Non-Christians are often fed misconceptions about Christianity by people of their own particular faith (an example of a misconception being proliferated by people of another faith might be the often-cited "Christians are polytheists" which many Muslims assert without the need to even ask a Christian) but it is also true that Christians may have misconceptions about their own religion, told by other Christians; people of any faith are likely to have this problem.
I'm asking what misconceptions Christians have about the faith as I feel it would enlighten me as a non-Christian and even perhaps other Christians. While debate is welcome, I do not wish this to become a dispute. This thread is not for disagreements between Christians of different stripes (e.g. denominational differences) but for beliefs Christians may have that can be labeled "un-Christian" or even heresy that some Christians might actually believe. If debate does occur, it will give me the green-light to research it myself and gain a better understanding, and help me avoid accruing false beliefs that I hear from Christians in the future.
Thanks for your participation!
As Graceandpeace mentioned that can get complicated because even among implicit/explicit Nicene confessors there are plenty of differences and expectations.
I would point most specifically to misconceptions over points of theology. An example would be the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is very well defined within historic Christian teaching, though there are chiefly two different approaches differing between the Eastern Churches and the Western Churches. But it isn't terribly uncommon for Christians to be confused or to have misconceptions about the Trinity. I've frequently encountered Christians who, as it turns out, have a view of the Trinity that is quite heterodox. Through being improperly taught in their church or otherwise, they've come to think of the Trinity in Modalistic terms, so rather than being Trinitarian, they are Modalist.
A frequent example that shows up more often in discussions I see is a lot of misconceptions and confusion about the historic teaching that Mary is Theotokos (God-bearer), the mother of God. Largely due to explicit or implicit fear or prejudice against Roman Catholicism and anything seemingly "too Catholic" this is often deeply misunderstood. So when I, a Lutheran, or another traditional Christian refers to the Blessed Virgin as "mother of God" or as "Theotokos" we are meaning that Mary, being the mother of Jesus Christ, had God Incarnate in her womb and gave birth to Him, and raised Him as her real and actual child, because He, being human,
is her child. But the misconception is that it elevates Mary to the position of godhood or demigodhood, that it is saying that Mary is above God, and gave birth to to the whole Trinity. Which it has never meant, it has only ever meant that Mary's child, Jesus, is really and actually God. I have found that this misconception can be very difficult to break through because certain prejudices are very hard to overcome.
Another I notice is confusion about what is meant when we confess faith in "one holy catholic Church" (Apostles' Creed) or "one holy catholic and apostolic Church" (Nicene Creed). It's the word "catholic" that befuddles some, because many are only familiar with catholic referring to Roman Catholicism, rather than in its historic meaning as referring to the catholicity of the Christian Church, that the Church exists spread out all over, sharing together in a common faith and Baptism in the unity of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
Misconceptions can often also abound in regard to the Sacraments. Many non-Sacramental Christians imagine that the traditional understanding of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper as efficacious means of grace means that these are "works" to be done in order to merit favor with God; but that isn't the historic understanding. While differences of opinion exist among traditional churches concerning the nature and meaning of these two Sacraments, there remains a shared belief that they are efficacious channels through which God has promised to operate in order to accomplish what He has said He would accomplish. That is to say, in Baptism we are promised forgiveness of sins, union with Christ in His death and resurrection, etc and God, therefore, in Baptism accomplishes that which has been promised in it. Likewise, in the Lord's Supper there is the promise of Christ's body broken for us, and His blood shed for us, therefore here there is indeed the body and blood of Christ broken and shed for us, and God does what He has promised by it. As such Baptism and the Lord's Supper are not understood or seen as things we do for God, but things God does and promises for us, they are the Gospel in visible form.
So those are some misconceptions, either about Christianity itself, or about more traditional forms of Christianity specifically.
-CryptoLutheran
