[Propertalk] 5 Bible Quotes That Really Aren't

[Joe Parrish]

5 Bible Quotes That ReallyAren't 


Scripture says, "God helps those whohelp themselves." Or does it? 


Search all you want in both the Old Testamentand the New Testament. You won't find it anywhere. 
Call it phantom scripture. It sounds like itshould be in the Bible--and maybe someone you respect told you it was, but it'snot. 


"The Bible may be the most revered bookin America,but it's also one of the most misquoted," reports CNN correspondent John Blake,who assembled the most oft-quoted phantom Bible passages and their real source.


The top five phantom Bible passages:



1. "God helps those who help themselves."
Origin: Benjamin Franklin in "Poor Richard's Almanac" 


2. "Spare the rod, spoil the child."
Origin: It's almost in the Bible. This is similar to, but not the same as,Proverbs 13:24: "The one who withholds [or spares] the rod is one whohates his son." 


3. "God works in mysteriousways."
Origin: A paraphrase of a 19th century hymn by the English poet WilliamCowper. "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform." 


4. "Cleanliness is next togodliness."
Origin: Coined by John Wesley, the 18th century evangelist who foundedMethodism. 


5. "Pride goes before a fall."
Origin: It's close to Proverbs 16:18: "Pride goeth beforedestruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." 
Why do we think these phantom passages arein the Bible? One Bible professorsays it's because people like the idea that biblical passages reinforce theirown pre-existing beliefs. "Most people who profess a deep love of theBible have never actually read the book," Rabbi Rami Shapiro told CNN."They have memorized parts of texts that they can string together to provethe biblical basis for whatever it is they believe in, but they ignore the vastmajority of the text." 


Ignorance isn't the only reason we thinkphantom biblical passages are real. We'realso just plain confused since many of these phantom verses do reflect actualbiblical concepts, good common sense or folk wisdom. 


--From the Editors at Netscape 


http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/whatsnew/package.jsp?name=fte/biblequotes/biblequotes
 
 


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