Growing up, I attended a Catholic primary and secondary school. I was also brought to various Christian retreats/events during this time. Naturally, I was taught about Christianity at these places, but I didn’t realise at the time that I was being indoctrinated with a lot of things that weren’t even founded upon the Bible in the first place. I was being taught myths that totally affected how I viewed God, and portrayed Him in a manner contrary to how He describes Himself in His word. These false teachings caused me to struggle with my faith for a long time, and it has taken me a long time and an ACTIVE effort to unlearn them. I’m writing this blog post today to help someone who may be in the same situation I was in. This is for someone who wants to know the truth about who God really is, who you really are and what the bible really teaches. With so many denominations of Christianity, it is easy to think that everybody is entitled to their own truth – but I’m here to debunk even that to you. Truth is not subjective. Logically, truth must be objective in order for it to be qualified as truth. There is no such thing as “my truth” or “your truth”. There can only be one truth, by definition of the very word itself. And I believe that singular truth is contained perfectly within the Bible. So let’s start debunking! (Ps: If you’re not familiar with bible verses, just copy and paste the ones I mention into Google to see what that verse says. The format is “Book name” “Chapter number”:”Verse number”, so e.g. John 3:16 is the Book of John, Chapter 3, Verse 16)
“You have to pray to God in a rigid, structured, specific way“
In school I was taught that prayer is when you recite the Hail Mary or the Lord’s Prayer or any of the memorised prayers that we were taught. I saw prayer as a fancy way of speaking to God, and I thought that we had to pray in a certain structure in order for God to be pleased with us. This was a lie. When Jesus gave the disciples what we now refer to as “the Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew 6:9-13, He was giving them a guideline on how to pray. I am not saying that we should not specifically say the exact words in that prayer, of course we can. But He was teaching them the manner in which they should speak to God, i.e. referring to Him as Father, praising Him, asking for His will to be done, asking for provision, asking for forgiveness etc etc. Throughout the Scriptures, which are inspired by God, we also see other guidelines such as offering thanksgiving to Him (1 Thessalonians 5:18) and casting our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7). We are encouraged to come to God in honesty, tell Him what is on our hearts. We see Jesus doing exactly this the night He was about to be crucified in Mark 14:35-36. If Jesus could come to God without pretense, without trying to appear all put-together, but just truthfully telling God the Father what was on his mind, then we should do the same thing. After all, we are meant to imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Truthfully, all prayer is is talking to God.
“God does not speak to us.”
This is something that was really foreign to me growing up. When somebody would say that God spoke to them, I always wondered “how?!”. I couldn’t get my head around the fact that a God of the universe would speak to a human being. But the truth is that God does speak. I heard this the other day: “God will not die for you to not speak to you.” And it really hit me. If someone would DIE for you, why on earth would they refuse to speak to you?! You need to understand this: God wishes to be our Father. Now what kind of normal father doesn’t want to speak to His own children? And God isn’t like our natural, earthly fathers. He is far better. He is perfectly good. So of COURSE He wants to speak to you! And the truth is, often He does speak. We just don’t listen because we close our minds to the possibility of God speaking to us. Let me tell you a truth. You don’t have to be super religious or a prophet or a pastor or a priest in order for God to speak to you. The truth is that these people are ALL human beings JUST LIKE US. God does not show partiality (Romans 2:11, Acts 10:34, Galatians 2:6). The only difference between you and a leader of a church is that they lead a church. That’s it. They are not super-human, they are just like you and I. The only thing that may differentiate them from you is whether you have accepted Christ as your Lord yet. The only thing that separates Christians from unbelievers is that we have Christ. But the jig is that Christ (when He is truly accepted in a heart) changes everything about a person. So it is a small difference, but a big one simultaneously. God does speak, but you have to open your mind to it in order to hear Him.
“You can pray to saints and Mary and other dead people.”
This was a huge one that I even had discomfort with growing up. Something didn’t seem right about it to me. Here is the truth: there is no (and I mean zero) biblical basis to this. There is not once in the Scriptures that we see a man praying to another man and God being okay with it. Once again, let me stress this. These people were human beings just like us. When someone goes to heaven, they do not suddenly have an inbox for prayers that they receive. The only person that receives prayers is God. You cannot treat a human being as a god. This is actually an offence that God does not take lightly (Acts 12:21-23). The people I was told to refer to as “saints” are actually no different to me. The bible actually teaches that all who believe wholeheartedly in Christ are saints – we are saints simply because Christ makes us clean, NOT because of any good things that we did during this life (Ephesians 2:8-9). A saint is not somebody who did good things during their lifetime. A saint is somebody who believes in Christ with all their heart and confesses him as Lord. The people who I was taught to exclusively refer to as saints, growing up, such as Peter and Paul, would actually have disapproved of this practice (Acts 10:25-26, 1 Corinthians 3:4-7). There is no meaning in asking a dead person to pray for you. They are not more holy because they are dead. Jesus already intercedes for us (Romans 8:34), and HE is the one who makes us ALL holy upon accepting Him. Jesus interceding for you is enough. I promise.
“Everybody who is a good person goes to heaven.”
This one is outstraight a lie. Nobody is good, except God. Even Jesus Himself says this in Mark 10:18. Good people don’t go to heaven on the quality of being good, because that does not excuse them from their guilt. God is a God of justice. This is in the same way of somebody committing a crime and telling the judge to let them go because they are a ‘good person’. Being a good person does not mean anything when you are guilty. And the truth is that we are all guilty. Every single one of us (Romans 3:23). But the good news is that when we decide to believe that Jesus is truly the Son of God and place our faith in Him as Lord, we become justified freely! (Romans 3:24) So it is like somebody walking into the court when you have been declared guilty and saying that they will pay your debt in full if you accept the offer. You were once guilty, but now your debt has been cleared because of Jesus Christ. But I must stress that you have to accept this offer in order to avail of it. And you cannot only accept Jesus as the one who saves you from the consequences of your sin, you must accept him as Lord/Master over your life. I know that word ‘master’ sounds intimidating and gives dictatorship vibes, however Jesus isn’t like the oppressive masters that we are acquainted with on earth. He actually wants the best for you. He wants you to succeed more than you want to succeed yourself. He loves you enough to literally lay his life down for you. He is worth following and letting Him lead your life. After all, He is God. I promise you this. I surrendered my life to His leading and it’s the best decision I have ever made. Please message me to find out more.
“You are saved by doing more good things than bad things.”
This is totally and utterly false. We are not saved by our works as I explained just above. We are saved by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. It is actually pride that makes us believe that our good works are worth more than God choosing to take on human flesh and die for us. It is truly disgusting pride that does this. God knew that it would be impossible for us to keep all of his laws in order to be made right with Him, so He made a way Himself. He made it so much easier than we could ever imagine, and this is called grace. Please watch my youtube video if you’d like to understand grace more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb-ypdSfvbI&t=9s All along, God’s plan was for us to trust Him. To trust that He is good, that He cares for us deeply, that He wants our absolute best. That’s the only reason He commands us to do and to not do things, because He wants to protect us from harm. He is truly a loving Father. But this grace that is now available to us does not give us a license to sin (Romans chapter 6). It doesn’t give you a license to do whatever you want. That is truly a lack of respect for God and you cannot fool Him. Trust me.
“God leaves you and distances Himself from you when you sin.”
This particular myth kept me in bondage for a terribly terribly long amount of time. I really believed that if I sinned, God was so angry and He would remove Himself from me. This is so far from the truth. Hebrews 13:5 makes it clear that God promises that He will NEVER leave you nor forsake you. God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). It’s impossible for Him to lie. So if He promises something, He means every word of it. When you end up slipping up and falling into sin, God does not distance Himself from you, because He did not see you as clean because of the good works you did in the first place. If God stepped away from you because you sinned, then it would mean the only reason He was near you was because of your good works. That’s already a legalistic mindset. We are no longer under the law of Moses. When we accept Christ, we become righteous. Period. There’s no going back. God sees us as righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). Christ’s sacrifice for you is not revocable, God does not give it and take it as He pleases. It is final. It is a complete work. The only reason you think God is far from you is because you feel like He is. But feelings are not facts. Feelings can lie. God can’t. God has not moved away from you. He is still with you. The problem is that sin makes us feel guilty and shameful and that’s what makes us try to distance ourselves from God. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God did not move away from them. They moved away from God. It’s the same thing. Sin tries to separate us from God, but you must fight it with the word of God (the Bible).
“God’s standards are too high. Living without sin is impossible.”
This one is a very common reason why people refuse to come to Christ, or they say that they will come when they are ready. It’s because you think that after a certain age, sin becomes less appealing. This is another lie. Sin is ruthless. It will not stop, it will just change the form in which it manifests in your life. Remember that sin is not only external actions, but happens in your heart too. The truth is that by ourselves, in our own strength, living without sin is impossible. But guess what? God provides a way out. He asks you to rely on His strength instead. He asks you to believe that if He is able to create the world in 7 days, raise His Son from the dead, part the red sea, make the blind see, make the lame walk, heal diseases, then He is able to help you live without sin. It’s all about the mind. There are many things God has given us but it’s up to our minds choosing to believe it or not. God gives you power over sin when you accept Him (Romans chapter 6), but you have to believe it in order to operate in it. Everything is about belief. Mark my words.
I could go on about more myths but I think I’ll leave it there for today. I hope this has set somebody free from a lie that may have been holding you captive. You reading this blog post is not a coincidence. If you feel your heart is moved, I really do urge you to message me either on instagram or at my email which is in the ‘Contact Me’ tab at the top of the blog. I want to help you as much as I can to move forward in your journey with Jesus Christ. I want to try to answer any questions you have. I don’t want you to embark on this alone, so please, whether you are a friend, in my college, from work, a stranger, an acquaintance, do not be shy to reach out to me! God loves you too dearly to make you battle alone! There is strength in numbers. If you have not accepted Christ, or are confused as to whether or not you have, or maybe you don’t even understand what that means, please message me. I’m practically begging at this point lol. I love you too much for you to suffer in silence. Christ is for you and not against you. Never ever ever forget that. Whether you are a saint or a sinner, God loves you deeply and nothing can ever separate you from His love (Romans 8:38-39). Shalom.