“God’s purpose is limited by your ability to imagine.” Um no. First of all, as Scripture clearly teaches, nothing can hinder God’s purposes. Consider for example what we find in Isaiah 14:27: “For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” But his purposes are determined by HIS own will and HIS own plans, not ours. 

They are never-ending: various posts, quotes, sayings, memes and the like that are seen everywhere on the social media. Some are good. Some are true. Some are helpful. But some are flat-out wrong, foolish and false. And it is especially the so-called Christian memes and sayings that can be a real worry.

This is my 25th article in this irregular series. That implies that there are plenty of unhelpful and often unbiblical sayings and posts out there. Here I will look at another five of them. They all tend to have SOME truth, but also enough falsehood and error to render them useless – and even dangerous.

“Instead of reading books about the Bible, why don’t you just read the Bible.”

Um, why not both? That would be the short and the obvious answer. I so tire of useless false dichotomies that some Christians toss around. Of course we should read the Bible. But there is nothing amiss in reading Christian literature, theology and commentaries as well which can help us greatly as we seek to read, understand and apply Scripture.

It is only pride and self-righteousness that seeks to put a guilt trip on others who actually benefit greatly from reading books about the Bible. The truth is, the Bible can be difficult to understand at times, and making use of the wisdom and insights of other Christians is certainly of use.

That is exactly why God has given teachers to the Body of Christ. Teaching and teachers are so often discussed and promoted in the Bible. We need each other to move into a fuller and more mature understanding of Christ and his Word. And that is why we also go to church and listen to sermons each Sunday: to help us in our Christian discipleship and our understanding of Scripture.

And Paul himself could speak about how he wanted Timothy to bring his (Paul’s) books when he comes (2 Tim. 4:13). I think we can assume he was not just speaking about various bits and pieces of the Hebrew Bible, but other reading material as well. But I discuss this whole matter elsewhere, eg: billmuehlenberg.com/2017/04/01/perilous-pitfalls-unteachable-spirit/

“All churches should be homeless shelters at night.”

Well, first of all, many are. Many are serving in all sorts of capacities, including feeding the poor and sometimes housing them. But we need to examine this a bit further. First, we must look at what the purpose of the church is. If it were only a social welfare service and provider, then yeah, we could just turn all church buildings into dormitories and the like.

But churches do have a biblical mission: to teach and disciple believers and to corporately worship the living God. That is a major calling of any church. Sure, it can be involved in all sorts of other good works, but often such things are more properly done by what we refer to as parachurch organisations. These are ministries that exist alongside of the church. They can be mercy ministries of various sorts, such as offering help for the homeless, or support for pregnant women looking for a place to stay and not abort their child, and so on.

Thus the church as a whole has always been up to its ears in social good of all kinds.

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