Biblical Cliches?

Earlier this week, I was speaking to my uncle about certain cliche's that sound Biblical while, in reality, they are far from it.  One of these cliches, which gets on my nerves, is, "God helps those who help themselves".  I actually have heard this saying on television and form those I know personally.  What is equally frustrating is these people believe they are quoting true doctrine.  Another cliche my uncle and I discussed was, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness."  My uncle brought up a good point about this.  He rhetorically asked, "Its good, but what does it mean?" (paraphrasing)

Well, Let us examine these two cliches:

First up..."God helps those who help themselves".

This quote is NOT in the Bible and NOT entirely Biblical.  It is supposedly from Aesop's Fable "Hercules and the Wagoner", has been coined by Benjamin Franklin in 1757s "Pour Richard's Almanac", and used in Algernon Sidney's work (I am not delving into who this person is...he is from the 17th century though...now look it up yourself).  This cliche has been widely used.  It wreaks of selfishness.  It is clear that God helps the helpless.  In fact, we were all helpless to sin and could not possibly measure up...Romans 5:6 says, "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."  There is nothing we could have done to atone for our sins without the help of Jesus' sacrifice......help from God.  Furthermore, we are told to WAIT upon the Lord:  "Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.", Psalms 25:5

Psalms 25:21 “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.”

Psalms 27:14 “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD”

Psalms 4:5 “Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.”Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” 
  
Isaiah 25:4 "For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat..." 

In these verses it is clear that this cliche is nothing more than...a cliche.  As I stated above, this cliche is "not entirely biblical", however, it does make sense in one respect.  If a person asks for God's help for something and has the ability and common sense to start on his/her own, then it is safe to say that God has blessed you with the ability to do what you need...or at least to start it....and God may just meet you there when you can go no further on your own.  In this way, the cliche, "God helps those who help themselves" can be accurate....but don't get carried away with it...sometimes God wants you to pray things through before you act.

As for the other saying, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness"?  Well, in the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, it can be seen how many extinsive steps the Jewish people took, at the command of God, to stay clean.  I will not delve too deep into any examples of the Jewish cleanliness, but its there.  So, in this way it can be considered a metaphorically accurate cliche. 

I have read that this cliche originated in Babylonian and Hebrew tracks, then later by Sir Francis Bacon, and then coined in its current wordage by John Wessley.  However, we are no longer under the Law of the Old Testament if we have accepted the sacrifce and grace of Jesus.  Jesus died and rose again for our sins as a way of atoning for our sins because God knew we could never live up to the Law.  By His sacrifce, Jesus fulfilled the Law on our behalf. 

Romans 10:4 states, "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes..."  Romans 2:12 says, "All who sin apart from the law will perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law."  Also, some say we are not suppose to eat certian foods and animals because they are not clean.  While it is true some things can make us dirty inside and cause our bodies to rebel the Bible says in Mark 7:19-22, "Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.  And then he added, 'It is what comes from inside that defiles you.  For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.' "  This shows us that if we live under grace and the acceptance that Jesus is our atonement then we are no longer under the Law, which further stands to reason that even if we are covered in tar, we can still be "next" to God.
 
One final cliche I want to write about was brought to my attention by my wife...who says this saying was actually in a question on a job application she once filled out; "Money is the root of all evil."  Serisously?  Money?  I don't think so.  1 Timothy 6:10 says, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows."  Wait, what was that again?  The LOVE of money is the root of all kinds of evil....the LOVE of money.  Not money itself.  Money is a tool and it can be used for good things.  However, greed or the LOVE of money is bad.

My purpose to this post is to expose the misinformed and misguided chiles people use everyday to try and sound profound.  Before you decide to use a cliche that may sound legitemate do some research about the meaning and origin behind it...and most importantly, find out what God and the Bible have to say about the principles of your cliche. 

Here is a website that has some more "doctrine":  http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/sayings.cfm

Television These Days

I am increasingly disturbed by the shows that are on television these days.  I am very disappointed with the cancellation of The Event and No Ordinary Family.  These are not the only shows, which I enjoy, that are close to or have been cancelled this year.  V, The Event, Chuck, Fringe, No Ordinary Family, The Cape, all cancelled or in danger of cancellation in a short time.  Out of those five, only two have been renewed for another season and while that seems promising the sobering fact the negates any promise is that both of them (Fringe and Chuck) have been moved to Friday...where they will slowly lose ratings because people, even myself, go out on Fridays.  All of these shows exercise the imagination and as I heard my favorite author say about something else, "gives the mind something to consider."

In the stead of these intellectual shows are "reality" shows and music based shows such as The Voice, Survivor, Celebrity Apprentice, American Idol, The bachelor or Baccalaureate  etc.  These shows are somewhat okay, but how many singing programs and "reality" shows can we possibly have?

Reality shows, seriously?  I guess they'd be more accurate and I could relate to them more if reality was SCRIPTED and EDITED!!!  And there is those bachelor shows....they team up a man or woman with 20 or more people of the opposite sex in hopes that they will choose a spouse at the end of the season.  That's good old wholesome television right there, folks!  That's a GREAT way to find love...by spreading myself thin over 25 women, making out with at least one of them every night, alternating from girl to girl, while learning the most surface and superficial garbage about this total stranger...but who cares right...I mean, she is hot!....Oh wait...there is that LARGE sum of money at the end of the show, if I choose a mate....ha, what a bunch of crap!  How much do you want to bet  in each of their hearts, minds, and perhaps discussed behind the scenes among themselves, is the option to marry in order to win the money and then divorce and split it between them.  Yeah, that could be the real motive behind these contenders.

Then there is the mildly "intellectual" crime dramas, CSI and Law and Order and all those other murder shows.  Let us be serious about these shows.  We all should know that it takes longer than a week to solve a murder.  But not in these fantasy worlds the producers come up with.  I know what you are thinking now...or will later, upon reading this...."But those scifi shows YOU like ARE fantasy....that's why you like them right?"  Well, those science fiction shows I like ARE fantasy....BUT, in those shows the situation changes every episode and, more often than not, each episode is a continuation of the encompassing plot of the entire series.

However, these crime dramas have a very vague encompassing plot and are, more than less, centered around individual episodic plots, in which, every single week someone is murdered, and that gets really old.  How many murders can happen under the noses of one pare of detectives in a single year?  It gets old.  CSI stands for Crime Scene Investigator, which suggests that these people could investigate MANY crime scenes...but instead it is always a murder scene.  It seems that the producers and writers of these television dramas are stuck in the same "easily entertained American rut " the writers and producers of the reality and music tv show are stuck in.  Oh well, I am only one voice. 

People, we need better television.  I totally accept that not everyone wants a science fiction  or fantasy show for entertainment....but at least lets have some more variety.  All we have is "reality", music, or murder shows to choose from.  Those producers and writers who dare bring their own imaginations into view and risk the scoffing of the critics and Nielson Box are adventurous, but often undermined by the poor ratings systems in this country. As stated above, the entertainment moguls seem to think America is stupid and easily entertained....but then again maybe America is stupid and easily entertained.  I mean, isn't what the TV people keep on television what the American people show the most interest in?  Isn't that how ratings work?