God Helps Those Who Help Themselves???

David Burns on May 4, 2016

Today’s post is an excerpt from my new book, Half Truths: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves and Other Things the Bible Doesn’t Say, which examines several popular half truths that many Christians embrace.   I vividly recall an episode of The Tonight Show from some years ago. It included one of Jay Leno’s trademark “Jaywalking” segments, in which he would ask questions of random people on the street. On this occasion, he asked people to name one of the Ten Commandments. It was startling to me how many people answered him by saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” That, of course, is not one of the Ten Commandments. But those who gave that erroneous answer have plenty of company. A survey by the Barna Group, a Christian polling firm, found that better than eight in ten Americans think “God helps those who help themselves” is in the Bible. In fact, more than half of the respondents were strongly convinced that this is one of the major messages of Scripture. The “One-Third” Truth For the record, the Bible contains no such verse. The statement apparently originated in Greek mythology in the fifth century before Christ. Then it was echoed by various philosophers over the next two-and-a-half millennia. Most notably, in 1736 Ben Franklin popularized it in Poor Richard’s Almanac, helping to give the statement a permanent place in American thinking. Even though it’s not in the Bible, can we find any biblical truth in this theological idea? In one sense, I think it does capture a biblical teaching. But in two other important ways, I would argue that “God helps those who help themselves” is absolutely untrue. Instead, it sends a message that is the direct opposite of the Bible’s message. So it really doesn’t even rise quite to the level of a half truth—more like a “one-third” truth. The one-third-truth is that God does in fact expect us to help ourselves to the degree that we are able.  For example, when we pray, “give us this day our daily bread,” we don’t expect food to miraculously show up on our table – we have to shop and prepare our meal.  I’ve met Christians who were disappointed with God because God did not answer their prayers for a job or to sell a house, when they were applying for jobs they were not qualified for or asking a higher price for their home than it was worth.  But the falsehood of this “truth” is seen in two circumstances.  Often those who say it are speaking about the poor and it is used as an excuse to avoid helping those in need.  Yet many of those who are trapped in poverty cannot escape without the help of others, which is why the Bible consistently calls us to help those in need.  In those moments we become God’s means of answering another’s prayers. This points to the even more significant falsehood in “God helps those who help themselves.” The very essence of the gospel is that God helps those who cannot help themselves.  Christians believe that we cannot save ourselves from the brokenness and alienation from God that we call sin.  We are constantly in need of saving, which is why we call Jesus, “Savior.”  There is a theological word for God’s willingness to help those who cannot help themselves: we call it GRACE.  If you’d like to find out more about “God helps those who help themselves,” check out Half Truths.  Click here to order the book and read more.   

Does Everything Really Happen for a Reason?

David Burns on April 21, 2016

Today’s post is an excerpt from my new book, Half Truths: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves and Other Things the Bible Doesn’t Say, which examines several popular half truths that many Christians embrace.   Has anyone ever said to you, “Everything happens for a reason”? Most of us have heard that statement from someone at some point. Many of us have said it to someone else.   The statement is true if, in saying it, we mean that we live in a world of cause and effect. Actions create consequences. Our own choices produce results. A result of choosing to text while driving may be a collision in which someone is injured.   Usually, however, when we say, “Everything happens for a reason,” we’re not talking about cause and effect. Most often, we’re speaking in response to suffering. When something bad has happened and we’re trying to help someone through a difficult time, we say it, or something like it.  Similar statements include, “It must have been the will of God,” or, “It’s all part of the plan,” or at the death of an individual we might seek to console another by saying, “It must have been their time.”   In Half Truths, I devote a chapter to unpacking what’s untrue about this particular half-truth.  Here’s a bit of the argument I make there:   While God is ultimately sovereign, the opening story of the Bible shows that God has given human beings “dominion” here on earth – that is, we have the capacity to make decisions, a freedom we value and, as Americans, have been willing to fight and die for.  The biblical story is in many ways the story of humanity misusing our freedom, turning away from God, practicing the very things God has told us not to do, and then God’s working to redeem, restore and heal the mess we’ve made of things.   Consider ISIS.  If everything happens for a reason then we must assume that God raised up ISIS to accomplish some purpose.  They certainly believe that.  But our attempts to defeat them make clear that we believe they are an evil that must be stopped, not some part of God’s sovereign plan that must be allowed to continue unabated.   I’ll leave most of the case to the book, but I’ll end this post simply by noting when we say that “everything happens for a reason” (and we’re implying that God must have some reason for everything happening, hence God is ultimately responsible for everything that happens), we make God responsible for every bad decision, every act of wrongdoing, every disease, every inhumane thing we humans do to one another.  And we remove the responsibility from ourselves.  Telling a suffering person that God must have a reason for inflicting suffering on them is not comforting for many; it only serves to remove the one source of comfort they might have had.   Is this really how things work? Does God really will everything that happens?  Or is God often grieved by what happens here on earth?   If you’d like to find out more about why “everything happens for a reason” is at best a half-truth, check out, Half Truths.  Click here to order the book and read more.

New Book, HALF TRUTHS, Helps Christians Fully Experience Jesus

David Burns on April 15, 2016

Most of us as Christians have things we believe, and tell others, and even count on, that we’ve not carefully examined. Some of the things we accept and repeat to others sound so true, and we’ve believed them for so long, that they become what some call “sacred cows”—things above question or criticism. When these beliefs are questioned we become defensive or irritated. We may even worry that if the beliefs aren’t true, the rest of our faith may crumble. This week, my new book, Half Truths: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves and Other Things the Bible Doesn’t Say, publishes from Abingdon Press. Even though some of what I write in this book may unnerve or irritate you, I’d encourage you to keep reading. The book examines these popular half truths that many Christians embrace: Everything happens for a reason God helps those who help themselves God won’t give you more than you can handle God said it, I believe it, that settles it Love the sinner, hate the sin Here’s why it’s important to examine these particular half truths: I think they can sometimes hurt people. I think they can lead people to conclusions about God that not only are untrue but that may push some people away from God. Some of these half truths are used to avoid careful thinking about complex issues. Some are used to justify our own biases or prejudices. Some, when spoken to others, can bring pain. Scriptures must be interpreted. Sometimes their meanings seem to conflict, or a particular message given in one context appears to be contradicted in another context. It is important to read any Scripture in the light of its context and the Bible’s broader message and themes. It is not enough to find a passage or two or six to support a particular view. We interpret all Scripture in the light of Jesus’ life and teachings, as well as with the help of the Spirit’s witness, the wisdom of scholars, and our intellect and life experience. During the next few weeks, I’ll post excerpts from the book here on my blog. You can order the book, DVD, and leader guides here. Watch the book trailer preview video above, and listen to the Ministry Matters podcast where I discuss the new book with host Matt Rawle.