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
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
Nice post. Loving the setting the record straight through scripture.
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