That

As we come to the end of the “That’s NOT in the Bible!” sermon series, I am sad to report that I was not able to include everything Biblical misconception.  I touched upon the topics that I thought were the most important.  Some topics were chosen because of their moral implications and other topics were chose because the Christian imagination has added in details that were never there to begin with.  And to be fair, I chose not to preach on a few topics because there wasn’t enough to say about these mix-ups and misconceptions.  So, here is a list of Honorable Mentions of what is NOT in the Bible:

• “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”
  This phrase is a King James Translation original!  Translation is always difficult. T here is a question of whether you should translate the exact words that are used, or if you should translate the meaning behind those words.  When translating Ecclesiastes 6:9, the KJV translators chose the latter. A better translation reads: “Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite.”’
• Homosexuality
  Did you know that the Bible did not use the word homosexuality until a 1946 translation?  A new documentary discusses this translation choice changed the way we read certain passages and how this change was used to discriminate.  If you want to learn more about this film, go to https://www.1946themovie.com/
• Lesbians!
  To put it bluntly, lesbianism is never mentioned in the Bible one way or another.  Paul states in Romans that a sign of the “fall of man” was that women, “exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural…” (Romans 1:26).  However, what Paul considers “unnatural” is left up to the imagination.
• “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”
  While this phrase may sound like something that comes out of the Book of Proverbs, it actually comes from a 1791 sermon of John Wesley as explained in this article.
• Abortion is a sin/abortion is murder
  Not only is the abortion never named as sin in the bible, (Numbers 5:11-22) describes how a priest is to administer bitter water to a woman who has been unfaithful to her husband.  The result of this bitter water is for her to miscarry if she has been unfaithful, thus terminating the pregnancy.

Maybe next summer I will put together a series called, “I bet you didn’t know THIS was in the Bible” and talk about all the things people don’t realize is a part of scripture; but for now, this list of what is not in the Bible will have to do.
 
Blessings,
Pastor Chris