Announcer: We’d like to introduce to you our host for that for That’s in the Bible Live, Brother Richie Juatco!
Brother Richie: Hello Seattle! How’s everyone? How’s everyone today? Welcome to That’s in the Bible Live. We’re actually live here on location in beautiful Seattle, Washington. And we’re here at the INC Media Experience event or INCMX.
For those that don’t know what That’s in the Bible is, it’s a program where we take questions from people all around the world, wondering what is in the Bible and how it applies to our lives. Now, prior to this event, we actually sent out a camera crew to your beautiful city to find out if there was anyone in the city that had any questions that they’ve been wondering for some time. And they were hoping that they could find an answer from the Bible. So first of all, we would like to thank all those that asked questions to our camera crew, even those that reached out to us via email. But we wouldn’t especially like to thank Robert, Mark and Tyswanekwa, because the questions that they asked, we’re going to feature on our show today.
[On-screen graphic]
Topic: Following The Rules Set By A Church
Robert Nichols
Bothell, Washington
Topic: Spiritual vs. Religious
Mark Sokup
Topic: Conditions On Who To Love
Tyswanekwa Crosby
Federal Way, Washington
Brother Richie: Now these are the questions that they asked. Robert, the topic of his question was following the set rules by a church. So he wanted to know did he have to follow those rules. Mark asked about spiritual versus religious, there might be some of us that have heard that or someone wondering the difference between that; and Tyswanekwa, she asked conditions on who to love. She wanted to know if there was anything in the Bible that made her have to love someone a certain way.
We’re going to use those three questions, to answer an overarching question, which is: Is God’s love unconditional? And we hear that all the time, right? We hear that “God’s love is unconditional. No matter how you choose to live your life, He’s going to love you just the same.” And it’s so nice to hear, it makes you feel good. But we want to know: what’s in the Bible? Is that according to the Bible?
What is a “condition”?
So what we’re going to do is we’re going to find that out. But before that, let’s find out what “condition” is. What’s the definition of “condition” [and let’s find out if God has any for His love]. So [a condition] is something that must exist before something else can happen. Another word to say that is a “prerequisite” or a “requirement” or “rule” or “restriction.” So does God not have [conditions]? We’ll find out. Let’s go to Tyswanekwa’s question first. We can actually hear it from her:
[Video starts]
So even when I was at my grandma’s church yesterday, they made this statement that God did not make man and man to be together, woman and woman to be together. But I believe God [doesn’t] make mistakes…It’s almost like you make Him less comforting, less inviting. So I’m grateful that I’ve decided to have my own relationship outside of church…but I don’t agree with making them feel bad…Where in the Bible does it tell us to be conditional lovers? Where does it tell us to only love someone “this” way or if they are like “this”?
Tyswanekwa Crosby
Federal Way, Washington
[Video ends]
Does the Bible give conditions on who to love?
Brother Richie: So again, we’d like to thank Tyswanekwa for her question. And just so that we can see if we can know where she’s coming from. Let me see a raise of hands: who here wants someone to give them conditions on who to love? Is there anyone here that wants to be told who to love? So we can kind of see where she’s coming from, right? Because when it comes to love, if someone is going to give their love, he or she is going to come up with their own conditions that someone has to meet to give that love, right? Love can’t be forced, you can’t force someone to love someone else.
For example, this gentleman here, you can’t be forced to love this lovely lady, right? By the way, are you two married? You are, so you do love each other! You love each other because you had your own conditions to be met, and you met those conditions. And that’s how it is, right? It’s your love, it’s your life, it’s your choice.
And there are many people, they choose who to love without worrying about what is written in the Bible. So why are there some [that asked] that question from the Bible? Why is it that, not only Tyswanekwa, but many people, [want] to know what is in the Bible regarding that? Well, to many, the ideal situation is: choose who to love, and have God’s love upon you and upon the one that you love as well, right? Because that would actually be [a] great situation.
Who does God choose to love?
So when it comes to God’s love…now we’re on the topic of God’s love. Does He have conditions? We all have conditions for our love. And many people say, “No, God’s different. He doesn’t have any conditions. Well, we don’t want to answer for God because His words are written in the Bible, we’ll just read His answer.
When it comes to God giving His love, what is it that [He] requires, if He does have any requirements. Let’s read what is written in the Bible, we’re going to read from what’s recorded here in Deuteronomy. We’ll read chapter 7. We’ll read it together here, we’ll put it on the screen. Here in verse 6 to 7, it says:
You are a holy nation. The Lord your God has set you apart for himself. He has chosen you to be his special treasure. He chose you out of all the nations on the face of the earth to be his people. The Lord chose you because he loved you very much…
[Deuteronomy 7:6-7 New International Reader’s Version]
Brother Richie: When it comes to God giving His love, how is it that the Bible describes that? Well, here we can read that He did give His love to the ancient nation of Israel. Now, what’s the proof that He loved them? Well, according to what we’ve read, it says He chose them to be His people. Some might say, “I don’t understand” or “aren’t we all God’s people? God created all of us.” And that’s true. God created every single one of us. But as we have learned, He doesn’t love everyone the same. What’s the proof? It says that He chose some to be His special treasure. He set them apart to be His people.
So, now when it comes to God giving His love, just like the rest of us, that’s His choice, right? It is His choice. He’s the one that comes up with the conditions that have to be met. And really God’s love…that’s what we want. Right? That is so important to have. If there’s anyone’s love that we’re going to work for, that we’re going to try to win over, it should be God’s.
Now, some might think, “Why? Well, what’s so great about having God’s love?” Well, if that’s the question, why is that such a wonderful situation to have God’s love in our life? Again, let’s go to what is recorded. We’ll read the situation that God makes for those that He does choose to love. We’re going to read from what is recorded here in the book of Psalm, Chapter 91, we’re going to read verses 14 to 15. It says:
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
[Psalm 91:14-15 New International Version]
What does it mean to love God?
Brother Richie: According to the Bible, what kind of a situation is it if God chooses to love someone? That’s a wonderful situation. Our God Himself said that the one He loves, he’s going to protect, He’s going to deliver, He’s going to honor, He’s going to rescue those that love Him. If they call to Him, He’s going to answer them. If they’re in trouble, He’s going to be with them in trouble. Who here wants that situation? Who here wants God to be with them always? We all do. But just because we want it, does it mean we get it? Well, this particular servant, how come he got it? Well, God gave the answer. He answered and He said, “Because he loves me.”
So there was a condition met. Our God gave him the love and the protection that he needed. So, if someone thinks, “Well, I love God, too.” And we can all say that (we should say that) we all love God. But we know that love is much more than words. There’s a saying that we all know when it comes to talk, right? They say talk is…”talk is cheap.” Anyone can say that. The ladies that are here: If someone says they love you, is that all you need to believe it? No, even us as human beings, right? For us to believe someone that they love us, they’ve got to prove it. So when it comes to God’s love, does that have to be proven? Again, some might say, “No, God is different!” Well, wait a second, let’s use God’s words. If someone loves God, what does that mean? Let’s read His words. From what is written here in 1 John, we’re going to read chapter 5, verse 3. This is what it actually says:
For our love for God means that we obey his commands. And his commands are not too hard for us,
[1 John 5:3 Good News Translation]
Brother Richie: What is the biblical definition of loving God? Well, according to what we have read, it says it means we obey His commands. So His commands are what we need.
Someone might think, “Well, what are God’s commands? I thought [there’s] only ten?”
There [are the] first ten commandments that were written down. But God has a whole Bible of commandments. For our life, from the very first time we receive life to the time that we lose it. Our God gives us commandments, He gives us instructions, He shows us how to live our life the way that He intended. He shows us how to think when we’re in trouble. When we face certain challenges, He shows us how to surround ourselves with the right people. He is the one that is guiding us and instructing us. And if we follow all those commands we prove that we love Him.
Now in all the commands that God gives, so that we can show that we love Him, is there any command regarding whom we should love? Because that goes right into what Tyswanekwa was asking, you know. She said, “Well, show me in the Bible that I have to love someone this way, if they’re like this…” Does God have any commands regarding whom we should love? Let’s find out. We’ll read here from what’s recorded in 1 John, we’re going to read chapter 2, and the verses are 15 to 16:
Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. Because everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world.
[1 John 2:15-16 Holman Christian Standard Bible]
Brother Richie: Does our God give instructions regarding whom we should or shouldn’t love? Yes. What is it that we read? He said, “Do not love the world or the things [in] the world.” We have to understand there’s only two types of people: one who loves God, it means they’ve learned His commandments, they follow His commandments; and the second, the ones that don’t, they are of the world. What is it that God said? “Do not love the world or the things [in] the world.”
But I would like to ask, please answer this question: Despite God’s command, despite His instruction to us, do we still get to choose who to love? What’s your answer? We do. That’s our choice. Whatever we want, whoever we want, we can love. But can we say, “God will love me unconditionally, regardless of whom I choose to love.” Can we say that? No. We could say that, but that won’t be the truth.
So to summarize, the Bible’s answer to Tyswanekwa’s question, we can see that:
[On-screen text]
God chooses whom He loves based on His personal conditions
We prove our love for God by obeying His commands
We lose His love if we disregard His commands
Brother Richie: God chooses whom He loves based on His personal conditions. We can understand that because that’s how we give our love. What else, we prove our love for God by obeying His commands. And we lose His love if we disregard His commands. That’s what we should believe in because that’s in the Bible. So that is our first question.
The difference between spiritual and religious
Let’s go to our second question. And this is actually what Mark had to ask:
[Video starts]
What’s the difference between being spiritual and religious?
Mark Sokup
[Video ends]
Brother Richie: So again, we thank Mark for that question. And we know that this question is very interesting, because if you Google this question, “spiritual versus religious,” you know how many results you’re going to get? We did that just recently. And we can see, we had hundreds of millions of results. It was just in a fraction of a second, I believe it was 332 million posts of everyone answering, right? So it is a very interesting question. Well, let’s just go to the definition, let’s find out. So what’s his definition of “spiritual”? It says:
[On-screen text]
spiritual (adjective)
- relating to deep feelings and beliefs, especially religious beliefs
- of or relating to the inner character of a person
Brother Richie: It says “relating to deep feelings and beliefs, especially religious beliefs…of all relating to the inner character of a person.
[On-screen text]
religious (adjective)
- living and worshiping according to the beliefs of a particular religion
- having a strong belief in a god or gods
Brother Richie: Okay, how about “religious”? The definition of religious, we can see that it’s very close, it says, living and worshipping according to the beliefs of a particular religion; having a strong belief in a god or gods. So they actually have a commonality about beliefs about God: about having to be how to be with God, how to connect with God.
So why are people trying to differentiate between the two? Well, let’s see a show of hands. Has anyone here heard the term or the trend, “spiritual but not religious”? Is there anyone that has heard that? That term is when someone rejects organized religion as a primary means of enhancing their spiritual progress. And you know, we don’t blame a lot of people, we actually understand that. We understand why people are leaving organized religion, because most of the time when someone wants to connect with God, they’ll go to religions to find the truth, to find guidance. But unfortunately, many times what they find are lies, corruption in religion, and they find religious preachers saying, really whatever they want, or whatever other people want.
So there are those that opt to having a life with God [away from] those religions. They feel, “if these religions are just coming up with their own way of being with God, I’m better off going direct.” Therefore, the term: “spiritual, but not religious”.
[On-screen text]
“According to the public religion research Institute, 33 percent of Seattle residents are religiously unaffiliated.”
Source: Are We Losing our Religion? Searching for Spirituality in Seattle
Brother Richie: In fact, Mark’s not alone and asking that question. Just here in your own backyard here in Seattle, we can see that there are 33% of Seattle residents are religiously unaffiliated, this is according to seattlemag.com. But because it’s so diverse, religion is so diverse, it’s hard to break it up as [an] either/or, to lump religion all together, because we know they’re not all the same. Saying that religion is all the same, that’s already a mistake.
But to get away from getting in all the complexity, let’s just go straight to the point. You know, the question is: Which one should I be? How should I be with God? Right? If that is how someone wants to be [saying], “Okay, this is my life, right? What’s the best way to be with God to have him in my life? How is it that I can tailor fit what I have so far, and have God with me?”
How can I be put right with God?
So we can ask the Bible that. What does the Bible say about those [who] want to be with God, kind of on their own terms where they are in life. Let’s read from what’s recorded here in Romans, chapter 10. This is what God through Apostle Paul says very clearly about those that want to be with God. He says here:
I can assure you, they are deeply devoted to God; but their devotion is not based on true knowledge. They have not known the way in which God puts people right with himself, and instead, they have tried to set up their own way; and so they did not submit themselves to God’s way of putting people right.
[Romans 10:2-3 Good News Translation]
Brother Richie: According to what we are learning from what is in the Bible, God has His own way of putting people right with Himself. So again, God’s the One that comes up with the way. He’s the one that comes up with the conditions, He’s the one that has His own terms on how to connect with Him. And the people that don’t know that way, the Bible says they’ve resorted to coming up with their own way. We can attest to that. We can see there are so many different people coming up with different ways. And although they might be very devoted in the way that they have selected, the Biblical truth is: it’s not based on true knowledge.
So instead of asking, the question “Should I be spiritual? Should I be religious?” The question we should ask is, “What’s God’s way? How is it that I can be with Him?” If we’re asking for God’s way, we can just come up with it on our own? Let’s go to His answer. What is it that God teaches, so that we can be with Him we can be amongst those considered, or at least He considers His people? Let’s read here. God does give this answer and reply here in Jeremiah 7, the verse is 23. He said:
but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.
[Jeremiah 7:23 New International Version]
Brother Richie: According to Him, to be with Him, to be part of His people, we have to obey all the commands He has for us. So we are learning, just as we learned earlier, actually, it’s being reinforced now that there is a way to have a connection with God. But in pursuit of that, we can’t disregard that He has commandments. He has prerequisites, He has conditions that have to be fulfilled first.
So again, another question to everyone. These commandments that are being mentioned in the Bible; are we forced to follow these commandments? No, I mean, someone can try but they can’t, right? But can we say God is going to connect with us our way? No, we can say that either. Because we have learned, we can even come up with our own way to be with God.
[On-screen text]
Trying to come up with our own way won’t lead to God
God has His own way of letting people connect with Him
If we want God in our lives, we can’t avoid obeying His commands
Brother Richie: So let’s summarize the Bible’s answer to Mark’s question, we can see that trying to come up with our own way, won’t lead to God. We’ve also learned that God has his own way of letting people connect with him. And if we want God in our lives, we can avoid obeying His commandments, that really is the truth. Why do we say that? Because that’s in the Bible.
Am I obligated to follow church rules?
Brother Richie: Let’s go to our final question that we’re going to feature today. And this is from Robert, listen to what Robert asked:
[Video]
If I attend a church, am I morally obligated to adhere to the rules that they believe in their church or am I allowed to believe how I feel?
Robert Nichols
Bothell, Washington
[Video ends]
Brother Richie: You know, there’s probably a lot of people just like Robert. They want to belong to a church, they probably grew up in a church, but what they are hearing, what they know is being taught in the church that they’re in, they don’t think that it’s right. So they have this dilemma. What is it that they should do?
We commend Robert and all those that asked, we appreciate that question. Because if one doesn’t know, it’s never too late to find out what is actually written in the Bible. The question that he asked is “If I attend a church, do I have to follow the rules and beliefs?” Well, to put it simply, the answer is “no.” But it can also be “yes.” Why is it that we say that?
We first have to find out which church is he referring to? Someone would think, “Why? Aren’t they all the same?” No, they’re not all the same. Although all of them say that they follow the Bible. But what is it that we could see? They’re different, they’re different in name, they’re different in belief, they’re different in doctrine, they’re different. So it is clear something is happening. How can everyone follow the Bible, but everyone come up with different ways? Someone might think, “It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to get all confused in that just as long as I’m worshipping. It doesn’t matter what church I do it in, right?” Well, that’s what we can ask. Because if we are worshipping so that God can accept us, let’s ask God that. Does He accept all worship that is being rendered to Him? Listen to what He teaches. We’re going to read here in Matthew, chapter 15, and the verse is 9. This is what God himself says:
Their worship of Me is worth nothing. They teach what men have made up.’”
[Matthew 15:9 New Living Translation]
Brother Richie: Yes or no, please answer based on what we read. Does God accept all worship rendered to Him? What’s the answer? No. In fact, He’s the one that says that there is worship, it’s worth nothing. What kind of worship is that? We got to make sure that’s not our worship. It is a worship that what is being taught is what men have made up. What are teachings that men have made up? They’re any teachings that are not written in the Bible. Because if they’re not in the Bible, somebody made it up. And what God said [is] if someone made it up, well, then that’s worth nothing.
So if that’s the type of church that Robert was referring to, that “If I attend that church, you don’t have to follow the beliefs and the rules there?” The answer, it’s not only “No, you don’t have to follow that.” The answer is also “You shouldn’t be attending that church in the first place.” Now, if there are churches that God says, “that’s worth nothing,” well, which church should we be a part of? Because there’s a lot of churches, there are so many options of churches, it can get very confusing, but our Lord Jesus Christ, He gives this insight when it comes to this topic of churches. We’ll read from what He teaches. Here in Matthew 16, and the verse is 18. It says:
“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church,…
[Matthew 16:18 New King James Version]
Brother Richie: According to our Lord Jesus Christ, how many churches did He build? How do we know [only] one? Why are we so sure? What did He say? He said, “I will build My church,” right? That’s singular. Now this Church that He built, how does He regard it? He said, “That’s Mine. I will build My church.”
So of all the options of churches that one has, with more churches being built and being established, the only one that really matters is the Church that our Lord Jesus Christ built. Why? Because that’s the Church that the Bible is actually teaching [about].
Did Christ build a Church?
Well, which Church is that? Now, if we just came up with the name on our own, we would be included in what God said, “That’s worth nothing.” Because we can’t do that, right? We can’t just make it up on our own. It has to come from the Bible, it has to come from God, our Lord Jesus Christ said, “That’s my Church.” What’s the name of His Church? What did the apostles call the Church built by our Lord Jesus Christ? We want to know that what is written, let’s read from what is recorded here in Acts 20, we’re going to read verse 28. It says:
Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood.
[Acts 20:28 Lamsa]
What’s the value of the Bible?
Brother Richie: The Church written in the Bible, the Church that our Lord Jesus Christ said, “That’s my Church.” What is it called? Church Of Christ. Now, if the Biblical Church Of Christ is what Robert was talking about, he said, “If I attend that church or have to follow the rules and beliefs in that church?” The answer is “Yes.” Why? Because the true Church Of Christ will only teach what is written in the Bible.
Someone might think, “Why is that so important for me to know? Why do I need what is written in the Bible or the Holy Scriptures? What’s the value of the Holy Scriptures?” Let’s read that so that we know here in 2 Timothy, will read from chapter 3 will read verses 15, all the way to 17. It says:
and that from childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
[2 Timothy 3:15-17 New King James Version]
Brother Richie: What’s the value of the words written in the Holy Scriptures? Well, we just enumerated it, right? The Bible says it’s “profitable for doctrine.” That’s why if there is a doctrine, a church or religion, the doctrine has to be written in the Bible. If it’s written somewhere else, that someone else made it, God said, “Well, that’s no use to Me.” The doctrine written in the Bible, that is God’s teachings on how we should live properly—instructions.
What else? If we’ve made something—have done something wrong? What is the value? [The Bible] says, “it’s for reproof and correction.” How many of us here have made mistakes in our life? It’s very hard [to] admit that, right? Because if you don’t, that’s a mistake. That’s not the truth. Right? So how do we fix it? How do we correct it? We follow the instructions that are in the Bible. What are those instructions for? It says they are instructions in righteousness. We want to be righteous, right? But we can’t come up with it on our own right? We don’t want to be self righteous. We want to be righteous in the eyes of God. So we follow His instructions.
Someone might say, you know, but I don’t think it’s enough. That’s why I think there’s something more that I need. Well, what does the Bible say? It says, it will make you thoroughly equipped for every good work. It’s all we need. There’s nothing more there’s nothing missing. In fact, even if we go up, what else is it profitable for it says “for salvation.” How many of us here want to be saved from the dangers that we see around us and the dangers that are coming? We all want that, right? But just because we want it doesn’t mean we get it? We need wisdom for it. Where are we going to get that? It comes from the Bible.
Now all of those instructions; are we forced to follow it? As we mentioned earlier, you can force us. You can try, but just like love, it has to come from us. So we know that these instructions, they’re just conditions. We’re the ones that choose if we’re going to follow or not. And just so that we’re clear, let’s go to the definition of “condition” again.
[On-screen text]
Condition (noun) something that must exist before something else can happen
Brother Richie: Condition is something that must exist (so let’s say following, obeying), before something else can happen. What is this “something else that can happen”? What if someone says, “You know, okay, let me give it a shot. Let me learn what is actually written. And if I follow what is going to happen, what is the promise that God gives if someone needs His conditions and they follow His commands?”
Let’s read from what He promises. And these promises are even in ancient times, what is it that He says, we’re going to read from Deuteronomy 28, we’ll read 1 to 3. And we’ll also read 8, He said:
If you fully obey the Lord your God, and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth, all these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
[Deuteronomy 28:1-3, 8 New International Version]
Brother Richie: What’s going to happen? What promise does God make if one is going to follow His commands? That is a wonderful life. It says all these blessings will come upon us. It says that you’ll be “blessed in the city and blessed in the country.” Imagine wherever you go, the blessing is going to follow. He said anything you put your hands to do, God is going to bless. How many of us want that situation? We all do. But who gets it? Just someone that wants it?
If we can go back, [the Bible] says, “you will be blessed…All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you.” We want that. “If.” It’s a very small word, it’s only two letters. But if you say “if,” what does that mean? There’s a condition there. What’s the condition, if you obey the Lord your God. No one will force us to obey. But we cannot disregard God’s commands, and expect that He’s going to bless us.
So, what’s our takeaway from Robert’s question? We can see here:
[On-screen text]
- Find out if the church you’re attending is the biblical Church Of Christ
- The biblical Church Of Christ will teach only what is in the Bible
- Following the rules actually written in the BIble will mean a life with God
Brother Richie: Find out if the church you’re attending is the biblical Church Of Christ, because that’s the one that the Bible is teaching of. That’s what’s important. How are we going to know that? It says the biblical Church Of Christ will teach only what is in the Bible. So at least we have some way of assessing which one is the Biblical Church Of Christ. Follow the rules actually written in the Bible. Following them will mean a life with God. That is possible, having a life with God; having actual guidance, actually having Him help us. That is possible on the condition that we take into consideration He has set rules and conditions that have to be met.
You know, we know about relationships, we know that there is one that sets the conditions, and one that meets those conditions. If we look at the relationship of the Creator and the creations, which one sets the conditions and which one meets those unconditionally? Who sets the condition? The creations or the Creator? Creator, right? Who meets those conditions unconditionally? It’s the creations, right? That’s why when someone says, “No, God will love you unconditionally, just the way you are, you don’t have to do anything.” What they probably don’t realize, there are switching the roles of who is the Creator, and who are the creations.
There are many of you that are here. And we’re very happy that you’re here with us today. That, just like the three questions that we went over, maybe you want to be loved by God, you want to be spiritual, you want to be religious, you want to be part of the right Church. But maybe, just maybe there are some that have not yet considered that God has conditions that have to be met first. Where are we going to find that? Where are we going to find His conditions? Where are we going to find His commands that need to be followed? Well, that’s in the Bible.
We understand this might be the very first time you’re hearing and seeing what is actually written in the Bible. Maybe there might be some that might be a bit confused. Because everything that they’ve been told from what is in the Bible, this might be a shock. But that’s the reason why we’re here. That’s the reason why we want to help, the only thing that we want to give you is actually what is in the Bible, it is your choice. It is how you want to decide what to do with it.
And you will notice, after the show, not only will I be available, all [my] other co-ministers that we have are always around, please don’t hesitate, come ask us. What is it that we’re going to do? We’re not going to answer on our own? Who are we? The only thing that we can do is help you find the answer that comes from the Bible. If the answer comes from the Bible, that is God answering your question. You know, there are many people just like you sitting where you are, that had questions, no one could answer. And it just stayed an empty question in their heart. But they were able to find the answer that actually comes from the Bible after searching for so many years. We would like to show you a video regarding them. Please take a look:
[Video starts]
Fred Reed: For a long time of my life, I had lots of questions.
Sol Velasquez: So I kept looking through all the churches, all the religions and still my questions were not answered. And sooner or later I just left because I was disappointed.
Voiceover: This might sound familiar to you. In fact, chances are you’ve walked out of your own religion for the very same reasons.
Sol Velasquez: I didn’t go to church for so long because they were all the same.
Voiceover: It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We all want answers, real ones. Ones that are backed up with more than just someone’s story. But what would it mean to you if you actually got answers to your questions? Like really got the answers .
Fred Reed: You don’t have to wonder or imagine, that type of deal, a lot of the hocus pocus stuff that goes on in some churches.
Nicholas Victorio: I think once you get to a Bible study, and you hear the lessons, that’s the biggest hurdle. And once you get to a Bible lesson you want to learn more.
Voiceover: You see this place does exist. A place where questions about the Bible are answered, well by the Bible.
Nicholas Victorio: Any question I had was answered. They explained it to me using the Bible. And not using their own interpretation of it. So, coming from a Mormon church it wasn’t like that. When you ask questions you got different answers all the time.
Fred Reed: And all of a sudden, there’s actually THE church that actually teaches what’s in the Bible.
Voiceover: And the good thing is you don’t have to look for it anymore. You just have to take a few minutes to set up a time to sit down with one of the ministers of the Church Of Christ and ask your questions.
Nicholas Victorio: Once I started hearing the gospel and the way we teach the Bible, it was a no-brainer for me to really know that this was the true Church.
Voiceover: They did it. They found their answers, isn’t it time to find yours?
Sol Velasquez: So I went to the Bible study and they treated me like part of the family. So okay I’ll sit in and I learned, I learned a lot during that Bible study.
Fred Reed: I always gain something from every minister, not seeing anything like this in my entire life, where you can walk up to any one of them and they can answer any question you have but they’re not gonna give you their opinion. They’ll never give you their opinion. All they’ll do is reach over pull out the word of God and let’s see what it says right here in the word of God and they’ll find a scripture and yes it does answer the question.
Nicholas Victorio: And the unity of Iglesia Ni Cristo is what I love. You truly see the same answer that you ask from one minister to the other. Seeing that we just use the Bible and we just believe what the Bible says, is truly the only truth I can believe in.
Voiceover: So ask yourself, what do you want to do next? What are the Bible questions you’ve waited so long to ask? And when you’re ready, we’ll be right here waiting for you.
[Video ends]
Brother Richie: We really hope this is not the last time that we’re going to see you. We’re really happy that you’re here with us. And we invite you to stay. Learn more about the Bible, the Church Of Christ offers group and one-on-one Bible studies. And we invite you to observe a worship service that we have here in the Seattle house of worship. Hopefully you can get this schedule, it’s out in some of the booths.
Here in Seattle, they have a weekday worship service on Thursday at 5:45am and 7:30pm. So before you go to work, if you want to observe a worship service first or after in the evening. On Saturday, they have a 7pm worship service. On Sunday, they have a 7am. If you speak the Filipino language that will be in Tagalog. Or at 10am they have one in English. Even the children have a Children’s Worship Service that they’re easily able to understand the lesson. That’s at 12pm.
And if you’re anywhere else in the Washington State area, there are different local congregations that you can attend and it will be the exact same lesson. It’s the same hymns. It’s the same verses wherever you are in this particular Church Of Christ. If you have a friend that is attending a worship service in Australia on the same weekend, you can call each other, you could talk about the exact same worship service. This is a congregation part of one whole Church. If you would like a question that you have answered on this particular show, email us either a written or a video question at answers@incmedia.orgWe’re so happy that you came out with us. I’m Brother Richie Juatco. Thank you so much for joining us on That’s in the Bible Live.
