There is never a shortage of silly and unbiblical memes and quotes:
This article is part of an irregular series that will likely keep on keeping on. That is because we will always find plenty of dumb posts and memes out there. You will find an endless supply of them on the social media for example. Often they are shared by Christians and often they are meant to be motivational and inspirational quotes.
While it is good to be motivated and inspired, the Christian will always want to ensure that this is based fully on Scripture, and not just some saccharine-sweet humanist and/or New Age foolishness, passed off as biblical wisdom. Biblical truth, not feel-good cliches, is what the believer should rely upon.
With that in mind, here are seven more silly sayings, questionable quotes, and moronic memes:
“Leap, and the net will appear.” John Burroughs
The believer is both a realist and a person of faith. Thus we know that God set up order in this world, and what we call the laws of nature. We have miracles recorded in Scripture which do not so much violate the laws of nature but go beyond them, or temporarily suspend them.
So while the Christian can believe that God is able to do amazing things if it is his will, we also know that we need to live in the world as God created it. Taking a leap of faith is certainly one thing, but taking a leap off a 70-story skyscraper is quite another. If you do the latter, you should not expect a safety net of some sort to magically appear out of nowhere. You should expect to meet your maker.
So yes, dream big, and expect God to do amazing things, but also do not tempt the Lord with foolishness. There are big differences between faith, foolishness and presumption. More detail on this is found here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2017/03/19/faith-foolishness-presumption/
“If it’s meant to be, it will happen”
Well, this one can be discussed in various ways, but primarily it depends in good measure on one’s theological views. The Christian does believe in the sovereignty of God. But the biblical Christian is not a fatalist. We know that we are responsible for the choices we make, and not everything we choose to do is in accordance with God’s will.
What God expects of his people does not always happen. For example, Israel was meant to be God’s people and a light to the nations, but sadly this was not always the case. It did not always happen. So, does that mean it was not meant to be?
“You may have been hurt at church, but God didn’t do it.”
Well maybe he did – it all depends. If the preacher was sharing biblical truth about sin and the need to repent, and that hurt your feelings and offended you, then yes, God used his word and the preacher to convict you of your sin. That always hurts. The answer is to deal with it properly: repent and turn to Christ. It is not to run out and say your feelings were hurt.
All this is not to say that sometimes a preacher or teacher sharing biblical truth can present it in such a way that it comes across as being too harsh, unloving and judgmental. So the biblical notion of speaking the truth in love is always something to keep in mind.
But simply recall that the most loving man to walk the earth was constantly getting people upset. He was constantly making people angry and upset with what he said. So quite often people will get hurt and miffed by what we say, no matter how loving and gracious we are in sharing truth that they need to hear. Read further on this here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/04/08/no-more-mr-nice-guy/
Jesus to the disciples: “Love your enemies” Also Jesus: “I am going to torture my enemies forever”
When I first saw this meme, I deleted it, thinking it to be far too bad. So I may not have the exact wording, but it is close enough. It seems clear that the one who made the meme and those sharing it do not believe in the biblical doctrine of hell. That is a problem, since it was Jesus more than anyone else who spoke the most about hell and future judgment.
The truth is, loving your enemies is best done by telling them the truth. And the truth is this: we are all sinners heading to a lost eternity. Only by coming to Christ in faith and repentance can we escape hell. So if we really care about the lost – including our enemies – the best thing we can do is warn them abut judgment to come, and the need for them to turn from their sins and put their faith in Jesus.
Like the quote attributed to Burroughs above, this one has a fraction of truth to it, but it is mostly just bunkum. Is it good to have a positive outlook on life, and not let circumstances determine what you can do and what you can become? Generally speaking, yes. But life in a fallen world does not always work that way.
As but one example, prisoners in German concentration camps would often have thought of and dreamt about being free, being back home with loved ones in a peaceful world, being rid of the Nazi menace, and so on. But sadly for most of them such dreams were never realised. They could NOT do it, no matter how much they dreamed.
Most of them died in those camps. Mind-over-matter foolishness never does any good when you live in the real world. Yes, we can pray and ask God to do great things. And there is a place for faith. But it is not so much our big dreams and big faith, but our faith in a big God. See more here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2009/05/18/will-the-real-gospel-please-stand-up/
“Only God can judge me”
In one sense this is true, since only God knows us perfectly, intimately and infallibly. But given the dozens of clear biblical texts commanding us to judge, to assess, to discern, to rebuke (when needed) and to call out sin in self and in others, this is simply an unbiblical – and therefore false – claim.
Too often people saying this are simply trying to make excuses for their sin, or are trying to justify a carnal and unbiblical lifestyle. Christians are commanded to hold one another to account, and to exhort, warn and reprove others. Not to do so is to be unloving and disobedient.
And the scary thing about the person saying this and believing this is that they are right in a sense: God most certainly WILL judge them. As always, it is better to let God judge us now, and allow others to be used by God to help us turn from sin, than to face God at judgement day when it will be too late. See more here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2015/11/19/to-warn-is-to-love/
“Don’t think, just do.” Horace
Can people, including Christians, overthink things at times? Can they be unable to act because they want to assess everything from every possible angle? Yes, to both questions. But to leap into action without thinking is just as problematic – perhaps even more so.
The believer is called to love God with the mind, as well as with the rest of his being. Not to think is to violate the greatest commandment that Jesus gave to us. Our minds matter, and we are to use them for the glory of God, and not let them go to waste as we simply jump from one activity to another.
The biblical ideal of course is to think and pray carefully about what we must do, and then do it. All thought with no action is a waste, but all action with no thought can be disastrous. See this article for more on why the believer MUST think: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2008/03/17/let-my-people-think/
As this irregular series of articles clearly demonstrates, there is a never-ending supply of dumb sayings, questionable quotes and meaningless memes floating around out there, especially online. The Christian is called to be discerning, wise and careful with these things.
Some of them might contain enough truth and biblical wisdom to be somewhat helpful. But they might also contain enough foolishness and falsehoods to actually be dangerous, and they will simply help to lead some people astray. So please choose wisely what you read and believe, and what you share with others, including on the social media.
