Have you ever thought you’ve known something only to find out that what you thought you knew isn’t actually true? If you can relate to this, then it seems you’re not alone. There are many common misconceptions that have somehow become fact and gospel truth to many. According to the London tourist attraction, Ripley’s Believe it or not! There are many ‘facts’ that are accepted but vast numbers of the population that are simply not true or, at best, inaccurate. The Daily Mail listed 50 misconceptions uncovered by Ripley’s. Here are just a few ‘facts’ that you may need to rethink:
You can see the Great Wall of China from space.
Many people believe that the Great Wall is the one man-made structure visible from space and seeing that most of us will never travel far enough to verify this fact, it’s not surprising it’s just taken as read. The truth is, according to Apollo astronauts, you can’t see the Great Wall or any other structure from the moon.
Vitamin C is a good cold treatment
If you’ve ever had a cold you’ve probably been advised to take vitamin C to help you recover. Unfortunately according to experts if you already have a cold then dosing up on Vitamin C is unlikely to do much good. Vitamin C is believed to build up the immune system to stop you getting a cold in the first place, so take it before you get sick!
Carrots will help you see in the dark
Sadly this one isn’t true either. Carrots are however good sources of Vitamin A (also known as retinol) which your body needs in order for you to see in low-light situations, like at night. If you are deficient in Vitamin A you’ll struggle to see when it’s darker. Eating carrots however will correct this but only back to normal levels… you won’t become superhuman.
One human year is equal to seven dog years
Apparently this is true for some breeds but not all of them. The ratio of human years to dog years is dependent on the size and the breed of the dog.
You should wait an hour after eating before you swim
You aren’t any more likely to drown straight after a meal than you would be if you waited an hour. Having said that you may be uncomfortable doing any exercise after a large meal and therefore swimming may require more effort than normal.
The forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden was an apple
The bible does say that Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil but it doesn’t say what type of fruit that was.
Many of the things that people believe to be true do have an element of truth to them. It seems that facts were accurate to a point and then through embellishment, exaggeration or miscommunication, they morphed into something incorrect, just like a game of Chinese whispers or Broken telephone. One person said something and passed it onto another but before it had been passed to the next person the original message had been changed.
Go to the source
There are many misconceptions held about God, Jesus and the bible. Often people believe something because it’s what they’ve been told as a child. Sometimes the information gets blurred or communicated in a way that doesn’t really convey the intent or message that was originally intended. Allowing other people’s experience or perception of what a relationship with God is like is unlikely to give you a true picture. The bible tells us to ‘Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see’ what God is like, not just rely on second-hand information but return to the source and experience it for ourselves.
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