There seems to be many Christian beliefs held by believers which have no biblical support whatsoever. It makes one wonder how these beliefs developed. Was it one guy, or a collective belief which was emergent from culture? Why do Christians believe these things when their Bible itself doesn't teach them or, even comment on the issue at all?

A few beliefs which seem to have no biblical support whatsoever, off the top of my head:

Human embryos have souls.

Heaven is an enjoyable place to be.

Suicide will damn you, in some way.

I'm sure there's a lot more, but I can't think of any at the moment. Feel free to volunteer more, Atheists!

Christians, why do you believe these things if they aren't in the Bible? Oh, and if you have a verse which you think does describe these issues, feel free to volunteer it.

Matthew 22:20

- OT law no longer applies (except for the ten commandments for some reason)

- The serpent in the Garden of Eden was Satan

do i have the right passage? what does this have to do with the op?

No one HAS a soul (nephesh), biblically speaking. People and animals (and possibly fetuses as well) ARE souls. A soul is a living creature.

Without even getting into scripture on the issue, it is the default assumption that the terms of one covenant do not apply under a different covenant.

It is very clear that the 'new covenant' simply meant that animal sacrifices were replaced by the ultimate sacrifice.

Think so, huh? Opinions obviously differ on the subject.

The idea of an Antichrist is pretty much made up.

I think you should really read the bible before you make these assumptions. Also...Christians beliefs aren't restricted totally by the Bible.

I may believe that it's wrong to eat animals.... has nothing to do with my faith in God.

The Holy Trinity

Masturbation is bad; actually it was Onans refusal to continue his brothers bloodline that angered God.

The Magisterium

Yes it is. Believing that it's morally wrong to eat animals is heretic.

Clergymen performing "magic tricks for dummies" in the form of Transubstantiation, Consubstantiation, or Sacramental union.

• The change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ, or
• The body and blood of Christ are present alongside the substance of the bread and wine, which remain present, or
• Anyone eating and drinking these "elements"—the consecrated bread and wine—really eat and drink the physical body and blood of Christ as well.

Baptizing infants, confessing your sins to a priest

Monogamy. Well...for men.

Wearing a gold cross around your neck.

I think these probably have Biblical support, though they may require taking the next step.

For instance: Suicide will damn you. Suicide is killing. Thou shall not kill.

Human Embryos have souls- is probably a logical deduction. I don't know that they had a very thorough concept of the embryo when the Bible was written but I assume if you believe that every human life has a soul it would make sense to assume an embryo has one. While this isn't written out in the Bible I see plenty of reason for a Christian to assume this is the case.

I'm not really sure about the heaven one.

Those who openly deny god can still go to heaven LOL.

Sort of. Actually, there are many "antichrists" in the Bible, like there are many antichrists in this forum. Though I think what you meant is no specific individual titled "The Antichrist" is talked about in the Bible, which is correct.

Point of clarification.

The sense of the original text, as opposed to English translations, is: "Thou shalt not murder." Suicide is not murder, which is a form of homicide.

this is debateable and a question of semantics, no?

fwiw- in my old church going days I nearly always (if not always) was taught "thou shall not kill." I realize that this may have a translation error but its really irrelevent if the question is where do Christians get these beliefs. If millions have Bibles whose translation says "Thou Shall not Kill", regardless of whether the translation is correct or not, it certainly can answer why they might believe suicide is wrong.

Also- according to Webster's definition of murder:
I would argue that still applies. Essentially, one can argue that suicide is self murder.

(and again, you can disagree if this is accurate but this is what I recall being taught 30 years ago when I was a church/Bible class attendee.)

Infant baptism:
Whole households were baptized, it was almost certain that infants were as well.

"Luke 18:15–16 tells us that "they were bringing even infants" to Jesus; and he himself related this to the kingdom of God: "Let the children come to me
. . . for to such belongs the kingdom of God."



James 5:16 "Conefess your sins to one another..." -

John 20:23 "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.""

Confessing sins has been practiced since the Early Church. It has since been changed and made more private to a priest sworn on secrecy instead of the whole congregation.

Life begins at conception.

Assuming 'born' means 'miscarried'. Otherwise I've no idea what it means.

Interesting, but from my understanding and those I know, Jesus was very clear that he was ushering in a new covenant. If it was simply replacing animal sacrifice then he probably wouldn't have done some of the following:
-broke the Sabbath repeatedly and defended those who did
-condemned stoning

As for the idea that a fetus has a soul:

At least in the old testament the punishment for causing a miscarriage was the same as that for destroying someone's material belongings. Now, that may have applied purely to unintentionally causing one.

As far as biblical justification for why some may believe that, it is said that God knew someone while they were in the womb.

And in general, many Christians don't justify every single belief they have and thing they do based on the Bible. Some take the overall message of Jesus (which for that time, and for many of his lessons any time, was very compassionate, merciful, and radical) and apply it. For instance, they'll focus more on being compassionate and may enact that compassion in many ways.

Example: though there isn't a prohibition on drinking, some Christian sects were/are opposed to legalized alcohol because the effects of it causes harm to some people and they believe it harms society as a whole. So their compassion and concern for others lead/leads them to support prohibition.

and yet Jesus says "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

Given that Concerto claimed "terms of one covenant do not apply under a different covenant.", one will have to explain how if the terms of the old covenant are adherence to the OT laws, then how then do these OT laws still not apply in the new covenant given the very clear words of Jesus?

It also seems quite clear from Jesus' words at the Last Supper that the new covenant speaks only on the "treaty" between man and God, that no longer relied on animal sacrifice, but rather on the body and blood of Jesus Himself. I see no where in the Bible that Jesus claims the OT laws no longer apply in this "new covenant".