8 Common Myths of the Bible

I have been feeling burdened to write this post for some time now. Mostly because I see everywhere, beliefs that are simply not true, but are SO common. Some beliefs, people don't even realise are against what the Bible tells us. I even see it in some Bible tracks. I see it all over Facebook, when people die, when people go through difficulty. Some of these things, people wouldn't say they don't believe the Bible, but rather just don't know. Some things we are taught from when we are young and some things are just so commonly taught that it's just standard. I want to put to rest, some of these lies.

1. There were three wise men. Around Christmas time, we see all sorts of nativity scenes, even in the church and it's pretty well standard that there are three wise men. I understand that for a scene, it's more practical to only have three characters. However, the belief that there were only three wise men, I cannot say is true. Then again, I cannot say that it's not. Quite simply, we are not told how many wise men there were. We are told of the three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Not to put down any denominations, but the idea of only three wise men came from the Catholic belief because of the three gifts. But because there were only three gifts, does not mean there were only three men. I would be led to believe there were a lot more. If you study up on people in that time period, the wise men were scholars, philosophers, and astrologers. In most cases, every man who was one of these would meet together, kind of like a country club. So I would be more led to believe that there were more than three scholars in that area. But this also leads to another myth that the wise men were at the manger. Not true. Matthew 2:1-12 is the account of the wise men and we are told in verse 11 that they went to a house. We know that Jesus was born in a manger. This would imply that the wise men showed up a bit later. We are also told in this verse that Jesus was a young child, not a baby. I would venture to guess it was maybe two years later or so. We aren't told how old Jesus was so this is merely speculation.
2. We become angels when we die. I can't tell you how many posts or movies I see that say we become angels when we die. This is not someone who took it from the Bible, but simply don't know what the Bible says about it. All throughout the Bible, we are told of angels and told of humans and they are not the same. Angels were actually created before the universe to help God. We know this because we are told in Isaiah 14:12-15 that Lucifer (later, Satan) who we know as the devil, was an angel that rebelled against God and was cast from Heaven before we were even created. As the Bible talks about angels, it is always separate from humans. Angels, in the Bible were always separate beings that were used as messengers from God. We are also told that when Christians die, we go to Heaven and dwell with God in his kingdom, not fly around as angels. (And the Bible never once mentions that angels have wings other than in a symbolic sense). This is shown in Matthew 25:31-32 and this passage also clearly states that angels will dwell with humans, obviously 2 different characters. When non-Christians die, we are told that they go to hell to suffer for eternity. In other words, we do not become angels when we die. (Revelation 21:8)
3. Satan is in charge of Hell. How often do we see in movies, TV shows, cartoons, and comics of Satan standing at a pedestal in Hell, checking in those who enter while God (or St. Peter?) checks those going into Heaven? (By the way, people being checked into Heaven is not true either. I am led to believe when we go to Heaven, we are automatically in the presence of Jesus, dwelling with him, but that's a whole post on it's own.) This is a VERY common belief, but the Bible is very clear that this is not the case! Hell was also created before the universe, not for us, but as an eternal punishment for Satan. This is revealed in Matthew 25:41 when it says "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:". (emphasis added) Satan knows that one day, he will spend eternity there and that is why his sole mission is to drag as many people down with him. This also leads to our next myth...
4. I'll party in Hell with my buddies. I hear this quite often and it is completely false. The Bible describes Hell. Revelation 21:8 describes the "Lake of fire". Matthew 25:46 describes it as an everlasting punishment. Matthew 13:15 describes it as a blazing furnace and describes the torment. We are told in numerous places describing it as dark, lonely, and miserable. You won't be able to party with your buddies because you will be alone. You may hear others' with their blood-curdling screams (along with your own), but will not see anyone. You will be in complete, dark loneliness burning for all eternity, crawling with worm eating your body for all eternity. No party there.
5. Everyone will be judged together. While we are talking about Hell and judgment, lets talk about a myth about judgment. I see all the time, comics showing sinner and Christians, both before God. God pulls out the Book of Life and says, "You're in here, you go to Heaven. You're not in here, you go to hell." That is not true either. There are two distinctly different judgments. Yes, we are told in 2 Chorinthians 5:10 that we are all to be judged and in Hebrews 9:27 says we will all be judged, but they are different judgments. Revelation 20:11-15 describes the Great White Throne judgment where all sinners stand before God and are shown their sins. From there, they are sentenced to eternity in the lake of fire based on their sins. Romans 14:10-12 describes a completely different judgment. When we read of the Great White Throne, we read of death and despair for the sinner, but when we read of the Judgment Seat of Christ, we see a great picture of everyone worshipping God and giving their account of what they did for God. And it is here that Christians are given their rewards and their position in Heaven. The judgment for Christians happen immediately after the rapture, or second coming of Christ. But at this time, sinners still reside in Hell when they are dead and the live sinners continue on earth. It's at the very end that the sinners are judged.
6. We are all shown our sins at the judgment. When I was kid, I was always afraid that at the judgment, we would be shown our sins and everyone would be able to see my thoughts and actions from my entire life. This is true, but depending on your status with God. The unsaved (sinners) are shown their sins and are sentenced to Hell based on all of their sins from their life. These sins are shown for everyone to see. (Matthew 12:36-37, Revelation 20:11-15). But for Christians, it will be different. I won't give you every verse pertaining to salvation (you can look that up on your own), but the whole concept of salvation is that our sins are washed away and erased. Jesus takes our sins from us when we accept him and because of that, we have no sins to account for on judgment day. If we did, our sins would not have been forgiven and we would go to Hell. But the Holy Spirit seals us unto salvation, erasing our sins (2Timothy1:12). Romans 5:1-2 tells us we can have peace when we die because our sins are not held over us. 1 John 2:1-2 tells us that Jesus stands in place of our sins. And because we have no sins to account for (because of God's forgiveness), we will not be shown our sins. However, we will be accountable to what we have done for Christ. God give us gifts and opportunities and we will have to account for how we used those. That is how we are given our rewards. The Christians' judgments is also known as the Beme Seat. This is a term used for the ancient Olympics as the pedestal where contestants are awarded. They are not scolded for what they did wrong. This is the same concept for our judgment. This is all summed up in Ezekiel 18:22.
7. Demons vs. Ghosts. This is a very controversial subject. It seems like nowadays, ghosts are a huge topic and the belief is that there is a difference between ghosts demons. Ghosts are people who died but "have not yet crossed over to the other side" and demons are "evil creatures who haunt and mean to cause harm". To be honest, I cannot show a verse saying there is a difference because it does not exist. But we are told, as you can see above, that when Christians die, we go straight to paradise, or Heaven. When non-Christians die, they go to a place called Hell, or Hades, to await their sentence to the eternal lake of fire. God does not make mistakes and get someone "stuck" in the middle. The Bible is very clear that when we die, we go to one of two places. God is a just God and if someone is unsaved, they go to Hell as promised, not wait around for a live relative to make recompense. Again, not to put down any denomination, but the Catholic belief in purgatory is where this comes into play. But quite simply, the Bible does not support this. The only alternative is that the only supernatural beings we encounter are either angels or demons, which is heavily supported in the Bible. Angels are used by God as messenger and to fight demons (fallen angels that followed Lucifer) in the supernatural world. That means that these "ghosts" are really demons. The idea of ghosts is to inflict fear and only demons do that. The role the demon is playing could be viewed as innocent (ghost) or as hostile, but they are demons nonetheless and are not harmless. When people "speak to the dead" as mediums, they are speaking with demons. Supernatural beings cannot be controlled by humans. They have spent thousands of years watching humans and know how to manipulate us. (That is how they can play off to be a person's relative when a medium talks to them). Satan is known as the master of all lies and the illusion that there is a difference between ghosts and demons is simply a lie Satan has led people to believe. People may argue that ghosts look like people and demons look like evil characters, but demons can look like whatever they want. Demons were once beautiful angels so the belief that they look evil is invalid. Lucifer was actually one of the head angels (with Michael and Gabriel), but can make his appearance to us as what ever he wants. That's why evil music (or even sex outside of marriage) looks glamorous because Satan is master of illusion and can make evil look good and good look evil.
8. He's in a better place now. I work in a field where I see a lot of death and I always refrain from using this phrase. Why? Because it may not be true. This kind of goes back to the myth that we become angels. Simply put, if you die a believer, you go to Heaven. If you die a sinner, you go to Hell. If the person was not a believer and never asked God for forgiveness, they are in Hell, not a better place and not an angel. There is an accurate phrase that says, "For Christians, this world is the closest we will come to Hell. For sinners, this world is the closest they will come to Heaven."

There are obviously countless myths that can be refuted that we simply can't cover in one post. But I want this to make you think. I want you to examine everything you have been told and look to the Bible for yourself. There is really no excuse because of the endless sources of online concordances. As I mentioned, I do not intend to offend any denomination. I am simply showing you the truth that the Bible (God's Word, not man's belief in a denomination) tells to us.