The Bible is the world’s most widely circulated and most read book of all time.

It’s also the most translated.

After a few thousand years of translation after translation, it only stands to reason that some things become changed over the course of time.

MYTH: The Bible says that “God helps those who help themselves”?

FACT: This one is first on the list because a bunch of you just said, “Nope. That was Benjamin Franklin.” That’s wrong too. It’s an excerpt from Sidney Algernon’s “Discourses on Government”, which was written about 25 years before Benjamin Franklin was born.

MYTH: The “Word of God” is the Bible right?

FACT: Ok, so it’s not technically a myth. It’s in there but but so is Jesus. “…and His name is called The Word of God” (Revelation 19:13 KJV)

MYTH: The Bible is a book.

FACT: Actually, the Bible is an anthology; a collection of 66 books written by at least 40 human authors.

MYTH: Noah took two of every creature into the ark with him.

FACT: He did, but some of them he took in groups of seven, probably for sacrifice since they were ceremonially “clean” (Genesis 7:2-3).

MYTH: Jesus carried His Cross all the way to Calvary.

FACT: A North African man, Simon the Cyrenian, from Libya, carried Jesus’ Cross a significant part of the way. (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26, cf. John 19:17).

MYTH: The Chalice or Cup of Christ used at the Last Supper can bring eternal life.

FACT: This myth was made popular by the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” The “water” that Jesus spoke about was the sealing of the believers by God the Holy Spirit at the moment of Salvation. (John 4:13-15, 7:37-39).

MYTH: Jehovah is the Name of God.

FACT: Actually, the word “Jehovah” does not really exist in the texts but is in fact an Anglicized word that is made from the Jewish tetragrammaton YHWH which was modified to be pronounced YaHWeH. YHWH is in fact an unpronounceable Holy Hebrew word.

MYTH: The Ark of the Covenant was like a radio to communicate with God.

FACT: Again, this is one that’s been tinkered with a little by Dr. Indiana Jones. The Ark of the Covenant held the Ten Commandments and was placed in the Holy of Holies of the Temple when Jews offered animal sacrifices for their sins. The High Priest of Israel was the only person who could enter the Holy of Holies. Jesus became the Great High Priest (Hebrews 9-10).

MYTH: Bible says Adam and Eve’s only children were two boys

FACT: If Adam and Eve were the first man and woman, and they had only two children who were boys (Cain and Abel), the population of the earth could never have increased.

But the Bible says in Genesis 5:4 that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters.

MYTH: Men have fewer ribs than women, thanks to Adam and his generosity to create Eve.

FACT: A common misconception among some Christians is that men have fewer ribs than women. They wrongly deduce this from the Bible’s Book of Genesis. In chapter 2, verses 21 and 22, we read that God created the first woman (Eve) by causing a deep sleep to fall upon Adam (the first man). God then took one of Adam’s ribs and closed up the flesh, and made the woman from the rib. Therefore all men since that time have one fewer rib than women. Actually, both men and women have 24 ribs; 12 on each side.

MYTH: The Bible says “Money is the root of all evil.”

FACT: The Bible verse 1 Timothy 6: 7-10 states, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. It may not sound like a big difference but there is. The Bible quotation basically says the love of money is the root of evil, not money itself. That means money in the right hands put to good use is not evil.

MYTH: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is in the Bible.

FACT: It’s not. There are some similar quotations but nothing matching this one word-for-word. “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” -Matthew 7:12 is about as close as it comes.

MYTH: The Bible says “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”

FACT: Okay, this is not completely a myth.

Rather, this verse tends to be quoted out of context to mean we should never judge anyone. The Bible doesn’t tell us we shouldn’t judge anyone (or anything). Indeed, says the exact opposite: “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”

These verses don’t contradict each other – they compliment each other. Matthew 7 is talking about hypocrites who are guilty of worse things than what they condemn others for. 1 Corinthians points out that a spiritual judge is one who correctly judges yet is himself innocent.

The above was compiled from various websites and research conducted by the Demopolis Times