Yesterday, I worshipped at Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas. I heard the Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ preach “Everything Happens for a Reason” as part of the Cathedral’s current sermon series: The Bible Doesn’t Say That.
The two earlier messages in this series are
- You’ve Got to Forgive and Forget
- Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin
And, the remaining message will be “God Won’t Give You More Than You Can Handle.”
Not in My Bible
During my years of pastoral ministry, I lost count of how many times I heard someone offer unhelpful advice to another person using what they wrongly claimed was biblical wisdom.
Back in 2011, I blogged about this topic. In that post, I shared a list that included
- God helps those who help themselves.
- Cleanliness is next to godliness.
- This, too, shall pass.
Jesus Didn’t Say That
To try to get a better sense of just how common these sayings are, and whether or not they represent the most popular unhelpful advice masquerading as biblical wisdom I asked a few friends to weigh in with their experiences. I stopped this inquiry after receiving more feedback than expected from my initial conversations.
From that exercise, I offer two additions to the growing list:
- Name it and claim it (God wills that all of God’s people will prosper financially)
- To be a good Christian you must be a great American (Christianity and nationalism are necessarily linked)
So What?
Many of the items on the list above and many others you have likely called to mind while reading this post have caused considerable harm. While we cannot undo that harm, we must commit to doing our part to educate others. We cannot remain silent when utterances like these are made in our presence.
The more I experience Christianity the more empowering and life-giving I find the Way of Jesus to be. I’m happy to share my story, and hope you will tell part of yours even and perhaps especially when conversing with someone who drops one of these un-Christian aphorisms.
- Share your experience with one of the sayings listed in this post.
- Add one (or more) sayings to the list.
- Suggest an additional way of responding when someone voices one of these sayings in your presence.