God's love is conditional, according to the Holy Bible (and rationality)

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love." (John 15:9-10, NKJV)

"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" (Matthew 7:21-23, NKJV)

"But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." (Luke 6:46-49, NKJV)

And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:6-8, NKJV)

"Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:16-21, NKJV)

"But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them." (Ephesians 5:1-7, NKJV)

"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." (Hebrews 12:14-17, NKJV)

(A brief comment: All of this is just pure rationality: how can anyone expect God to share His eternal kingdom with people who rebel against Him? Is there any long-standing, rational organization that does not place a final limit on rebellious behaviours, whether it is a family, a state, a company, or some other type of organization? The Lord Jesus was able to show the logic of God's Kingdom in Nature. That parallel holds for placing conditions on love too: it exists widely in Nature, and the Holy Bible warns repeatedly that conditions exist for God's love too. Additional New Testament texts providing such loving warnings are as follows....)

"Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector." (Matthew 18:15-17, NKJV)

"Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, NRSV)

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries." (Hebrews 10:23-27, NKJV)

"You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:4-6, NKJV)

"Look! I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to render to each as is his work. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the completion. Blessed are the ones washing their robes, so that the authority will be theirs to the tree of life and they may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone loving and doing falsehood." (Revelation 22:12-15, CFB)

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Copyrights:

CFB: Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2017 by J.J. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

NKJV: Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

NRSV: New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A guide to misleading Bible quotes

A dedicated website is now up and running, "A Guide to Misleading Bible Quotes". 

John 3:16, Galatians 2:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, and Philippians 3:9 are the first popular quotes to be discussed.

Christian teaching should identify, not trip over, the stumbling block of hatred among Christians

Update: I fault this text for ignoring the words of Christ on this matter. Christ defines the family of God in a very different way than John. 

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The apostle John identifies the stumbling block in his first letter:

"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him." (1 John 5:1, NKJV)

"He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." (1 John 2:9-11, NKJV)

"Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." (1 John 3:15, NKJV)

"If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" (1 John 4:20, NKJV)

Is your church teaching Christians to love as brothers and sisters all who believe that Jesus is the Christ?

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

When a Christian is ill

There are two main texts to listen to, as they focus on illness and God's direction on what to do.

Sirach 38:1-15
1 Honor physicians for their services,
for the Lord created them;
2 for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,
and they are rewarded by the king.
3 The skill of physicians makes them distinguished,
and in the presence of the great they are admired.
4 The Lord created medicines out of the earth,
and the sensible will not despise them.
5 Was not water made sweet with a tree
in order that its power might be known?
6 And he gave skill to human beings
that he might be glorified in his marvelous works.
7 By them the physician heals and takes away pain;
8 the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.
God’s works will never be finished;
and from him health spreads over all the earth.
9 My child, when you are ill, do not delay,
but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
10 Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly,
and cleanse your heart from all sin.
11 Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour,
and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.
12 Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;
do not let him leave you, for you need him.
13 There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,
14 for they too pray to the Lord
that he grant them success in diagnosis
and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.
15 He who sins against his Maker,
will be defiant toward the physician. (NRSV)

James 5:14-20
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. (NKJV)

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Scripture quotation from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [Footnoted version]

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [Footnoted version]

The NRSV of Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom of Sirach, Ben Sira) is maybe the best English translation available today. Likewise, for James, the NKJV is chosen for its excellence.

An assurance from the Holy Spirit

Manuscripts of 1 Corinthians 12 read that the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different members of the Body of Christ, and one of these individual gifts is called pistis (12:9). English versions such as the King James translate this as "faith", but that is highly problematic: all Christians have been given the gift of faith.

The Ancient Greek word has a range of senses (cp. LSJ). Logic and experience* appear to give the most support to the sense of "assurance", "guarantee", "seal", "pledge". This is consistent with the NT as a whole, and the immediate context, where pistis is the third gift after logos sophias and logos gnoseos, "word of wisdom" and "word of knowledge" respectively. 

A new proposal for 1 Corinthians 12:7-9 is thus:

7  To each, however, is given a manifestation of Spirit for the together-progress. 
8  Indeed, while to one through the Spirit is given a word of wisdom, yet to another a word of knowledge by the same Spirit, 
9  to a different one an assurance by the same Spirit, to another a gift of healing by the one Spirit,

* For example, the recorded experience of asking for and receiving many assurances from God of recent Christians, see the chapter "God Enabling Us, We Go On!" in C.T. Studd, Cricketer and Pioneer, by Norman Grubb. 

Excellent reasons to baptize a baby into Christ

(1) The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ, taught:
"Let the little children, and do not hinder them, to come before Me, for of such as these is the Kingdom of the Heavens." (Matthew 19:14)
Here we have a commandment and a relevation from Almighty God. Why should a person risk being in contradiction of these, by denying Christian baptism to a child?

(2) The Lord Jesus also taught:
"Amen, amen, I say to you, if someone is not born forth from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. What is born forth from the flesh is flesh, and what is born forth from spirit is spirit." (John 3:5-6)

(3) Speaking of salvation, the Lord taught:
"The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who was unbelieving will be condemned." (Mark 16:16)

(4) The first recorded preaching of the Church is:
"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts of the Apostles 2:38-39, AKJV)

(5) The earliest historical documents about the Church record several household baptisms:

(i) "...and when she [Lydia] was baptized, and her household...." (Acts 16:15)

(ii) "...and he was baptized, he and all of his [household]...." (Acts 16:33)

(iii) "...I baptized also the household of Stephen...." (1 Corinthians 1:16)
A fourth New Testament text likewise describes how "all thy house" can be saved: "Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved." (Acts 11:13-14, AKJV)

(6) Baptism and trust in Christ is the only way to be set free from slavery to sin (Romans 6:20). 
If churches and parents do not baptize and teach trust in Christ to their children, they are 
(i) dividing their own households (risking downfall, Mark 3:25), 
(ii) leaving their children in the worst type of bondage, i.e. to the Devil, sin, and death,
(iii) risking their children to be eternally condemned,
(iv) very possibly, violating Christ's commandments to receive little children in Christ's name (Matthew 18:5), and not to despise a little one or cause a little one to stumble, which Christ warns is judged with tremendous wrath by God (Matthew 18:6, 10-11).

"And whoever would receive one such little child in my name, receives me. Yet whoever would cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and he be sunk in the depth of the ocean.... See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heavens through all see the face of my Father in heavens. Indeed, the son of the human came to save the lost." (Matthew 18:5-6, 10-11,CFB)

(7) The New Testament's directions to parents and to children are not consistent with children in the household who are not baptized into Christ and taught to trust Christ, thereby being set free from sin-slavery:

(i) "You children, heed the parents of yours in the Lord, for this is righteous." (Ephesians 6:1)

(ii) "And you parents, do not infuriate your children, but raise them in the child-training and teaching of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4)

(iii) "You children, heed the parents regarding all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord." (Colossians 3:20)
Consider also the proverb, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6, AKJV). How can a child be trained as a Christian while he or she is in bondage to sin?

(8) There is no age too young to receive the Holy Spirit. 
(i) "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams...." (Acts 2:17, AKJV)
(ii) "If you would love Me, my commandments you will keep. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever." (John 14:15-16)

(9) The Old-Testament antetype of baptism involved people of all ages. 
"Indeed, I do not want you to be ignorant, siblings, that all our parents were under the cloud, and all traversed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea..." (1 Corinthians 10:1-2, CFB)

(10) Almighty God's wrathful judgement reasonably and evidently falls upon those who prevent babies from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ said the Kingdom belongs to "such as these". People who work to prevent infant baptism, i.e. by preaching and practising against it, can very often be seen to experience family tragedies centred on their children. 

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AKJV: Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
CFB: Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2017 by M.A.K. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Bible says about sexual immorality among Christians

Is your church telling you what the Bible says is God's treatment of sexual immorality? 

This is what the New Testament says happens to Christians:

(1) God's vengeance (1 Cor. 10:1-11, 1 Thess. 4:6, Heb. 13:4)
(2) Huge affliction (Rev. 2:22)
(3) Destruction of the flesh, to save the spirit (1 Cor. 5:5)
(4) Eternal torment in Hell for those do not repent (1 Cor. 6:9, Gal. 5:19-21, Eph. 5:5, Rev. 21:8, Rev. 22:15)