trust Him and know that everything He does is for our good, even if it doesn’t make us feel “happy” in that moment. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28)
5.) GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES
This statement is actually anti-Gospel. Obviously God gave us gifts and talents that we’re supposed to use, but self-reliance and self-righteousness, or the attitude of trying harder and doing better actually gets in the way of the work of God. In reality, Jesus saves those who die to themselves: “Then Jesus told His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’” (Matthew 16:24)
6.) GOD GAINED ANOTHER ANGEL
Plain and simple. Humans are humans, and angels are angels. This remains so even in eternity. In fact, angels are intrigued by the interaction between God and His “image-bearing” humans: “It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look” (1 Peter 1:12). The fact that many Christians believe these unbiblical statements shows our unfortunate overall biblical illiteracy. Instead of swallowing popular statements hook-line-and-sinker, may we be like the Bereans in the Book of Acts. When they heard Paul preach, they wanted to research the Scriptures themselves to authenticate what he was saying: “They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:10-11).
7.) GOD NEVER PUTS MORE ON US THAN WE CAN HANDLE
Actually, all of life is more than we can handle. The point of living in a fallen world is not for us to try really hard to carry our heavy burden, but rather realize we can’t do it alone and surrender to God instead. That’s what faith is all about. Everything is more than I can handle, but not more than Jesus can handle: “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself” (2 Corinthians 1:8). “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28)
8.) BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE The sentiment of this makes sense, but if we follow it all the way through, the idea of a good person is very subjective. Often, we place ourselves in the judgment seat of what is good and bad, or who is good and bad. The most popular way to make that judgment is by comparison. For example, Bob is a good guy, because he is not as bad as Sam. However, according to the Bible we’re all on equal ground because none of us is inherently good: “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one’” (Romans 3:10)
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