Summary
Dizzy Disciple video addressing biblical illiteracy by debunking four common phrases people wrongly attribute to the Bible. Frames the problem with Pew/Barna data: 63% of Christians read the Bible, only 42% call it essential, only 37% of US pastors hold a biblical worldview, and 31.5M Americans have never read a single Bible sentence.
Four misquotes covered:
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“We’re all God’s children.” — Conflates creation with adoption. All people are God’s creation and image-bearers, but only those who receive Christ become children of God (John 1:12, Romans 8:14–17, John 8, 1 John 3:10). Pre-salvation, the Bible categorizes people as children of wrath / children of the devil. Treating everyone as already in the family dissolves the need for the gospel. Augustine cited: adoption is by grace, not birth.
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“Love the sinner, hate the sin.” — Not in the Bible. Traced to Gandhi’s 1929 autobiography; a partial precursor in Augustine (AD 424) about church discipline; closer wording in Charles Wesley’s 1779 hymn “Equip Me for the War.” Theologically incomplete: Psalm 11:5, Psalm 55, and Proverbs 6:16–19 show God hating evildoers, not just deeds. GotQuestions framing: God can hate the sinner in a holy way and still forgive at repentance. Caveat: this is not license to picket “God hates [group]”; the danger of the phrase is that it downplays sin’s damage and obscures wrath, blunting the felt need for a substitute.
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“God helps those who help themselves.” — Roots in Greek polytheism (Sophocles, Euripides, Aesop’s Hercules and the Wagoner), popularized via Algernon Sidney (1698) and Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack (1757). Contradicts the gospel: God helps the helpless (Isaiah 25:4, Romans 5:6). Every other religion has followers climbing the mountain to the god; Christianity is the God who comes down. Salvation is gift, not earned effort.
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“Money is the root of all evil.” — Missing two words. 1 Timothy 6:10 says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Money is a morally neutral tool — fund orphanages or fund ruin. Jesus never condemned money itself, but condemned it as idol/master (Sermon on the Mount, rich young ruler). Both the prosperity gospel and the poverty gospel fail this test by making material circumstance the gauge of closeness to God. 1 Timothy 5:8 cited against romanticizing poverty.
Closes with practical advice for biblical illiteracy: use available resources (GotQuestions, ESV Study Bible, Blue Letter Bible) and just start reading.
Connection hooks for the vault
- The creation-vs-children distinction is a sharp contrast point for any Unificationist note on universal sonship / “we are all children of God / True Parents are parents of all humanity.” Worth a
contradictsorparallel-tolink when that theology gets atomized — both traditions use “children of God” language but mean different things by it. - “God came down the mountain” framing parallels Divine Principle’s providence-of-restoration logic (God working to recover fallen humanity) but locates the agency entirely on God’s side rather than in a give-and-receive / human-portion-of-responsibility structure. Useful tension to name explicitly.
- The misquote pattern itself (sentimental cultural Christianity standing in for actual text) is a sermon hook — applies just as well to UC-cultural sayings that don’t actually appear in CSG or Divine Principle.
- “Love the sinner / hate the sin” critique pairs with any note on pastoral confrontation vs. niceness — the speakers’ worry is that softening language anesthetizes the need for repentance.
Transcript
[00:00] Biblical illiteracy is one of the [00:01] greatest crises of our generation and [00:03] most people don’t even realize it. Data [00:05] shows that millions of professing [00:06] Christians in the United States don’t [00:08] read or study their Bibles regularly. [00:10] According to Pew Research, only 63% of [00:12] Christians read the Bible, while just [00:14] 42% said that reading the Bible is [00:16] essential to their faith. To make [00:18] matters much worse, only 37% of American [00:20] pastors have a biblical worldview. That [00:22] means nearly half of the self-proclaimed [00:24] Christians in the United States don’t [00:26] know their Bibles. And sadly, their [00:28] pastors aren’t doing much better. To go [00:29] a step further, 31.5 million people in [00:32] the United States have never read a [00:34] single sentence in the Bible. This is [00:35] why the Bible is by and large the most [00:37] misqued and misunderstood piece of [00:39] religious text in history, leaving us [00:41] with an epidemic of biblical [00:42] proportions. See what I did there? In [00:44] this video, we’re going to clear up [00:46] confusion on some of the greatest [00:47] misquotations attributed to God’s word [00:49] and correct the record. These are the [00:51] most common sayings that are not found [00:52] in the Bible. [00:58] We’re all God’s children. It’s warm. [01:00] It’s inclusive. It sounds like something [01:01] you’d see on a pillow in Hobby Lobby, [01:03] but it’s not in the Bible. And [01:04] ironically, the Bible actually teaches [01:06] the opposite. Here’s the distinction [01:07] that most people miss. The Bible is [01:09] clear that all people are God’s creation [01:11] and that God loves the entire world. But [01:13] only those who are born again are [01:15] children of God. Creation and children [01:17] are simply not the same thing. If [01:19] everyone is a part of God’s family, then [01:20] what is Jesus redeeming or adopting us [01:23] from? The Bible uses very specific [01:25] language when describing the mission of [01:26] Jesus. He came to redeem us so that we [01:29] may be adopted into his family. You [01:31] can’t be adopted into something you [01:32] already belong to. John 1:12 is about as [01:35] clear as it gets on this. But to all who [01:36] did receive him, who believed in his [01:38] name, he gave the right to become [01:40] children of God. Not every person has [01:42] the right to be a child of God simply by [01:44] being born. Only those who receive and [01:46] trust in Christ, have that right. I want [01:48] you to focus on the word become in this [01:50] passage. You don’t become something you [01:52] already are. You become something you [01:54] previously were not. Romans 8:14-17 adds [01:57] to this. For all who are led by the [01:59] spirit of God are sons of God. For you [02:01] did not receive the spirit of slavery to [02:02] fall back into fear. But you have [02:04] received the spirit of adoption as sons [02:06] by whom we cry, “Aba, Father.” And if [02:08] there’s any doubt left, look at what [02:10] Jesus says in John 8. The Pharisees [02:11] claimed God as their father, and Jesus [02:13] corrected them directly. If God were [02:15] your father, you would love me. But you [02:17] are of your father, the devil. The Bible [02:19] categorizes every person before [02:21] salvation as children of the devil and [02:23] children of wrath, but never children of [02:25] God. I know it sounds harsh, but if God [02:27] is not your father, then who is? RC [02:29] Sproul writes in his commentary on John, [02:31] “Sin is not simply making bad choices or [02:33] mistakes. Sin is having the desire in [02:35] our hearts to do the will of the enemy.” [02:37] 1 John 3:10 makes this explicit. By [02:40] this, it is evident who are the children [02:41] of God and who are the children of the [02:43] devil. Whoever does not practice [02:45] righteousness is not of God. Now, does [02:47] this mean that God doesn’t love the [02:48] people who haven’t come to faith yet? [02:49] No. John 3:16 still stands. God loves [02:52] the world. He just isn’t the father of [02:54] everyone in it. And that’s actually the [02:56] point of the gospel. Through faith in [02:57] Jesus Christ, you can be adopted into [02:59] his family. Augustine puts it nicely. We [03:01] were not born of God in the manner in [03:03] which the only begotten was born of him. [03:04] But we were adopted by his grace. [03:07] Believing that we are already God’s [03:08] children quietly dismantles the entire [03:10] gospel. If we are already in the family, [03:12] then why do we need to be saved? The [03:14] Bible’s version of this story is far [03:15] more beautiful than the cultural [03:17] Christian version because biblical [03:18] sunship isn’t something that you were [03:20] born into. It’s something that means you [03:22] were chosen. [03:23] >> We’re all God’s children sounds nice and [03:25] fluffy and wonderful. But what it really [03:28] reveals is a misunderstanding of the [03:30] necessity of the gospel and how and more [03:32] importantly how the gospel works. [03:34] >> We’re not all God’s children. We’re all [03:37] God’s creation. We’re all made in the [03:39] alago day in his image. We all bear the [03:41] image of God, but we’re not all in the [03:44] family of God. [03:45] >> Yes, we are all made in the image of [03:47] God. Therefore, we have value and uh [03:50] there’s there’s meaning and there’s [03:52] there’s a reality of that, but that [03:53] doesn’t automatically mean we’re all in [03:56] the family of God. [03:57] >> And the truth is, we’re not um there’s [03:59] there’s clearly people who are not in [04:01] the family of God cuz the only reason [04:02] that we are adopted in the family is if [04:05] you have the blood of Jesus Christ. You [04:07] have the blood covenant of being grafted [04:09] in uh as the New Testament would say, [04:11] we’re grafted into God’s family because [04:14] of Christ’s sacrifice for us. [04:16] >> What we do see in the scriptures is that [04:17] we’re adopted to be sons and daughters [04:19] of God. That we’re brought into the [04:21] family of God via Jesus Christ, his [04:24] life, death, and resurrection. It’s a [04:25] misunderstanding of the necessity of of [04:29] the life, death, and resurrection of [04:31] Jesus. Because if we don’t understand [04:33] the reason that Jesus came was to [04:36] reconcile us to the father, that his [04:39] life was the righteous life lived that [04:41] we couldn’t uh that his death was the [04:44] sacrifice that was needed. We don’t [04:46] understand that we were far off. We [04:48] don’t understand that we were outside of [04:49] the covenant people. Most people using [04:51] art being malicious. They just they [04:53] don’t understand the difference of we [04:56] are image bearsers of God versus we are [04:59] adopted into the family of God. [05:05] Love the sinner and hate the sin is [05:07] possibly the biggest misattribution to [05:09] the Bible in modern history. But would [05:10] you be surprised if I told you that it [05:12] was actually a quote by Hindu activist [05:14] Mahatma Gandhi? Well, it is. And in [05:15] Gandhi’s 1929 autobiography titled the [05:18] story of my experiments with truth. In [05:20] part four of chapter 9, Gandhi said, [05:22] “Hate the sin and not the sinner.” to [05:24] describe the core principle of [05:25] non-violent resistance. Here’s the full [05:27] quote. Hate the sin and not the sinner [05:29] is a precept which though easy enough to [05:31] understand is rarely practiced and that [05:33] is why the poison of hatred spreads in [05:34] the world. And although some Christian [05:36] sources online credit St. Augustine of [05:38] Hippo as the origin, I’m personally not [05:40] convinced. Around the year AD 424, a [05:42] similar quote appeared hidden away in a [05:44] letter that he wrote saying with due [05:45] love for the person and hatred of the [05:47] sin. Which when hearing this sounds [05:49] similar, but upon investigation, it’s [05:51] actually different in both context and [05:53] intent from the original catchphrase. He [05:55] was basically saying when you have to [05:56] report and punish a sister for bad [05:58] behavior, don’t do it out of spite, but [06:00] instead do it out of love for her soul [06:02] and hate for the act that she had [06:04] committed. I think people attributed to [06:05] Augustine because the loose idea is [06:07] there, but it’s still not the exact [06:09] catchphrase that we know today. So, [06:10] where did that come from? If we go back [06:12] in time to 1779, we can actually see a [06:15] better example found in a hymn written [06:17] by Charles Wesley titled Equip Me for [06:19] the War. It says, “Oh, may I learn the [06:21] art with meekness to reprove, to hate [06:23] the sin with all my heart, but still the [06:25] sinner love.” And here we have the [06:26] groundwork. We’re getting closer, but [06:28] it’s still not the exact catchphrase. [06:30] And it’s too far behind in time to [06:32] explain how it became popularized today. [06:34] With Charles Wesley helping originate [06:35] the Methodist denomination, which later [06:37] spun off into the Pentecostal movement, [06:39] and the Pentecostal movement laying the [06:41] groundwork for modern American [06:42] evangelicalism, the idea became baked [06:45] into church culture. And with help from [06:46] Gandhi’s popularity, the quote evolved [06:48] and people began to attribute it to the [06:50] Bible. But love the sinner or hate the [06:52] sin is simply not a quote from the [06:53] Bible. In fact, in some ways, it [06:55] actually contradicts it. Although it’s [06:57] something we should do in practice, we [06:59] have to understand its theological [07:00] limitations. If God only hated the sin, [07:03] then the sin would be the one that was [07:04] sent to hell and not the sinner. But [07:06] before you think I’m crazy, let’s look [07:08] at what the Bible says. Psalm 55 says, [07:10] “The boastful shall not stand before [07:12] your eyes. You hate all evildoers.” [07:14] Psalm 11:5 says, “The Lord tests the [07:17] righteous, but his soul hates the wicked [07:19] and the one who loves violence.” And to [07:21] go a step further, Proverbs 6:16-19 [07:23] lists seven things that God hates. Hotty [07:26] eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed [07:28] innocent blood, a heart that devises [07:30] wicked schemes, feet that are quick to [07:32] rush to evil, a false witness who pours [07:34] out lies, and a person who sews discord [07:37] among brothers. Notice how all of these [07:39] things are attributes of a person and [07:40] not the evil deed itself. We must [07:42] understand that God does not hate the [07:44] way a man hates. And paradoxically [07:46] enough, his hate is an extension of his [07:48] love. In an article by gotquestions.com [07:50] titled, “Does God hate?” The writer [07:52] states, “We cannot love with a perfect [07:54] love, nor can we hate with a perfect [07:56] hate. But God can both love and hate [07:58] perfectly because he is God. God can [08:00] hate without sinful intent. He can hate [08:02] the sinner in a perfectly holy way and [08:03] still lovingly forgive the sinner at the [08:05] moment of repentance and faith.” The [08:07] reality is the person that we love so [08:09] much has committed the sin. And I think [08:10] whenever we say the phrase love the [08:12] sinner or hate the sin, we really [08:14] downplay [08:15] their sin and the damage it is doing to [08:18] both them and the people they’re [08:20] connected to because we want to to love [08:23] them so well that, you know, we don’t [08:25] scare them off. When we slip into these [08:28] kind of statements, we think we’re doing [08:31] God a favor, but we’re not doing sinners [08:33] any favor cuz we’re not helping them see [08:35] the wrath of God. We’re not helping them [08:37] see what that means. And until they see [08:39] that, they don’t see their true need for [08:41] a substitute and they don’t fully [08:43] understand what Christ was doing on the [08:45] cross. [08:45] >> We should understand defaultly. Of [08:47] course, as believers, we love people, [08:49] but that love is what drives us to point [08:52] people to repentance in Christ. [08:54] >> I don’t think that means we run around [08:56] saying, “God hates these particular [08:58] sinners. God hates this particular [09:01] group.” and hold banners up and and [09:04] parade up and down the street saying God [09:06] hates fill in the social group. I don’t [09:08] think that’s the call for us, but [09:10] neither do I think there’s merit in that [09:13] phrase. The general biblical idea is [09:15] there since we should love the sinner [09:17] and be patient with them. After all, we [09:19] are sinners and God is patient with us. [09:20] But the actual quote is nowhere to be [09:22] found in the Bible. Hey, editor Dizzy [09:25] here. I just wanted to say if you are [09:27] still having a hard time with this one, [09:28] I understand it’s a little daunting to [09:30] take in at first. All those who are [09:32] outside of Christ will face the wrath of [09:34] God. And that’s why it’s so important [09:35] for you to understand this because if [09:37] you are outside of Christ, the best [09:39] thing that you can do is repent and be [09:41] reconciled to God today. [09:47] According to George Bara, 68% of born [09:49] again Christians agree with this [09:51] statement and 75% of Americans at large. [09:54] So where did this actually come from? [09:55] Well, the phrase has its roots going all [09:57] the way back to ancient Greece. Both [09:59] Sophocles and Uripides use a version of [10:01] it. And it appeared in Asop’s fables [10:03] through the story of Hercules and the [10:04] wagoner where a cart gets stuck in the [10:06] mud and Hercules tells the driver to put [10:08] his shoulder into the wheel saying the [10:09] gods help them that help themselves. And [10:12] that’s gods with an s because the [10:13] context comes from polytheistic Greek [10:15] mythology. And the saying is usually [10:16] attributed to Benjamin Franklin as [10:18] quoted in poor Richard’s Almanac 1757. [10:21] But in actuality it originated from [10:23] Algeron Sydney in 1698 in an article [10:26] titled Discourses Concerning Government. [10:28] So to recap, the origin is polytheistic [10:30] Greek mythology. The modern credit goes [10:32] to Ben Franklin. And somehow it ended up [10:34] being treated as scripture. But beyond [10:36] where it came from, another issue is [10:38] what it actually teaches. Because [10:40] theologically speaking, the phrase [10:41] stands in direct contradiction to the [10:43] gospel. The Bible actually teaches the [10:45] opposite because God without a doubt [10:47] helps the helpless. Isaiah 25:4 [10:49] declares, “For you have been a [10:51] stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to [10:53] the needy in distress, a shelter from [10:55] the storm, and a shade from the heat.” [10:57] Romans 5:6 tells us, “For while we were [10:59] still weak, at the right time, Christ [11:01] died for the ungodly. And in terms of [11:03] salvation, we are all utterly helpless. [11:05] We are all infected by sin and condemned [11:07] as a result of that sin. Nothing we do [11:09] on our own can help our eternal [11:10] situation.” This is why God provided the [11:12] help that we needed because we simply [11:14] cannot help ourselves. And this phrase [11:16] actually reveals how some people think [11:17] about the relationship with God. They [11:19] think, “If I can just get myself right, [11:21] then maybe God will see my effort and [11:22] come to rescue me. Maybe then I’ll be [11:24] worthy of salvation.” However, that’s [11:26] not Christianity. Every other major [11:28] world religion operates on a system of [11:30] human effort in order to earn divine [11:32] favor. But Christianity is different [11:34] specifically because it doesn’t. All the [11:35] other false gods sit at the top of the [11:37] mountain while their followers struggle [11:39] and strive to make their way to the top [11:41] to reach them. But in reality, God in [11:43] his mercy came down from the mountain to [11:45] rescue his creation, knowing that they [11:46] couldn’t possibly make their way to the [11:48] top. Salvation isn’t something that you [11:50] work your way into. It’s something [11:52] extended to you by grace and received [11:54] through faith. It’s a gift that you [11:56] don’t deserve and it’s not something you [11:57] can earn. In other words, the entire [11:59] point of the cross is that God helped us [12:01] when we couldn’t help ourselves. [12:07] This one is a partial quote and the part [12:09] that people leave out changes [12:10] everything. The actual verse is 1 [12:12] Timothy 6:10 and it reads like this. For [12:15] the love of money is the root of all [12:16] kinds of evil. The misqued version makes [12:19] money and wealth the source of all evil [12:20] in the world. The Bible makes it quite [12:22] clear that sin is the root of all evil [12:24] in the world. However, when we look at [12:26] the correct citation, it is the love of [12:28] money, not the money itself that is the [12:30] source of all different kinds of evil. [12:31] >> When you hear someone say that, it’s [12:33] just best to ask them where does the [12:35] Bible say that? Cuz if they look it up, [12:36] they’re going to see it says the love of [12:39] money is the root of all kinds of evil. [12:41] And so that’s a very different statement [12:44] because money is ultimately just a tool. [12:46] And so you can use money to fund good. [12:49] like you can fund an orphanage and you [12:52] know you can have wells in Africa you [12:54] know because we had money to be able to [12:56] do these good charity works but money [12:59] can also of course like lead to ruin and [13:01] destruction in people’s lives and we see [13:02] it all the time [13:03] >> money is inanimate and morally neutral [13:05] but when money begins to control us [13:07] that’s when trouble starts as the [13:09] age-old adage goes it’s okay to have [13:11] money just don’t let money have you all [13:13] throughout scripture Jesus had a lot to [13:15] say about money and he never condemned [13:16] money itself however what he did condemn [13:19] was letting letting it become an idol. [13:20] In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, [13:22] “No one can serve two masters, for [13:23] either he will hate the one and love the [13:25] other, or he will be devoted to the one [13:27] and despise the other.” You cannot serve [13:29] both God and money. Here Jesus likens [13:31] the love of money to idolatry. He refers [13:33] to money as a master we serve at the [13:35] expense of serving God. His conversation [13:37] with the rich young ruler makes the same [13:38] point. The young man had followed the [13:40] commandments his whole life, and Jesus [13:42] told him to sell everything and follow [13:43] him. Not because his money was evil, but [13:45] because his money had become his god. As [13:47] Bible teacher Randy Alorn framed it, [13:49] Jesus was essentially saying, “Take this [13:51] thing that is commonly used for evil and [13:54] use it for good. Use it wisely and use [13:56] it well. Use it for eternal purposes.” [13:58] The healthy truth that we see is the [14:00] Bible doesn’t say that money is the root [14:03] of all evil. It says the love of money. [14:06] So what is the love of money? It’s when [14:08] your main driving force, your dedication [14:11] is riches, is financial gain. And so I [14:14] think you could be a poor person and [14:16] have the love of money controlling you [14:18] and being evil in your heart. I think [14:20] you could be a rich person and have the [14:21] love of money. [14:22] >> So saying money is the root of all evil [14:24] is a misquote that has quietly shaped [14:26] the way Christians think about wealth [14:27] for generations. Some use it to [14:29] villainize those who don’t have money [14:30] while others use it to spiritualize [14:32] poverty. Which that one doesn’t really [14:33] make sense because 1 Timothy 5’8 says, [14:35] “If anyone does not provide for his [14:37] relatives and especially for the members [14:39] of his own household, he has denied the [14:41] faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” [14:42] The poverty gospel is just as wrong as [14:44] the prosperity gospel because the Bible [14:46] doesn’t support either extreme [14:48] conclusion. One says that being poor is [14:50] bad and being rich makes you closer to [14:52] God. While the other says being rich is [14:54] bad and being poor makes you closer to [14:56] God. Both positions make a person’s [14:58] circumstance the gauge for one’s [14:59] closeness to God and elevates one’s [15:01] social class over another. And that is [15:03] not biblical. [15:09] somebody’s going to be watching this and [15:11] they’re like, “Okay, some of these [15:12] things I thought were in the Bible and [15:15] now I kind of feel a little silly or or [15:17] maybe they’re like, “Okay, well, I’m [15:18] actually learning something here. Maybe [15:19] these aren’t in the Bible and that’s [15:21] great, but where do I begin? Like, where [15:23] do I start? What Bible do I get? Where [15:25] do I go? What what advice would you have [15:27] for somebody who’s in that predicament? [15:29] >> We live in the best time in all of [15:32] history to become a student of the word. [15:34] The early reformers would be so proud [15:37] and jealous of all of the Bible [15:39] resources that we have. You have [15:41] resources like gotquestions.com. If when [15:44] you’re reading, you could just look it [15:45] up really quick. You have the ESV study [15:47] Bible that is pretty affordable on [15:49] Amazon. And I’m pretty sure it’s even [15:51] free. Like Blueletter Bible is free. I [15:54] just want to encourage people. It might [15:56] not be easy, but we live in the best [15:59] time throughout all of history to become [16:01] a student of the word. And so utilize [16:05] the resources and just begin reading it.