Apologetics

Common Misconceptions

Explore clear, thoughtful answers to questions about the Bible, Jesus, and the Christian faith—so you can examine the evidence, strengthen your understanding, and share what you believe with confidence.

Explore the questions

Can the Bible Be Trusted?

Did Jesus Claim to Be God?

Do All Religions Lead to God?

Is Faith Just a Crutch?

What About Good People?

The Bible Can’t Be Trusted

Is probably the top misconception about Christianity that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“You can’t trust the Bible — it’s been changed so many times and lost through translation.”

I used to believe this too. But the more I investigated, the more I realized: that claim doesn’t hold up under historical scrutiny.

In reality, the Bible is the most well-preserved and well-attested ancient document in human history. We have over 25,000 ancient manuscripts of the New Testament alone — in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and other early languages (Aland & Aland, 1987; Wallace, 2006). No other ancient work comes close.

For comparison:

Julius Caesar’s “Gallic Wars” survives in only about 10 manuscripts, all copied centuries later (Metzger & Ehrman, 2005).

Alexander the Great’s life is known through just a handful of sources, written 300+ years after his death (Flint, 2013).

Yet the New Testament was written within a few decades of Jesus’ life, and we have fragments dating as early as the 2nd century (Wallace, 2006).

Because of the enormous volume and early dating of these biblical manuscripts, scholars can compare thousands of copies across centuries and regions. The result? The New Testament we have today is over 99% textually consistent with the earliest available manuscripts. The remaining differences are minor spelling variations or word order, none of which change any core doctrine or narrative (Aland & Aland, 1987; Metzger & Ehrman, 2005).

So rather than being lost in translation or corrupted over time, the Bible is actually the most reliably transmitted document of the ancient world (Tov, 2012).

Jesus Never Claimed to Be God

This is a common claim, but when we examine the earliest biblical texts carefully, the evidence tells a different story.

In the Gospels, Jesus makes several statements that strongly imply his divine identity. For example:

In John 10:30, Jesus says, “I and the Father are one,” which his Jewish audience clearly understood as a claim to divinity, since they accused him of blasphemy (Carson, 1991; Kostenberger, 2004).

He accepts titles that belong only to God, like “I am” (John 8:58), directly echoing God’s self-identification in Exodus 3:14 (Beasley-Murray, 1987).

Jesus forgives sins (Mark 2:5-7), a divine prerogative that amazed the scribes (Witherington, 2001).

He also accepts worship (Matthew 14:33; John 20:28), something Jewish law reserves for God alone (Danker, 2000).

Even outside the Gospels, the early church clearly understood Jesus as divine — a belief reflected in the letters of Paul, written within 20-30 years of Jesus’ death (e.g., Philippians 2:6-11) (Wright, 2003).

Scholars overwhelmingly agree that Jesus claimed a unique divine status. While the exact nature of his divinity was later clarified in church councils, the claim that he never asserted it is not supported by the earliest texts or historical scholarship (McGrath, 2011).

All Religions Can Lead to God

This is one of the most widespread misconceptions about Christianity — and religion in general. While it sounds inclusive, the claim breaks down under logical and theological scrutiny.

Different religions make mutually exclusive truth claims about God, salvation, and the nature of reality. For example:

Christianity teaches that Jesus is the only way to God (John 14:6) — not one among many (Craig, 2008).

Islam denies that Jesus is the Son of God or that he was crucified.

Buddhism is non-theistic and offers liberation through self-realization, not through a divine being at all.

Hinduism embraces a vast pantheon and teaches reincarnation, which Christianity fundamentally rejects.

If all religions are true, then God both exists and doesn’t exist; Jesus both rose and didn’t rise from the dead; salvation is both by grace and by works — logical contradictions that cannot simultaneously be true (Copan, 2009).

Christianity is unique in that it is not primarily about moral improvement or human striving, but about God entering history in the person of Jesus Christ to accomplish salvation for humanity (Keller, 2008; McGrath, 2011).

Respecting other religions doesn’t mean pretending they’re all the same. In fact, to do so dishonors the unique convictions each one holds.

People Believe in God to Cope With Life

It’s often said that faith in God is just a psychological crutch — something people cling to for comfort. But benefiting from something doesn’t mean it’s false. That logic falls apart quickly.

If someone is drowning, and they grab a life preserver, we don’t call that weakness — we call it wisdom. The emotional comfort that comes from believing in God is a natural byproduct, not a delusion (Keller, 2008).

In fact, many great thinkers have argued that it’s atheism, not belief in God, that can more easily be explained as a reaction to pain, injustice, or pride, rather than neutral reasoning (Lewis, 1940/2001; Plantinga, 2000).

Christianity doesn’t teach that belief is true because it feels good. It teaches that it is true regardless of how we feel — and that it happens to also offer hope, purpose, and meaning in a world that often feels dark (Craig, 2008).

Psychological benefit doesn’t disprove reality. Truth isn’t measured by comfort, but by coherence with reality. If God is real, then hope is not escapism — it’s alignment with truth (Plantinga, 2000).

God Wouldn’t Send Good People to Hell

This statement is technically true — but only if we rightly understand what it means to be “good.” The problem isn’t with God’s justice — it’s with our definition of goodness.

We tend to define “good” by comparison: “I’m not perfect, but I’m better than most.” But Jesus challenges that standard directly.

In Mark 10:17–22, a wealthy young man approaches Jesus and says, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replies, “Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone.” (v. 18).

Jesus isn’t denying His own goodness — He’s exposing the young man’s flawed assumptions. The man thought he was “good enough” by external moral standards, but Jesus reveals that true goodness is measured by God’s perfect holiness, not human comparison (Carson, 1991; Wright, 2004).

This young man had kept the commandments — at least outwardly — but he lacked total surrender to God. Jesus told him to sell everything and follow Him, but the man walked away sad. His idol wasn’t sin in general — it was self-righteousness and wealth (Piper, 2011).

The Bible consistently teaches that none are truly good by God’s standard (Romans 3:10–12). That’s why salvation isn’t earned — it’s received through grace (Ephesians 2:8–9). If “good people” could save themselves, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die (Lewis, 1952/2001).

So yes, God doesn’t send good people to hell — but the reality is, no one is truly good apart from Him. And He offers rescue not to those who are “good enough,” but to all who are willing to repent and trust Him..