Truths and Deceptions About the Bible

Much of what we’ve been told about the Bible is incorrect or only partly true. It’s important to check what we’re told with the source.

Christ gave the following warning as one of the signs of His second coming: “Take heed that no one deceives you” (Matthew 24:4). The Bible also says that Satan “deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:9).

History shows that religious authorities have not always been true to the Scriptures. However, the average Christian trusts “the experts”—or what sounds right—and does not prove and test all things as the Bible says to do (1 Thessalonians 5:21). As a result, the average Christian believes many things that are not taught in the Bible!

If the Bible is God’s inspired Word to man …

If you believe, as we do, that the Bible in its original form is God’s infallible and inspired revelation to man, don’t you owe it to yourself to make sure what you do and think and say is based on it 100 percent?

Shouldn’t we make sure our beliefs are in sync with the Word of God?

Most people don’t really prove what they believe. It’s just what their church has taught, and they leave that to “the experts.” But God has given us access to the source of truth—His Holy Bible. We cannot hide behind others’ opinions since He has told us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). We should examine each of our beliefs personally. Can we find several clear (not obscure or ambiguous) scriptures that back up each one of our beliefs?

For example, what does the Bible say about the immortal soul?

Most Christian churches, for example, teach the immortality of the soul. Do you know what the Bible actually says about that?

Does the Bible teach the immortality of the soul?

Consider just a few of the many scriptures that address this:

• “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).
• “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5).
• God told Adam not to eat the forbidden fruit or “you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Satan lied, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).
• Now it is God “who alone has immortality” (1 Timothy 6:16).
• “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake” by being resurrected from the dead (Daniel 12:2).
• Even King David, a man after God’s own heart, “is both dead and buried. … For David did not ascend into the heavens” (Acts 2:29, 34).
• To counter the arguments of those who didn’t believe in a resurrection from the dead, the apostle Paul wrote that “if the dead do not rise. … those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (1 Corinthians 15:16, 18). But Paul clearly shows in the same chapter that the hope of “those who are Christ’s” is to be resurrected “at His coming” (verse 23).
• “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. … For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:50, 52-53).

Take the time to read these scriptures and the surrounding context in your own Bible. You may be surprised to find that the Bible plainly teaches that we are mortal, we do not possess immortal life in any form, and that the only way to receive immortal life is to be resurrected.

We believe the biblical truth has been misrepresented, and a fundamentally false idea has been taught and believed in its place.

But don’t take our word for it. Check it out for yourself.

Where to start?

Check it out. Prove it to yourself. For more about what the Bible teaches on this subject, see the Bible answers in our “What Happens After Death?” category.

The Bible is the source of truth. We strive to provide biblically accurate material to help you discover the truths of the Bible. We hope our “Bible Questions and Answers” and other information on our site will be useful and inspiring to you. We want to help you to find the answers to life’s most important questions, because we believe the Bible is true!

Bernard Hongerloot is a minister of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife, Linda, and children, Rebecca and Jeremy. He has been serving brethren in French-speaking areas for 36 years.