Top Five Misused, Misinterpreted, Misquoted and/or Misunderstood Bible Verses

Top Five Misused, Misinterpreted, Misquoted and/or Misunderstood Bible Verses

 

Alright, I am a religious person, and more often than not I have heard bible verses used in incorrectly whether it is on the pulpit at church, or while I casually walk down the street. A lot of verses are taken out of context and construed to fit an individual’s situation or point of view. Yet, once those verses are taken out of context they lose their true meaning, and in turn leave people with a misrepresentation of the word of God. For my top five I used my own prior knowledge and also looked up some verses online. I found that there were overlaps between verses I saw as misrepresented and the views of other Christians on the internet. There are more online forums that I reviewed that discuss some of these verses and more if you care to read more. 
With that combined information I codensed my list and came up with these top five:

5.) "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord." - Ephesians 5:22
This is such a heavy verse on the views of “who wears the pants” in a relationship. Any egotistical male can pull up this verse and declare that men are dominant over women and that women need to lead a submissive life. Reading only that part of the chapter would leave a whole lot of feminists in an outrage, but if we read verse 21 “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” we see that relationships are give and take. Both man and woman need to be submissive to each other for the relationship to work. 

4.) “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”-Matthew 5:3

Let me explain, being poor is not a sure fire way into heaven and being rich isn’t a gateway to hell. This verse, though commonly mistaken, is not talking about substance. It is actually a metaphor. When you look at a wealthy person, they can buy whatever they want, whenever they want. They lack for nothing, material wise. On the other hand when you look at poor people they are constantly in need and they work and work and work to acquire that material good. As a broke college student, I can attest to the fact that when I want something more than my essential needs, I have to work harder, pull an extra shift or something. So when this verse says poor in spirit, it is exemplifying that drive a poor individual would have. To always be in need and to not feel that they have reached a level at which they are better than anyone else because nobody is perfect. Basically, heaven is available to everyone no matter what socioeconomic class they are in.

3.) “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." - 1Timothy 6:10

I have heard so many people try to refute the bible for this verse saying that the bible says that money is evil, but there are verses that talk about the need for money. First and foremost, the bible does not call money evil. It is the love of money that leads to evil. The love of money is greed. No one likes a greedy person, I mean look at Ebenezer Scrooge (main character of A Christmas Carol) his only loyalties were to his money, and in turn he was a heartless boss. Basically, all the bible is saying is, do not fall in love with your money, there is more to life. That is simple enough.

2.) “And I will do whatever you ask in My Name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” -John 14:13-14

This verse kind of makes “in the name of Jesus” or “in Jesus name” sound like the magic words to get whatever you want, whenever you want. The problem with that is God is not a genie, and (sadly) this verse is not the gateway to all the treasures of the earth. This verse was said by Jesus at the last supper. The verse before “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” Explains the context in which verses 13-14 were spoken. It wasn’t to “grant wishes” and desires, but the power of Jesus’ name is offered to those who were willing to be Christ like. It is offered to those who are willing to go out and declare healing, tend to the weary, mend the broken, and display the love of God.

 1.) “God helps those who help themselves”

Ok, notice how this last one doesn’t have a reference to a book, chapter, and verse of the bible. That is because there is none. This … saying (so to speak) is not a verse in the bible. Nowhere in the bible will these words be seen in this arrangement. It is a false statement that is used to justify illegitimate actions of putting yourself first, where it is very contradictory to the teachings of Jesus. Jesus was big on selflessness, whereas this statement is most commonly used in selfish situations.