Wayne's World: Two Things You May Have Been Taught About the Bible That Just Aren't Exactly True

by Wayne Geiger

I wasn’t really raised in a Christian family. When I was young, we went to church, but there were heel marks all the way there. I found it boring and irrelevant.

Years later, after I gave my life to Christ and became a Christian, I had a passion to study the Bible. Honestly, the first thing I noticed was how big the Bible was. “What the heck is in this thing?” I wondered, but I began to devour its truth.

As the years went by, I was shocked, and a little dismayed, that deep-seeded truths that I had been taught were simply not true. They were “old wives’ tales,” or “urban legends,” passed down, kind of like George Washington and the cherry tree.

My original title was “five things…”, but I get a little wordy at times, and had to limit the number to two.

The apple

I began as an Android user, but I made the switch to an iPhone many years ago because I loved my iPad and wanted my devices to connect. You’re familiar with the Apple logo, I’m sure. It’s an apple with a bite out of it.

Rob Janoff was responsible for creating the Apple logo for Steve Jobs in 1977. The Apple logo clearly establishes the brand.

But this is not the apple that I’m talking about. I’m talking about Adam and Eve and “the” apple.

I grew up, like most people, being taught, and believing, that God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God clearly established the boundaries and penalties for disobedience. They were deceived by the Serpent. Eve ate first and gave it to her husband and the rebellion was born. That much is true as recorded in Genesis, the first book in the Bible.

What I was also taught, probably like you, was that the fruit they ate was an apple. Made sense to me. In fact, it was even published in books—color pictures and everything. I remember seeing the images in children’s books where the first couple ate of the apple. At that time, I believed everything written in books was true. Now, we know it’s not. It has to be on the Internet for it to be true.

Along the way in my spiritual journey, someone told me that it wasn’t actually an apple. I was shocked and offended. I found this less than appealing. This was a core belief (see what I did there?) At that point, my primary purpose was to prove this person wrong. I went back to the primary source—the book of Genesis and searched and read. I was quite surprised.

I found out that he was right and I was wrong. I hate when that happens!

Although the Bible does mention apples, the specific type of fruit that Adam and Eve ate is never mentioned in the story in Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-7. In addition, nowhere else in the Bible is it mentioned. In truth, we simply do not know what kind of fruit it was.

Interestingly, the only tree mentioned in that passage is a fig tree (Adam and Eve clothed themselves with fig leaves), but no other specifics are given. At the end of the day, the type of fruit is irrelevant. I’ve always preferred pecan pie to apple anyway.

Jesus Christ

In our society, most of us have first, middle, and last names. Some of us have two middle names or a suffix after our name. I am a junior. Named after my father. It’s also become common practice for some women to keep their maiden name hyphenated with their married name. Names help us identify one another and distinguish ourselves from others.

My wife and I have four children—two boys and two girls. I was not always thrilled with being named Wayne as a kid, I would have much preferred a cool name like Shawn, Michael, or Jeff.

I blame my first-grade teacher who had the brilliant idea to sit the entire class in a circle to discover the etymology of our names. I was enthralled with the idea. All the other kids had cool names that meant “a great prince” or “valiant warrior”. I could hardy contain my excitement when it became my turn, but by anticipatory joy turned to unprecedented horror when my teacher said Wayne means “wagon maker.” After a few giggles from my peers, the teacher reminded us that “Wagon makers were very important in the old days.” I was not convinced.

So, when my wife and I discussed having a family, I was already adamant that any sons would not be named, Wayne. However, I thought it would be cool if they had my middle name. My wife agreed, at least in principle.

When our first son came along, we named him Joshua and gave him my middle name, Wayne as planned Secretly, I have the George Forman idea in the back of my head. George had 5 sons and named them all, George. I would continue in that line of thought with my sons’ middle names.

We had girl, boy, girl, boy. Years later, when our forth child, Jonathan was born, I had already decided that his middle name would be Wayne. Turns out, my decision was only a suggestion. I was overruled by my wife who feared that he would be made fun of by kids who would call him John Wayne. My arguments of John Wayne being a western icon were irrelevant and my dream of being immortalized by my son’s middle name vanished into obscurity. But, back to my point. Before I knew better, I always assumed that Jesus’s last name was Christ. Made sense to me. Everybody has a last name. I was shocked to find out that it wasn’t his last name. In ancient times, including the time of the Bible, people didn’t have last names. They only had first names and their last names were often descriptive. For example, some people were identified by their father.

This is true in the life of the Apostle Peter. His real name was Simon. On one occasion, Jesus called him “Simon Bar- Jonah” (Matt 16:17). “Bar” means “son of”. So, Simon was “son of Jonah or John.” John is the New Testament version of Jonah.

In addition, Simon had a descriptive nickname assigned by Jesus Himself. When Jesus called Simon, he told him you shall be called “Cephas” (an Aramaic name) or “Peter” (the Greek equivalent). Both of these terms mean stone or rock. Peter, the wishy-washy apostle of extremes, I believe, was given the name “rock” to remind him of what God called him to be—stable like a rock.

When it comes to the name of Jesus Christ, Jesus was His first name, of course. Years ago, I was surprised to learn that there were others who were named Jesus. It was a common name. The name Jesus is the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament name, Joshua which means “God is salvation.” Although there were many men named, Jesus; there was only One, Jesus Christ.

Jesus, most often, is referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus, the Christ. The term “Christ” is descriptive. It means “Messiah” or “Anointed One.” Therefore, Jesus Christ means Jesus, the Anointed One. The Bible says Jesus was given “the name above all names.”

I’ve learned a few things in my journey of faith. Maybe that’s why, even now, I am a perpetual student and question everything. As a researcher by nature and by trade, I am passionate about digging in and finding truth.

Wayne Geiger is the Pastor of First Baptist Church Grain Valley, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Speech at Johnson Country Community College, and a freelance writer.