Addressing Common Misconceptions About Christianity

Christmas, Bible Errors, Church Preferences, and More!

The advent of the internet has brought great successess and terrifying new fears. One of which is easily accessible information. When stewarded well, this can be a great help to society and human flourishing. When NOT stewarded well, it leads to lies, misinformation, and misconceptions spreading like wildfire across a dry plain.¹

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I want to take time on this article to address common misconceptions that I have heard in person or on the internet about Christianity. In our new age, we have to understand not just what we belive but why! Charles Spurgeon is quoted in saying, “Discernment is not deciding between what is right and wrong. Often times, that is easy. Discernment is being able to choose between what is right and ALMOST right”. In an age of misinformation, we have to be able to distinguish between what is right and ALMOST right. In an age of bright lights pulling us every direction, we have to known what is true.

DISCLAIMER - This is a “Quick Hits” style article. It will not say everything you want, but it will say basic information to spark interest, prepare defense, and give understanding.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS:

+ Christmas is on a pagen holiday, so we shouldn’t celebrate it.

I heard this one at Walmart yesterday. These indivduals used Daniel 7:25 to argue that Satan has tricked us into worshipping on a Pagan holiday. While there is evidence of two Pagan holidays around December 25th, there is no Scriptural evidence against celebrating on the same day as a Pagan holiday. This is simply because what you worship is more important than when you worship. You can praise God on Muhammad’s birthday as long as you aren’t praising Muhammad!

So how did we get December 25th? Some people think it was a Christian rebranding of the Pagan holidays. Maybe. God does like to redeem broken things for His glory. There is evidence that early Jewish culture thought great prophets would die on the day they were conceived. With this information, Jesus was believed to die on March 25th - which would mean He was suppossedly conceived on this date. Therefore, nine months later Jesus would have been born on December 25th.²

Once again, we don’t KNOW that Jesus was born on December 25th. But Christmas isn’t about knowing the date. It is about setting aside a time and season to remember how Jesus came into our broken world on the mission of redeeming His people and bringing the kingdom of God near. This is why many churches do Advent. It is setting aside time to remember just like Communion or Baptism. So on December 25th, worship Jesus! Remember His birth, life, death, and resurrection! Then wake up on December 26th, and do it again!

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+ The Sabbath is on Saturday, so we should worship on that day.

Some Denominations believe that faithful Christians must worship on Saturday as this was the practice of Jesus and the Apostles. In short, the Sabbath was a time for rest - instituted by God on the seventh day. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people were to (in an act of faith) stop working on the seventh day of the week. This was Saturday. They were saying, “We can do more in six days with God than seven days without Him'“. It was an act of faith.³

Jesus then reminds us that the Sabbath is for man NOT man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was to be a day of rest so we can work not just from work. Jesus then reminds us that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. Upon the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are to come to Jesus for the eternal rest of our souls. In an act of faith, I bring all my burdens, sorrows, hurts, and more to Jesus who takes them because His yoke is light.⁴

Therefore, Jesus came to fulfill the law NOT abolish it. We are to continue to find our Sabbath rest. We are just to find it in the person of Jesus rather than the day of the week. You should rest. You should daily rest in the finished work of Jesus.

So why do we worship on Sunday? Sunday was the day of the resurrection which is the most important aspect of the Christian faith. Early Christians worshipped on this day to remind themselves and the world of the resurrected Jesus. There is Biblical support for worshipping on Sunday such as Acts 20:7 or early second century church father such as Ignatius and Justin Martyr described Christians meeting on Sunday.

+ The Bible has mistakes, so it can’t be trusted.

This comes to the topic of inerrancy and infalliable. In short, inerranct means “when the facts are known, Scriptures in their original autographs and properly interpreted will be shown to be wholly true in everything they affirm”.⁵ Infalliable means “It can’t lead us into error”.⁶ Therefore, Scripture is true in substance and what it teaches. SO when someone gets into claims of mistakes or errors in the Bible, we have to understand what is a mistake. Here are some examples to help guide us:

One example: When someone ask me how hold I am, I round down to my nearest birthday. I don’t say “I am 29 years old and 27 days.” I just say “I am 29”. Does than mean I am wrong? Of course not. Therefore, there is space for precision to be left off and still holding something as true.⁷

Another example: If I am in class and my neighbor student missed the previous lecture, they might ask “What did I miss?” I would respond, “You missed the lesson on subtraction.” Now, did I include everything that individual missed? No. Was I wrong in what I said? No. There is space to quote someone or something to get the point across not necessarily being perfectly precise.

One last example: Say I read a book that was 398 pages. When someone ask me “How long is that book?” I say around 400 pages. Am I wrong? Of course not. I am allowing space for small lack of precision because of the social setting. This number gives a reliable estimate to get the point across - it is a real book and longer than the average book.

Now, if I were submitting a book to be published, I would need to be very specific about the number of pages for the contract.The Bible is the same way. The small precision difference would not make the Biblical statements untrue. While at the same time, where the Bible needs to be specifically precise (such as prophecies and Jesus), it is adequately and overly precise.

A Biblical example I have seen is 2 Samuel 24:1–9 vs. 1 Chronicles 21:1–6 where the census number don’t add up: one says 800,000 and the other says 1,100,000. An answer could be copyist error. Another is quoted as, “he number of men of valor who drew the sword was 800,000, but did not include the standing army of 288,000 described in 1 Chronicles 27:1–15, or the 12,000 specifically attached to Jerusalem described in 2 Chronicles 1:14. Including these figures gives the grand total of 1,100,000 men of valor who composed the entire army of the men of Israel. The figure of 470,000 in 1 Chronicles 21 did not include the 30,000 men of the standing army of Judah mentioned in 2 Samuel 6:1.”⁸ Just because at the surface level the numbers don’t add up, doesn’t mean there is a mistake.

There are commonly allowed “lack of precisions” that would have been understood by the original audience. It should give us more hope in the Scriptures because they are real! They were really written by real people at a real time with real context.

Most of what TikTok calls “Biblical mistakes” can be explained by the social context and precision argument. According to Scripture itself, it is “God-breathed” “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training” “perfect” and “true”.⁹ Therefore, if it is from God and His word, it is perfect, good, and trustworthy.

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+ Jesus is one of many ways to eternal life.

The old metaphor I have heard countless times is “we are all on the same mountain - climbing our own trails - and when we get to the top, we will all see we were worshipping the same God from different perspectives.” The only problem is the logical fallacy of “religious unity”. This simply means: religions with contrary beliefs can’t all be true.

The greatest problem with this claim is the exclusivity of Jesus. Jesus was clear that He was God by His nature, actions, and redemption ability.¹⁰ Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 emphasis added). Jesus say, “the gate is narrow and those who follow it will be few (Matthew 7:13-14).

So the problem is clear - Jesus claimed to be God. Islam claims Jesus was simply a good prophet. Mormonism claim that Jesus saved us unto our good works. And these are just the disagreements on Jesus. This doesn’t include hinduism, New Age spirituallity, or atheistic claims. They can’t all be right. Every religion is exclusive to an extent. You have to put your eggs into some basket of whose religion is true.

+ Mormons are Christians just like us (Protestants).

This is worth clarifying since I mentioned the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or LDS or Mormons above. If you are a Christian and have met a Mormon missionary or church member, they likely have started the conversation with how they are similary. They say, “we believe we are saved by grace through faith. We believe Jesus is the only way to Heaven. We believe in the Bible.” And it all sounds good…… on the surface.

With Mormons, we have to define terms. What do they mean by grace? What does they mean by Salvation? What do they believe specifically about the Bible?

As you listen you will realize, they do, in fact, NOT believe the same as Protestant Christian especially in the Scriptures, salvation by grace NOT works (such as good deeds, baptism, etc), and their view of the church. I won’t do much deeper if/when you find yourself talking to a Mormon focus and ask deep clarifying questions about these above topics. You will quickly find they don’t believe the same as Protestant Christians.

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+ My Church Has To Be The Perfect Fit For Me.

We have spent a great amount of time outside the Church, so let us focus in deeply on the church. I have seen Christians who have elevated preferences above unity in the church. Let us start with Christian triage - this is the ability to differientate between first, second, and third tier issues in the church.

Example: The good news of Jesus Christ as the only way for lost rebellious sinners to be made right with God all as His gracious gift to us not earned by humans in any way is a first tier issue. If we can’t agree on this, we can’t agree on anything that follows. Second Tier issue could be leadership roles in the church for men and women. We may not agree, but we can be in communion and fellowship with one another across denominations. Third Tier issue could be as simple as what songs are played in a church service. Christians within a deep fellowship can disagree and move forward in unity. In short, outside of first tier issues, we can have fellowship across disagreements. We are seeking unity NOT uniformity.¹¹

I have seen many Christians elevate Third Tier issues to First Tier issues and left churches over simple preferences. The church is not to be specifically and perfectly catered to you. It is to be made up of many different members from many different races, socioeconomic statutes, jobs, talents, thoughts, and ideas under the common mission of the local church - to make disciples! We are to be like a body that needs all the different parts to function rightly.¹² If we are all the same eye, we won’t be good at talking. If we are all the same foot, we won’t be good at catching. We need diversity.

The question shouldn’t be “when can I leave?”. The question should be “Why wouldn’t I stay?”

Prologue: Obviously, there is a time and place to leave if your church makes major First Tier doctrinal drifts or shifts such as adding works to salvation, the sufficency of Scripture, attacks upon Jesus life, work, ministry, and resurrection or departure from the Trinity. Please leave.

In my experience, most people leave because the preaching isn’t as good as their favorite mega-pastor online.¹³ Most people leave because the worship doesn’t sing the songs they like. Most people leave because the carpet changed colors. These are all preferences. And all likelyhood, many (not all) people leave because they don’t feel seen. Our culture has created an “affirmation” culture that bleeds into the church. If we don’t preach how and what I want, sing how and what I want, talk about how and what I want, then I need to find a better fit for me - this is a dangerous game because it tetters on the line of saying, “the church has to be about ME not Jesus.”

+ The Old Testament and the New Testament Seem To Have Two Different Gods.

This was the question of my early years as a Christian. Everyone seemed to be talking about how the Bible was two different stories that seemed to depict two different Gods. At the core, the argument presents that the God of the Old Testament is a blood, thirsty tyrant. While Jesus is the New Testament God who is loving and kind.

First, the Bible is one singular story about one singular God who doesn’t change. The Old Testament was revealing to us what we were to look for. All the festivals, laws, sacrifices, temples, and people were pointing foreword or foreshadowing a future person and event.¹⁴ Therefore, if we read the Old Testament in isolation, we will miss the purpose of it.

Second, Jesus is fully God and a member of the Trinity as is the Father and Holy Spirit. If Jesus were in contradiction to the Father and/or the Holy Spirit, God would cease to be the God as revealed in the Scriptures. I have heard it said, “If you want to see what God is like, look at Jesus”. Therefore, if Jesus is loving, kind, and gracious so is God the Father and so is the Holy Spirit.

Third, judgement is a common theme throughout the Bible. We like to cherry pick out the hard passages in the Old Testament and overlook the judgement passages in the New Testament. Jesus spoke of judgement many times such as Matthew 13:40-43, Matthew 25:31-46, John 5:28-29, and Matthew 23:33-36. The Old Testament has some hard passages. But the theme of judgement is not exclusive to the Old Testament. Just as the themes of grace, mercy, and kindness aren’t exclusive to the New Testament such as Exodus 34:6-7, Lamentation 3:22-23, Isaiah 55:7, and Exodus 20:6.

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CONCLUSION:

These are quick bits that can help the average Christian find their place in common conversations. The answers are short and sweet for a reason. The reason is for you to begin the process of digging deeper. The heart of this article was born out of a conversation that was trust upon me in Walmart yesterday. Many of these topics we covered as discussed what it means to truly be a Christian. Some of them are simple bits I have seen from Instagram, Facebook, and I am sure are rampant on TikTok.

Begin the process of defending your faith by first understanding your faith. If Jesus says, “I am the Truth”, we should with confidence pursue Him and find more and more the riches of His loving kindness.

PS - What other common questions do you hear? Leave a comment if there is a part two in the future, I would love to address more of what people are specifically hearing.

1. Even more so with the invention of AI especially when used for deepfakes and other problematic creations.

2. For more on this listen Lee Strobel’s Case for Christmas episode on Becoming Something Podcast or read his book “Case for Christmas”.

3. Pastor Joby Martin has said this so well.

4. See Mark 2:27, Hebrews 4, and Matthew 11:30

5. Wellum, Stephen. Systematic Theology: From Canon to Concept”. B&H Academic, 2023. pp. 314.

6. This are overly simplicistic - see Wellums, Systematic Theology Chapter 9 OR Justin Taylor’s Inerrancy and Infalliablity: Truth Claims and Precision on TGC.org.

7. See Justin Taylor’s article listed above.

8. See https://defendinginerrancy.com/bible-solutions/2_Samuel_24.9.php

9. See 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalm 19:7-9, Psalm 119:60.

10. See the I AM claims such as John 8:58 that echo Exodus 3:14 OR the ability to forgive sins such as Mark 2:5-12.

11. This is not my quote. I have heard it from many pastors and theologians. It is very helpful!

12. See 1 Corinthians 12.

13. See my article “What to do after your pastor preaches a bad sermon?” for more.

14. The theological term is “typology” - See James Hamilton’s work “Typology” for more detail and examples.