Christianisms: Flawed Things Christians Say

By Ted Hall

One of the greatest gifts God has given the church is His wonderful Word, preserved through the centuries, revealing who God is and what He plans for His children. Why is it then that we have such a limited understanding of it? Could it be we have preferred Christianisms, short quips or sayings that seem to represent biblical truth but actually don’t? What would happen to the body of Christ today if Christians forsook these flawed sayings and returned to God’s glorious, powerful Word? We might see God’s Spirit move among us in a fresh and powerful way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973657446

Ted Hall

Ted Hall is an architect, artist, author, husband, father, grandfather and golfer (sort of). He is also a Christian of many years, having received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord during his freshman year in college. Since then he has enjoyed studying God’s Word with scores of men from different walks of life. Ted has three daughters and a small army of grandchildren. He and his wife Lisa live in Atlanta, Georgia where they are members of a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) congregation.

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Copyright © 2019 Ted Hall.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org"

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-5743-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-5745-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-5744-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019903227

WestBow Press rev. date: 3/26/2019

To >the godly men with whom I meet weekly to study the wonderful Word of God.

Preface

We who are members of the family of God, especially those of us in the Western world, are blessed to have had His Word preserved for us over thousands of years, and to have it so readily available to us today. The Bible truly is a miracle in and of itself.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-2, 14)

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

God’s beautiful, glorious Word; how I love it! So I am perplexed as to why it seems to not mean quite so much to others in the body of Christ.

I became a born again believer in Jesus Christ during my freshman year in college, primarily through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. Since then I have been actively engaged in church and other Christian ministries for decades. What has amazed me over all this time is how little well- meaning Christians know about the Bible, Christian doctrine and what they believe.

What amazes me even more is how some tend to gravitate toward what I call Christianisms, short quips or sayings that seem to represent some Biblical truth, but really don’t. Many of these can be found on message boards each week near the main entrance to some of our local churches. Some of these are fairly humorous, most all of them contain some element of truth, while still others contain grave theological error.

I’m not sure why some Christians prefer quoting these sayings to each other, rather than memorizing scripture that addresses the same subject matter and speaking that into each other’s life. But I find that these Christianisms are surfacing more and more in recent years. Maybe we’ve gotten so lazy that spouting off one of these little phrases is easier than having to memorize truth from God’s Word. But in doing so, we have settled for a watered down Christianity, one lacking in power and beauty derived from knowing and speaking the wonderful Word of God.

My prayer is that as we look at some of these man-made phrases, these Christianisms, we will perhaps laugh at their absurdity and emptiness, repent and return with gratitude to His most holy, inerrant and infallible Word.

Ted Hall

Atlanta, Georgia

Contents

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1     God Plus One Is A Majority

Chapter 2     Jesus Is Lord Of All Or He Is Not Lord At All

Chapter 3     We Are All God’s Children

Chapter 4     God Loves Everyone The Same

Chapter 5     God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It

Chapter 6     God Helps Those Who Help Themselves

Chapter 7     God Never Gives Us More Than We Can Handle

Chapter 8     Whenever God Closes A Door, He Always Opens A Window

Chapter 9     Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness

Chapter 10   God Just Wants Us To Be Happy

Chapter 11   Let Go And Let God

Chapter 12   It’s Impossible To Out Give God

Chapter 13   I Guess God Just Needed Another Angel

Chapter 14   I’m Sending You Warm Thoughts And Good Vibes

Chapter 15   When You’re Down To Nothing, God Is Up To Something

Chapter