Misconceptionsby Dale Harcombe | More from this Blogger 26 Nov 2007 03:15 PM Ideas held for years can turn out to be wrong. Parents and what they taught us can be wrong, as I discovered this week. All the time I was growing up, I always knew a plant most people call Agapanthus, as Star of Bethlehem. That's what my mother told me it was. Since she was an avid gardener, I never doubted what she said was true. Then, recently while reading Playing with Water, a story of a garden, the author mentioned this Star of Bethlehem. (Ornithogalum umbellatum.) From her description it sounded nothing like the plant I knew. Curious, I did some investigating and found that for all these years what I had thought and the information my mother told me was wrong. The plants I'd always called Star of Bethlehem were in fact not that at all. Sometimes we can be like that about God. We have an idea in our head. But often the picture we have of God is not the reality- it is not what the bible teaches. We are working on false information that someone else has been passed on, or from our own imaginations, or based on Hollywood movies, rather than checking up and seeing what the bible has to say on the subject. At most of the churches my husband and I have been involved in, the minister or pastor has always made a point of encouraging people in the congregation to keep their bible up while he is giving the talk or sermon, that wee they can follow along and see whether what he is saying is biblically sound. When I was giving lectures on a bible passage for an interdenominational ladies bible study, I encouraged the women to follow along in the bibles and see for themselves whether what I was saying was right according to God's Word. The trouble is, even after learning the truth about these plants, it is hard to get used to calling them something different. The habit of years of the misinformation is so strong. 'Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of.' If each of us wants to know God in a real and intimate way, we need make a habit of paying attention to His Word and what it teaches of Him. A good starting place would be a study of the names of God, or perhaps pick an attribute of God, e.g. love, justice, mercy, holiness, faithfulness, etc and with a concordance follow it through. Another useful tool is a book about God's Attributes. But always check what is written lines up with what the bible teaches. Let's make sure our knowledge and experience of God is based on reality not misconceptions. Please visit these related blogs The Names of God-Jehovah- the Great I am Learn more about Dale Harcombe  Dale has a passion for books and writing. She writes in various forms, from articles to poetry to fiction for children and adults. Relevantchristian tags User Comments  QueenAngie Central Illinois, USA |
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