Do We Believe in Myths? ( part 1 )

Many of us probably would say very strongly that we don’t believe in myths but if we looked closer at our beliefs we might find out that our strong held beliefs are based on someone’s ideas or desires, rather than on history, fact and what comes from the word of God. Many of our beliefs have been constructed by what we have been taught rather than from what we have observed. When it comes to biblical beliefs the same holds true.  We have constructed a belief system which was gained from pastors and teachers throughout our lifetime. These people may have taught us the word of God or they could have mixed truth with myth without even realizing it.

As a person that has been in ministry for over 45 years, I have learned that so many professing Christians have a mix of truth and myth which they have accumulated over the years yet they are rarely aware of that mix. They assume what they know is true and reliable until someone comes along and challenges them about their beliefs. In my early 20s, I lived in an apartment complex where two men and I argued every day about what we believe.  When the apartment manager said, “You guys must hate each other with all that arguing!” I explained that it was quite the contrary because we love each other and we want to know if our beliefs hold up to scrutiny.

As a young believer, I devoured the scripture because, although I professed Jesus was my Savior and Lord, I did not know all that it entailed nor how to please the Lord with my life. What I was surprised to discover was that people who had been professing Christians for years had a very mixed up set of strongly held beliefs that, in my mind, were not even in scripture. This discovery forced me to dig deep into scripture without using commentaries and other Christian books to guide me.  Once I had an overview of scripture I went to other authors to see their thoughts and conclusions.

What I have found over years of study is that few Christians start with studying scripture first.  Consequently, they acquire myths mixed with truth that water down or twist the intent of the word of God.

One of the books I started to read as a young Christian was the gospel of Luke. At the very beginning of Luke’s gospel he said he carefully researched the words of Jesus and his ministry and they were reliable. Doctor Luke desired to document what really happened during the life and ministry of Jesus, not just hearsay, so people wouldn’t have a mix of myth and truth in their walk with God.

Luke 1:3-4

Having carefully investigated all of these accounts from the beginning, I have decided to write a careful summary for you, to reassure you of the truth of all you were taught.

Here is the trap that many are in. We live such busy lives that we end up having little time to really study the scriptures. The truth is that we watch hours of TV each week but don’t notice a problem with our priorities, such as studying the word of God.

Consider the early believers just after Jesus was resurrected. These early saints didn’t have TVs or the internet to occupy their lives and they didn’t have all the gadgets and equipment to keep them occupied either. Their energy was dedicated to going to temple to study the word of God because they didn’t have personal bibles to put in their pocket or brief cases. In fact, the New Testament wasn’t even written until around 30 years after the resurrection, when many of the first disciples were starting to die off. Paul and others knew they needed to clarify people’s beliefs or the myths would take over.

The apostle Paul challenged his spiritual son Timothy to stop certain people that were teaching other people myth rather than truth.

1 Timothy 1:3-4

When I left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those who are teaching wrong doctrine. [4] Don’t let people waste time in endless speculation over myths and spiritual pedigrees. For these things only cause arguments; they don’t help people live a life of faith in God.

Even the first century church had to investigate myths that were corrupting the scriptures. So, after 2,000 of Christianity, we might have picked up what I call “HITCHHIKERS” along the way.  I believe that there are far more distorted views of our faith mixed in with our beliefs than we care to admit. All too often I encounter people who spout “Doctrine” thinking they are standing on the truth of the word when they are actually just parroting someone else’s words in the name of “Sound Doctrine“.

So, the question is how do we know if we have a mix of truth and myth in our belief system? The first thing to ask is if we are denying the evidence before us in real life or just ignoring the facts around us? I’m referring to Christians who say they are not sick when they are. They heard someone teaching on positive confession mixed with healing and now believe if they just deny their illness it will go away. They are denying truth and facts and, if they did some research, they would realize God designed the body to heal itself once exposed to sickness. If the body was designed to heal and repair itself then God expected we would get sick.

When you realize when the four gospels were written, it is easy to speculate why it took so long to document the life of Jesus and whether what he taught was factual and not fantasy. There were many papers that were being circulated that said that Jesus, as a boy, did miracles like making a bird out of mud and then throwing it in the air to fly.  Why is this a problem? Because when fantasy and myth are mixed with facts, you have a cult, not the faith of the Bible.

In future articles I will address other myths but for now you can dedicate some extra time to reading the word of God with the help of the Holy Spirit, rather than always referring to other books for explanation. You will be surprised at the things you discover and the things you uncover as the Holy Spirit guides you with a fresh perspective.

QUESTIONS:

1) Have you ever sat down and compiled a list of what you believe and why?  You might struggle compiling that list and the scripture to support those ideas but the exercise with open up your soul to what is solid belief versus myth and conjecture.

2) Are you open to the Holy Spirit teaching you new things or are you stuck repeating old things? I’m nearly 72 years old and God is always teaching me new things and reinforcing old truths.  The same should be true for you!

Psalms 119:105    “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”

Pastor Dale