Another urban legend debunk – this time about the “center” verse of the bible. The claim is that the verse at the very middle of the bible might contain an extra important message – and that the verse is Psalm 118:8 which reads: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.”

As usual, urban legends contain an element of truth. The actual middle of the bible would be Psalm 118:8-9 which also includes the verse:  “It is better to take refue in the Lord than to trust in princes.” So I guess we could concede that the general meaning is still intact by combining the two verses.

You can read all the nitty gritty details at one source here:
(*Update 06/21 – there is not currently an article on this topic at the Snopes website. Please see note at the top of this post*)

http://www.snopes.com/religion/center.asp

For several years now, when I get those feel good stories that command you to forward to 10 other people, I automatically google the story and 9 times out of 10 – it’s an urban legend. Then I email a link to the urban legend debunk page back to the sender.

Sometimes I get rude responses – and most of the time no response, but I stop getting the feel good stories emailed to me. Yes, I feel a *little* bad for raining on parades – but if I want a feel good story I would rather read something I *know* is fantasy like a good Disney film. I don’t care to mix the worlds anymore – it doesn’t bring me joy. I guess that puts me in the category of Skeptic which to many people has negative connotations, but I think it’s a good thing.

And what do I do for a living? I work in music and create imaginary worlds for live performance and media. But I like the control of choosing when to delve into those worlds.

It’s also my opinion that there are quite enough inspirational stories in the bible and in the real world – we don’t need to make them up.