MYTH by Tuese

MYTH

by Tuese

Myth /miTH/ 

noun

1. 

a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.

synonyms:

folk tale, story, folk story, legend, tale, fable, saga, allegory, parable, tradition, lore, folklore; More

o    

2. 

a widely held but false belief or idea.

"he wants to dispel the myth that sea kayaking is too risky or too strenuous"

synonyms:

misconception, fallacy, mistaken belief, false notion, misbelief, old wives' tale, fairy story, fairy tale, fiction, fantasy, delusion, figment of the imagination;  invention, fabrication, falsehood, untruth, lie, trumped-up story, fake news, alternative fact; informalstory, tall story, tall tale, fib, cock and bull story, kidology "there are still plenty of myths surrounding pregnancy and childbirth"

MYTH APPEARS 5 TIMES IN SCRIPTURE

1 Timothy 1:3-5  

³ As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, ⁴ nor to devote themselves to MYTHS AND ENDLESS GENEALOGIES, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. ⁵ The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

1 Timothy 4:1-3 

4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and TEACHINGS OF DEMONS, ² through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, ³ who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

1 Timothy 4:6-8  

⁶ If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. ⁷ HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IRREVERENT, SILLY MYTHS.Rather train yourself for godliness; ⁸ for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

2 Timothy 4:3-5 

³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and WANDER OFF INTO MYTHS.⁵ As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Titus 1:13-15 

¹³ This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴ NOT DEVOTING THEMSELVES TO JEWISH MYTHS AND THE COMMANDS OF PEOPLE WHO TURN AWAY FROM THE TRUTH. ¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

2 Peter 1:16

[ Christ's Glory and the Prophetic Word ] For we did not FOLLOW CLEVERLY DEVISED MYTHSwhen we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Myths, fables, and false doctrine can be communicated to the mind powerfully through TV and movies.  Hollywood’s magic wand of mesmerizing and amusing the mind has great influence in distorting reality with its falsehoods.  

Myth

The word "myth" (Gk. muthos [mu'qo"]) only appears five times in the Bible, all in the New Testament, and all but one in the pastoral epistles ( 1 Tim 1:4 ;  4:7 ;  2 Tim 4:4 ;  Titus 1:14 ;  2 Peter 1:16 ). All of these were translated in the King James Version as "fable." More recent versions (such as RSV, NASB, NEB, and NIV) have almost uniformly used the word "myth."

In all of these occurrences, the context makes it plain that Paul and Peter are using the term in its common sense of something false. Thus, it is what is contrary to sound doctrine ( 1 Tim 1:4 ), particularly in relation to asceticism and spirit-worship ( 1 Tim 4:7 ). Those who leave the Word of God and its sound teachings will choose myths and not truth ( 2 Tim 4:4 ). If people are to have a sound faith, they must not listen to myths taught by those who reject the truth ( Titus 1:14 ). Finally, the gospel narratives are not fictional tales, but actual eyewitness reports ( 2 Peter 1:16 ). In each case, muthos[mu'qo"] is used to describe something that is contrary to the truth, whether that truth be the doctrines relating to Christian behavior or the accounts of Christ's life, death, and resurrection.

What is not clear is whether any of these references have in mind the ancient legends of the gods that we commonly think of in reference to the term "myth." With regard to the references in the Pastoral Epistles, the answer seems to be no. In fact, in one case ( Titus 1:14 ), they are specifically labeled "Jewish myths, " which certainly did not include any legends of the gods. While it is possible that 2 Timothy 4:4 may speak of Christians who will abandon the truth of their religion and turn to the pagan religions, the two references in 1 Timothy (1:4 and 4:7), along with the one in Titus, seem to be referring to the kind of Jewish mysticism described in Colossians 2:16-23. This was an elitist kind of piety that emphasized secret religious knowledge and rigorous self-denial. Part of the secret knowledge involved knowing the secret names of a whole hierarchy of angels ( Col 2:18 ;  1 Tim 1:4 , "genealogies" ). This concept of a hierarchy of angels was almost certainly the result of the contamination of Jewish thought by pagan thought, but there is little reason to think that Paul was thinking of that derivation when he called these ideas "myths." It appears that he is only describing them as falsehoods. So, in Goodspeed's version of the New Testament the translation used is "fictions."

https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/myth/