It's frustrating when facts ruin a good story. I was researching the famous statement that cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made after the first successful space flight, when he commented that he hadn't seen God in space. Trouble is, there's no record of Gagarin having said anything like that.

Turns out that Gagarin was a religious man, an active member of the Russian Orthodox church. General Valentin Petrov, a close friend of Gagarin, offers this quote from the cosmonaut: "An astronaut cannot be suspended in space and not have God in his mind and his heart."

Just because someone says a famous person said something, doesn't mean they actually did. We've seen example after example of that on the Internet. One person misquoting another is far too common.

It happens with God, too. People stand up and say, "God likes this" or "God hates that," when God never said anything of the sort. Even Christians end up misquoting God or putting words into God's mouth.

So what can we do? Here are some suggestions:

  • Read the Bible. I know that seems obvious, but it's a step that many skip. If you want to know what God said, read it for yourself.

  • Learn to differentiate between what God says and man says. Did you know that not everything in the Bible is true? That is, at times the Bible gives us an accurate report of what men have said, even when those men aren't right. We see that in the book of Job, for example, when we have the reporting of entire speeches by Job's friends, only to have God say to them, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right." (Job 42:7) Sometimes, the words recorded in the Bible aren't God's words, but man's.

  • Don't put words into God's mouth. If you're going to say, "God says," make sure you're actually quoting God. If you're going to say, "The Bible says…," make sure you're quoting the Bible and not giving your interpretation of what is written.

    • If you want to know what God said, read it for yourself
  • Fact check what others tell you about God. This goes back to the first point. Don't accept what others tell you about God until you see it for yourself in the Bible.

When you start to see what God really has said, you'll learn that he has good news for this world. If you want to know more about that good news, Write me at tarcher@heraldoftruth.org or join us on www.hopeforlife.org.

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