Most annoying misbeliefs about Christianity?

[PsaltiChrysostom]

What misconceptions make you beat your head on a wall because it feels good when it stops?

1 - The canon was decided by Constantine at the Council of Nicea. The canon was not even a topic of discussion at Nicea.
2 - The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox are just Catholics without a pope. That is if Catholics and Protestants even acknowledge our existence....
3 - The Roman Catholic church determined the canon. No, the pre-schism church determined the canon in a series of recommended books to be read publicly in church.
4 - Luther split from the Catholic church in order to get married. Nope, Luther was worried about being executed and initially rejected marrying Katherine Von Bora.

Any other favorites?

 

[JM]

Number 1 on your list bothers me the most. Joe Rogan use to mention that Constantine created the canon every time religion was being discussed. I was happy to see Cultish podcast debunks that in a recent episode.

 

[Soyeong]

The position that our salvation/justification/righteousness/eternal life requires us to choose be doers of God's law (which is a position that the Bible repeatedly speaks in favor of) is the same as the position that we are required to have first obeyed God's law in order to result in receiving our salvation/justification/righteousness/eternal life as if they could be earned a a wage (which is a position that the Bible repeatedly speaks against).

 

[bling]

“Man’s objective is to bring glory to God”, does God need anything from man? Does a tree brings glory to God by being a tree, so how do we do better? Some say, we bring glory to God, no matter what we do, since we are only doing what God foreordained us to do, so we do nothing? Can we take any command from scripture and call it our God given objective with biblical support? Is there one or two commands that all other commands are subordinate to, which is our objective in this life?

 

[The Liturgist]

What misconceptions make you beat your head on a wall because it feels good when it stops?

1 - The canon was decided by Constantine at the Council of Nicea. The canon was not even a topic of discussion at Nicea.
2 - The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox are just Catholics without a pope. That is if Catholics and Protestants even acknowledge our existence....
3 - The Roman Catholic church determined the canon. No, the pre-schism church determined the canon in a series of recommended books to be read publicly in church.
4 - Luther split from the Catholic church in order to get married. Nope, Luther was worried about being executed and initially rejected marrying Katherine Von Bora.

Any other favorites?

The idea being actively promoted by some members that the Flat Earth is an essential Christian doctrine.

Also the beliefs of Landmark Baptists and Adventists that various Gnostic heresies and also the Waldensians shared their doctrine, when there is no evidence that any of this is true, and the Waldensians are still around today and have no record of belief in Landmark Baptism or Adventism.

 

[The Liturgist]

(staff edit of a quote)


No Christian denomination kisses idols.

I will add the Iconoclast error that icons are idols to my list of most annoying misbeliefs about Christianity.

 

[PsaltiChrysostom]

Could a moderator move this to Traditional history? I was really hoping that this would be focused on things that make those of us with historical knowledge vent some of our frustrations and instead, well, it actually proved my entire point with "kissing idols".

Goes back to drinking my coffee which I wish was Irish coffee.

 

[FreeinChrist]

ADVISOR HAT

This thread had a small clean up and was moved to Traditional Theology as requested by the OP.

Folks, pay attention to what forum you are in. In the Statement of Purpose for this forum includes:
​

Definition of Traditional Christianity:​

​

Traditional Christians hold to the traditional beliefs and customs of the early church that Jesus Christ established and believe they should be acknowledged and used in the development of the Church today. Traditional Christians believe that the Church and associated Tradition - especially from the Apostolic / early Church - guide us even today. These traditions include sources such as church councils and creeds, writings of the early Church Fathers, testimony of the Lives of the Saints, classic confessions of the faith, etc. Many traditional Christians believe that each Christian is involved in a movement toward God, commonly known as theosis or sanctification. Traditional Christians recognize a variety of sacraments and sacramental acts including, but not limited to; Baptism, Holy Communion (Eucharist), Confession and Absolution, Chrismation (confirmation) etc., and consider them to be additional means whereby God imparts His grace on those who have faith.​

​

Example denominations include, but are not limited to, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicans, Assyrian Church of the East, etc.​

​

Don't be insulting toward the beliefs of this group . ​

 

[BNR32FAN]

What misconceptions make you beat your head on a wall because it feels good when it stops?

1 - The canon was decided by Constantine at the Council of Nicea. The canon was not even a topic of discussion at Nicea.
2 - The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox are just Catholics without a pope. That is if Catholics and Protestants even acknowledge our existence....
3 - The Roman Catholic church determined the canon. No, the pre-schism church determined the canon in a series of recommended books to be read publicly in church.
4 - Luther split from the Catholic church in order to get married. Nope, Luther was worried about being executed and initially rejected marrying Katherine Von Bora.

Any other favorites?

Constantine started the Catholic Church and incorporated pagan beliefs into Christianity and that’s why we worship on Sunday because he changed the day of worship to coicide with the pagan worship of the sun god.

Never happened.

 

[BNR32FAN]

What misconceptions make you beat your head on a wall because it feels good when it stops?

1 - The canon was decided by Constantine at the Council of Nicea. The canon was not even a topic of discussion at Nicea.
2 - The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox are just Catholics without a pope. That is if Catholics and Protestants even acknowledge our existence....
3 - The Roman Catholic church determined the canon. No, the pre-schism church determined the canon in a series of recommended books to be read publicly in church.
4 - Luther split from the Catholic church in order to get married. Nope, Luther was worried about being executed and initially rejected marrying Katherine Von Bora.

Any other favorites?

We don’t need to obey Jesus’ teachings because He taught the old Covenant so they don’t apply to us.

Absolutely unbelievable heresy.

 

[BNR32FAN]

What misconceptions make you beat your head on a wall because it feels good when it stops?

1 - The canon was decided by Constantine at the Council of Nicea. The canon was not even a topic of discussion at Nicea.
2 - The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox are just Catholics without a pope. That is if Catholics and Protestants even acknowledge our existence....
3 - The Roman Catholic church determined the canon. No, the pre-schism church determined the canon in a series of recommended books to be read publicly in church.
4 - Luther split from the Catholic church in order to get married. Nope, Luther was worried about being executed and initially rejected marrying Katherine Von Bora.

Any other favorites?

Paul taught a different gospel than Christ.

Both taught the gospel of Christ that is to be preached to all creation, to both Jews and Gentiles, to all nations, to the whole world.

 

[The Liturgist]

I assume @BNR32FAN that the last three posts contain the misbeliefs about Christianity you find most annoying?

 

[PsaltiChrysostom]

I assume @BNR32FAN that the last three posts contain the misbeliefs about Christianity you find most annoying?

Yup! BNR is good

 

[BNR32FAN]

I assume @BNR32FAN that the last three posts contain the misbeliefs about Christianity you find most annoying?

Yes, I hope I wasn’t confusing people the way I posted it. I’ll go back and edit them to make them more clear.

 

[The Liturgist]

Yes, I hope I wasn’t confusing people the way I posted it. I’ll go back and edit them to make them more clear.

That’s probably not necessary since your clarification combined with Psalti Chryostom’s endorsement of you should be sufficient for anyone. We are after all in Traditional Theology, a forum renowned for its warmth, hospitality and genteel sophistication.

 

[Tigger45]

Most annoying misbeliefs about Christianity?​

That biblically orthodox Christianity in anyway teaches that believers are SELF righteous. We are chosen but covered in Christ’s righteousness. Although I can understand why some unbeliervers might get that impression by the attitudes of some Christians.

 

[FireDragon76]

Most people aren't aware, but outside of Catholicism or Anglicanism, there isn't really a concept of a rigidly defined canon as such.

 

[The Liturgist]

Most people aren't aware, but outside of Catholicism or Anglicanism, there isn't really a concept of a rigidly defined canon as such.

ForgIve me, but that’s not entirely inaccurate, outside of certain denominations such as Lutheranism. There are formal canons in use among the Eastern Orthodox, with only minor variations concerning which of the books the Roman Catholics call Deuterocanonical are canonical between the Slavonic and Greek churches. In addition each Oriental Orthodox Church has its own canon, and the Ethiopians have two of them.

Furthermore, within Anglicanism Anglo Catholics have a different view of the Deuterocanon than lower High Church, ordinary Low Church, and Evangelical Anglicans, with the lower tiers of Churchmanship sometimes avoiding their use. And since the 39 Articles are no longer binding in the Episcopal Church, and the late Fr. Boucher once quoted the Gospel of Mary in order to argue that the creeds should be removed from the liturgy (ironically, the verse he quoted is also in the Synoptics), one could argue that the Episcopalians have moved closer to the Lutheran idea of an open canon.

Furthermore in the case of Methodism, if memory serves John Wesley deleted the apocrypha from the lessons for Morning and Evening prayer when compiling his recession of the BCP, the Sunday Service Book.

And of course the Deuterocanon is wildly and undeservedly unpopular among Reformed and Baptist Christians, which in the case of Calvinists is ironic considering John Calvin appears to have regarded Baruch as protocanonical.

In any case, there is near universal agreement concerning the 27 book Athanasian canon, which is now recognized even by the Assyrian Church of the East, which famously stuck to the 22 book canon of the Peshitta for a few centuries, while the West Syriac churches supplemented their Peshittas with the missing five books not translated with the rest of the Peshitta being added to it from the translation of Thomas of Harqel (known as the Harklean Bible).

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Most people aren't aware, but outside of Catholicism or Anglicanism, there isn't really a concept of a rigidly defined canon as such.

ForgIve me, but that’s not entirely inaccurate, outside of certain denominations such as Lutheranism. There are formal canons in use among the Eastern Orthodox, with only minor variations concerning which of the books the Roman Catholics call Deuterocanonical are canonical between the Slavonic and Greek churches. In addition each Oriental Orthodox Church has its own canon, and the Ethiopians have two of them.

Furthermore, within Anglicanism Anglo Catholics have a different view of the Deuterocanon than lower High Church, ordinary Low Church, and Evangelical Anglicans, with the lower tiers of Churchmanship sometimes avoiding their use. And since the 39 Articles are no longer binding in the Episcopal Church, and the late Fr. Boucher once quoted the Gospel of Mary in order to argue that the creeds should be removed from the liturgy (ironically, the verse he quoted is also in the Synoptics), one could argue that the Episcopalians have moved closer to the Lutheran idea of an open canon.

Furthermore in the case of Methodism, if memory serves John Wesley deleted the apocrypha from the lessons for Morning and Evening prayer when compiling his recession of the BCP, the Sunday Service Book.

And of course the Deuterocanon is wildly and undeservedly unpopular among Reformed and Baptist Christians, which in the case of Calvinists is ironic considering John Calvin appears to have regarded Baruch as protocanonical.

In any case, there is near universal agreement concerning the 27 book Athanasian canon, which is now recognized even by the Assyrian Church of the East, which famously stuck to the 22 book canon of the Peshitta for a few centuries, while the West Syriac churches supplemented their Peshittas with the missing five books not translated with the rest of the Peshitta being added to it from the translation of Thomas of Harqel (known as the Harklean Bible).

Certainly for Lutherans, it is not closed. We know from Scripture that there are "other books" quoted that have been lost to antiquity; one never knows, but something may yet come to light that is worthy of inclusion. This is different than one Church having more or less books than another. The closing of the Catholic Canon is historically a fairly recent innovation I believe.

 

[FireDragon76]

Certainly for Lutherans, it is not closed. We know from Scripture that there are "other books" quoted that have been lost to antiquity; one never knows, but something may yet come to light that is worthy of inclusion. This is different than one Church having more or less books than another. The closing of the Catholic Canon is historically a fairly recent innovation I believe.

As far as I know, there isn't a hard and fast rule in making a distinction between prolegomena and antilegomena (lesser authorities), and it ultimately comes down to the witness of the early Church and later scholarship.

In the Reformed tradition, even though there may be confessional statements that mention the accepted books of the Bible, the confessions are merely an exposition of the faith, they aren't in themselves infallible statements about the faith. Therefore, many Reformed scholars and theologians would accept the concept of an open canon in principle, if not in practice.