NO, The Bible Doesn't Require You to Join a local Church.

You’ve heard it all before.

You were told that you are disobeying God because you aren't attending a local church.

You want Christian fellowship. You've searched for a congregation you can actually associate with, but you haven't found one.

When you explain why you struggle with church, you're told that church is about giving, not receiving.

So you go.

And you GIVE your TIME.

You sit there, listening to the preacher who keeps missing the point again and again.

Afterwards, you drink tea.

You hear people talking about their children, the sports teams they support, and everything BUT GOD.

The only person who spoke about God was the preacher.
And nobody seems interested in discussing what he said - or failed to say.

Or maybe the preacher of THIS church was a smooth talker, and people like repeating his catchy slogans, missing the actual depth of the Bible passage that was read.

Then you leave.

And somehow, you feel even more lonely than when you arrived.

Surely that is not what God had in mind?

“A good tree CANNOT bear bad fruit,” Matthew 7:18. “No good tree produces bad fruit,” Jesus says, in Luke 6:43. THEN, He teaches the disciples to pray: “forgive US OUR SINS”. (Luke 11:4). 

If sinning is the bad fruit, Jesus was talking about, how is“bad fruit” distinguished from other kinds of sinning, when Jesus says: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit”? 

After all, James 3:2 says: “We all stumble in many ways.” 

Though Jesus clearly teaches us that a good tree CANNOT bear bad fruit, the apostle John acknowledges that a real Christian does indeed still sin, when he writes in 1 John 2: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But IF anybody DOES sin, we have an ADVOCATE with theFather - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He IS the atoning SACRIFICE for OUR SINS, and not ONLY for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

 This brings us back to the question: What type of tree areyou? If I dare claim to be a good tree, does that mean I claim to be without sin? And if I ACKNOWLEDGE that I DO INDEED sin, is that SINNING not bearing bad fruit, which, according to Jesus, only a BAD tree can do? If only a bad tree can bear bad fruit, does that mean I am in fact a bad tree if I ever sin? ... Ofcourse that cannot be the case.

 So, on the one hand, Jesus says “A good tree cannot bear badfruit” and also: “NO good tree PRODUCES bad fruit,” and on the other hand, He teaches us to PRAY “forgive us our sins”.

 We have to make sense, taking all of that into account.

 When Jesus says we CANNOT bear these bad fruits, what ARE the sins Christians still have to ask forgiveness for?

 When OUR LORD Jesus says a good tree CANNOT bear bad fruit, He is NOT just speaking in hyperbolic language, using extreme exaggeration, making a deliberate overstatement, saying one thing while actually meaning another, as some Theologians would have you believe. That is NOT WHO He IS. And YOU KNOW that. Those are just bad excuses, twisting and diluting Jesus’ words to try and make it fit the skewed Theological framework most of us have inherited. But we now have to choose between that frame of thinking and the actual Biblical truth.

 In this video I am not merely offering a differentconclusion from conventional theology. I am proposing a different categorization of what Scripture calls SIN, FRUIT, and the EVIDENCE OF REGENERATION.

 This is a wake-up call: As long as you still find yourselfbearing the bad fruits listed in the Bible, you have to realize that you were not born of the Spirit of God YET - and you HAVE to seek Him with all your heart as a matter of utmost urgency.

 Support This Channel (PayPal): paypal.me/ThinkingAboutGod

We look at how the apostle, Paul, left NO ROOM for deliberate sinning.When it comes to 1 Corinthians 6, one has to either decide: “You know what? Let’s just leave this passage out, because it shows the flaws in our overly simplified Theology.” Or, better yet: Let’s NOT leave this passage out and rather allow it to straighten out the overly simplified modern-day skewed Theology.Looking for the video script? You can find it on my blog: nicholasthinkingaboutgod.wordpress.comAbout the Channel: Thoughtful reflections on God, understanding the Bible, and questions that matter to believers.These are not sermons, but careful explorations and reflections on faith, trust, and spiritual growth.For anyone willing to think deeply about God and their spiritual journey.Links:Support This Channel (PayPal)paypal.me/ThinkingAboutGod🎧 Listen on Apple Podcastspodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nicholas-thinking-about-god/id1892433850🎧 Listen on Spotifyopen.spotify.com/show/6tOIuHUpW97kU1Z4x9hpsEEmail Address: [email protected]

Does Trinitarianism truly correspond to the reality of whoGod is?

For the past one point six thousand years, most Christianshave felt compelled to OFFICIALLY hold to the so-called Trinitarian view ofGod. But in day-to-day life, most of us don't really give much thought to thisdoctrine that was formulated about three-hundred-and-eighty years AFTER Christ.

The Trinitarian doctrine describes one God in three SEPARATEPersons. Yet, most Christians use the terms God, Father and "Lord Jesus" interchangeably. For most Christians, their personal worship of God, their relationship with God and their personal prayers to Him do not actually reflect Trinitarianism. Instead, they reflect a different relationship. Not a relationship with three Persons, but a relationship withONE Person.

 Most Christians pray, not to "Them," but to HIM.Singular.

Most of us call Him God, Father and Jesus. Most of us hardlyever address the Holy Spirit of God as a separate Person in prayer, even though Trinitarianism EMPHASIZES that the Holy Spirit "deserves the SAME WORSHIP as the Father and the Son." 

We look at: 

•The TENSION BETWEEN SCRIPTURE AND THEOLOGY.

•The ONENESS OF GOD.

•A MORE NATURAL VIEW.

•How THE SIMPLE TRUTH LEADS TO HONEST QUESTIONS.

Available in Video Format: https://youtube.com/@Nicholas-ThinkingAboutGod

The Lord Jesus told YOU to forgive YOUR brother 70 times 7.

So, you forgive your brother! But do you give him a secondchance to do whatever he messed up the first time? 

Hell, no, don’t be stupid! Be like Paul: Forgive them andLEAVE THEM. (Acts 15:36-41)

After a Christian was murdered, his wife said she forgivesher husband’s killer, for that is what her husband would have wanted.  

She knows what her husband would have wanted, while he was still on earth, but he is in heaven NOW. So, the real question becomes, how would he feel about the matter NOW. Now that he has been made perfect before God? The answer is NOT what most Christians would expect! Surprisingly, we are TOLD the answer in Revelation 6:9-11.

Answering the question: What does that MEAN in practical terms - to FORGIVE an evil killer, like THAT?

After a person has been born from the Spirit of God andbecome a new person, could they still deliberately sin against God?

Now, the question is not whether a born-again child of Godcan still sin against God: Obviously we all cannot help BUT sin against God daily UNINTENTIONALLY. But could we still sin against God deliberately? THAT is the question.

To see how God deals with deliberate sin, we’ll start in theOld Testament and then follow the thread right through to the New Testament.

In Numbers 15:27-30 we read: “If any of you sin UNINTENTIONALLY, you are to offer a one-year-old female goat as a sin offering. At the altar the priest shall perform the ritual of purification to purify you from your sin, and you will be forgiven. The same regulation applies to all whoUNINTENTIONALLY commit a sin, whether they are native Israelites or resident foreigners. But any who sin DELIBERATELY, whether they are natives or foreigners, are guilty of treating the Lord with contempt, and theyshall be put to death, because they have rejected whatthe Lord said and have DELIBERATELY broken one of his commands."

Directly after this warning, Numbers 15:32–36 provides aclear case study of what this meant in practice: A man is caught gathering wood on the Sabbath. He did not forget the law; he openly defied it, and therefore he was executed. No sin offering would be accepted for this man. He - had - to -die. In verse 36 we read: “So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.”

In line with Numbers 15, where deliberate sins were notforgiven, we read in the New Testament, in Hebrews 10:26-27 “If we DELIBERATELY keep on sinning AFTER we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of ragingfire that will consume the enemies of God.”  

So, we see, this principle has not changed in the NewTestament.

This brings us to the case of Ananias and Sapphira.

Ananias and Sapphira were accused by Peter, but immediately after hearing the accusation, they died instantly: They got no chance to repent. They sinned DELIBERATELY and they are given no chance for their sins to be forgiven; they were killed instantly, before they could even open theirmouths to say; “I - am - sorry”.

The abrupt ending of the lives of these “church people,”Ananias and Sapphira demonstrates Hebrews 10:26-27 “If we DELIBERATELY keep on sinning AFTER we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”  New International Version.

John writes in 1 John 3:9 “No one who is born of God willcontinue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them (God's very nature is in them); they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.”

This episode is part of the playlist, titled, “Born of theSpirit” and also part of another playlist, titled “Forgiveness” available on my YouTube Channel: Nicholas – Thinking about God.

If some people are predestined to be “born again,” is thatthe same as being predestined to be “saved” by God? 

In John 3:3-8 Jesus says to Nicodemus, “unless one isborn again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And “Unless one is born of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”  

In Ezekiel 36:26–27 God says: “I will give you a new heartand put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes...”  

Christian commentators - like John Taylor and Daniel Blockin their Bible commentaries note that this passage is widely understood in Christian theology as pointing to the New Testament doctrine of regeneration, whichis the new birth, as described in John 3. 

God says: “I will give you a new heart” 

In the Hebrew understanding your heart is not merely something inside of you: It is the essence of YOU. That is who you ARE - what the person really is - Not merely something you HAVE. In Scripture and in theology, the “heart” usually means the inner person - mind, will, desires, intentions, and identity as a whole. 

Likewise, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes: “If anyone isin Christ, he is a NEW CREATION. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” English Standard Version. 

Now, I want you to note that Paul writes “If anyone is inChrist, he IS a new creation” “HE - is a new creation, and not merely, “he HAS a new heart,” as if a new heart would include anything less than a new identity. It is not he HAS, but he IS a new creation. Clearly, for the apostle Paul, it is all-encompassing and not merely something new you now “have” inside of you: It is who you “ARE”. You ARE a new creation. So, it lines up with theOld Testament’s Hebrew understanding of the “heart” as the center of a person's WHOLE inner life - what the person really is: Your understanding, desires, feelings, determination and character.  

ALL of those are REMOVED – and then replaced with a newheart: A new center of your whole inner life!

 Now, I want to ask you: Has YOUR heart been saved by God?

 If you answer YES to that question – that DOES make a lot ofsense to me and I will also answer for myself: “Yes, my heart has been saved by God!”

 But – I also want for us to clearly think about what thatreally means.

 What both Ezekiel AND Paul are telling us, is that the heartthat was saved by God, so to speak – is NOT your original heart! It is a NEW heart! Your original heart is not saved. You were given a NEW HEART – and that new heart is your heart that is saved: 

Listen again to what God says: “I will give you a new heartand put a new spirit within you; I will REMOVE the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes...” Ezekiel 36:26–27.

“I will REMOVE the heart of stone from your flesh” God says.So, your original heart has NOT been “saved,” it was removed and you were given a new heart – and yes, your NEW heart is saved by God.”

Does the command to love your enemies INCLUDE or EXCLUDE rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and sadistic stranglers? “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” We DARE not ignore this COMMAND,directly from our High Commander, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 5:43. We therefore obey that command and we have no CHOICE in the matter. So, we DO love our enemies. But what does that entail? Should we lovethe sadistic strangler who crawled through a window at midnight and murdered a member of our own family? Should we even CONSIDER loving a ... rapist? A childmolester? Pedophile? Would loving such a lowlife not be betrayal against our own and even betrayal against our GOD? Do we actually LOVE the person whose name is not worth mentioning, who murdered Charlie Kirk?

If you feel a bit stuck at this point, let's get ourselves out of this ditch on our path to understanding, by bringing in another passage. In John 10:35 our Lord Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6. This quote, where the Psalmist refers to people as “gods,” would make the Pharisees and scribes -and even US uncomfortable, but Jesus does NOT allow them OR US to discard or change or water down a single statement ofthe Psalmist. What the Psalmist spoke is part of the God-inspired, holy Scripture and no one dares change it. So, in John 10:35 Jesus assertively states: “Scripture cannot be set aside.” This is a CORNERSTONE PRINCIPLE laiddown by our Lord Jesus Himself, and we cannot ignore this principle when we try to understand the Bible. Jesus quoted an uncomfortable statement from the Psalms that shallnot be dismissed. Now, I am going to quote another uncomfortable statement from the Psalms, that cannot bedismissed according to the principle that Jesus laid down for us: Psalm 139:21-22: “Do I not hate those who hate You, LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have becomemy enemies.” In John 10:35 Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be nullified!” So, we can logically conclude that these words in Psalm 139 cannot be nullified and Jesus Himself is certainly not going to nullify or set aside these words in His teachings, EVEN when He says in Matthew 5, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’But I say to you, love your enemies.”

This puts us in a position where we have to admit that up to this day, the Psalmist is STILL right to say, “I hate themwith the utmost hatred,” and we have to understand that Jesus’ command in Matthew 5 does not nullify those God-breathed words in Psalm 139:22.

When people read Matthew 5, they mistakenly tend toassume that Jesus wants love for our enemies to REPLACE hatred for enemies. But that assumption cannot be legitimate, because what is written in Psalm 139cannot be changed. According to Psalm 139, hatred for enemies HAS its place. So, we need to look for the correct understanding of Jesus’ command. The solution is not to try and remove hatred. I’ve just proved to you that it wouldbe unbiblical and against Jesus’ ground rule to do so. Jesus does not tell us to STOP HATING our enemies. If you look closely, you will see that He tells us to do more than JUST hate our enemies: to ALSO LOVE our enemies. Love is ADDEDto the picture, while hatred is, in fact, not taken out of it. Most people wrongly assume that love and hatred are mutually exclusive and cannot exist together, but I am going to prove to you that even in our daily lives they are not mutually exclusive. Love and hatred coexist. Both psychological andpsychoanalytic literature suggest that love and hatred are not strictly opposites, and can coexist as part of emotional ambivalence in human relationships (Freud, 1915; Cacioppo et al., 1997). This talk is part of a mini-series on the topic of loving our enemies and the series is part of a playlist on “The Sermon on the Mount.” Check out the playlists on my YouTube channel: Nicholas – Thinking about God!

Jesus states: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Youshall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies Matthew 5:43-45 

A Roman centurion was not only an ENEMY SOLDIER, but aCOMMANDER of ENEMY soldiers! God’s people, loved this enemy and their love for him TURNED HIS HEART AROUND so that in return he loved the Jewish nation - even to theextent that he built them a synagogue!

Even more importantly, this enemy commander of enemysoldiers developed faith in our God, a faith about which Jesus marveled, saying “not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” Luke 7:9 

In this account, we see how ENEMY-LOVE transformed a HEATHEN and an ENEMY into a fellow believer in our God. 

Simple as that. Mission accomplished: Love conquers ...about ... one percent of the time.  

Let’s be honest, ninety-nine percent of the time the enemy’sheart does NOT change. 99% of Roman soldiers did NOT start loving the Jewish nation and did NOT end up having faith in Jesus: In fact, they SPIT in His FACE! They CRUCIFIED Him! BUT... if loving our enemies could cause even 1% ofthem to turn to God, LOVING THEM was worth it! 

There is another beautiful example of enemy love, changingenemy hearts, converting heathens to the God of Israel: In the book of Daniel, we see that Daniel, along with theother Israelites, was in exile, forcefully taken away from their land by the Babylonians; the ENEMIES of his people who served FOREIGN gods. The Israelites sat down by the rivers of Babylon, refusing to sing, but still, Daniel acted inlove towards his enemies. He served in their government. He explained the dreams through which God communicated with their heathen kings.

When Daniel was thrown to the lions, he did not become hateful towards the heathen king. Daniel was God’s ambassador in a heathen enemy government in an idolatrous empire, where he served as a government administrator. After Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the king declared: “Surely your God is the God of godsand the Lord of kings...” Daniel 2:47. 

In Daniel 6, after Daniel survived the lions’ den, Dariusissued a heartwarming decree to all peoples in his kingdom: 

 In Daniel 6:25-26 we read: “King Darius wrote to allthe nations and peoples of every language in all the earth:

“May you prosper greatly! “I issue a decree that in everypart of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and He endures forever; His kingdom will not be destroyed, His dominion will never end.”  

Daniel was abducted by the enemies of Israel and because ofhis brilliance, he was taken to serve in their foreign government, but his heart was not darkened by hatred for his enemies. Instead, the light of his love for his enemies, for his God, and for all created by God shone a light so bright, that it changed the world he lived in, spanning several countries, asfar as the Babylonian empire stretched. 

We feel comfortable with THIS heartwarming HALF of thetruth. But the other half of the truth remains: Ninety-nine percent of the time the enemy’s heart does NOT change: Not for the GOOD in any way. We see that the other supervisors and the governors TRIED to FIND SOMETHING wrong with the way Daniel administered the empire. They plotted to have him killed. Love for his enemies did not change his colleagues’ hearts. Instead, they were overcome with jealousy and hatred for him.

This talk is part of a mini-series on this topic and theseries is part of a playlist on “The Sermon on the Mount”. 

Check out the playlists on my YouTube Channel: Nicholas –Thinking about God!