Some of the most popular faux verses are pithy paraphrases of biblical concepts or bits of folk wisdom.
Consider these two:
“God works in mysterious ways.”
“Cleanliness is next to Godliness.”
Both sound as if they are taken from the Bible, but they’re not. The first is a paraphrase of a 19th century hymn by the English poet William Cowper (“God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform).
The “cleanliness” passage was coined by John Wesley, the 18th century evangelist who founded Methodism, says Thomas Kidd, a history professor at Baylor University in Texas.
“No matter if John Wesley or someone else came up with a wise saying - if it sounds proverbish, people figure it must come from the Bible,” Kidd says.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
No that's NOT in the Bible!
One the advantages of being a Bible Quizzer is learning what really is in the Bible. As our culture becomes more secular, this requires more and more work, because biblical quotes and ideas can't be picked up everywhere. But sometimes culture is wrong as it attributes quotes to the Bible that simply are not there. Indeed, there are many, many quotes that are attributed to scripture but are actually from men and women.
