2) “God helps those who help themselves.”

It’s embarrassing to admit how many times I have heard people quote this out of ignorance, as if it were truly in the Bible. Algernon Sidney said it originally, and later Benjamin Franklin made the words famous.

God said something quite to the contrary. Romans 5:6 makes this statement, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Isaiah 25:4 says, “For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat…”

We see the story of the Good Samaritan and of Jesus kneeling in the dust with the woman caught in the very act of adultery. The religious leaders of the day were fully prepared to stone her to death for her misdeeds, but Jesus stepped in and saved the life of this woman who could not help herself.

Let us be careful when putting God’s name on our politics and prejudices.