I did not watch the video, so I do not know its specific content,
but the title was “Why Going to Church for 30 Years Is Useless.”
Someone who watched the video left a comment,
and when I shared the Word of God in response, I received this reply:
“I don’t want to be bound by words.”
This was written by someone who had attended church their entire life born into the faith and once devout
but who lost their faith because of what they perceived as contradictions in the Bible.
What they wrote is strikingly similar to what many people say after reading the Bible cover to cover for the first time.
They claim that what Jesus ultimately taught was simply to love God and love one’s neighbor,
but that afterward various New Testament authors interpreted Jesus’ intentions in different ways,
added their own thoughts, and even included visions they had seen.
As a result, the New Testament became a collection of writings that now bind people again.
They suggest that Jesus came to free people from such “letters,” which makes the situation deeply ironic.
Taken to an extreme, they argue that the Bible itself has become an idol.
They go on to say that they no longer believe in a personal,
omnipotent God, yet they will live as if God exists.
Therefore, they cannot believe that Jesus is the Son of God,
but they will still try to live according to Jesus’ teachings, even loving their enemies.
This tragedy exists because they do not know who Jesus Christ truly is.
A person who attended church for thirty years, read the Bible once,
and then concludes that the Bible has become an idol;
a person who thinks Jesus came to liberate people from “letters”;
a person who says they do not believe in an omnipotent God, yet claims
they will try to live according to Jesus’ teachings even to love their enemies.
The Bible tells us that the way of salvation is found in God’s Word,
and that Satan darkens people’s hearts so that they trample on the Word of God.
Among the Israelites in the wilderness,
only Joshua and Caleb whose hearts were different entered the land of Canaan.
When the whole earth was covered with water, only eight people entered Noah’s ark.
These realities feel especially vivid in our time.
Because there is no true gospel, because people do not know who Jesus Christ is,
we see the heartbreaking reality of those who once called themselves devout Christians concluding that “there is no God.”
“If serving the Yehowah seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites,
in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Yehowah.”
The people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Yehowah to serve other gods…” (Joshua 24:15–16)
Unless one believes in their heart that Jesus Christ is the LORD Yehowah Himself who became man,
who rose from the dead to give eternal life,
and who died for me it is impossible to truly decide to serve the Yehowah alone.
If it is not that gospel, everyone goes his own way.
Each person interprets Scripture according to what seems right in his own eyes, according to what fits his own heart.
To such people, God has been speaking persistently, from early dawn and without ceasing:
that He would come,
that He has come,
and that when He comes again, He will come as the Judge.