Good and Bad Fruit in the Bible: Which One Are You Eating?

good fruit, bad fruit, fruit of life, tree of life, God's Word,

Good Fruits and Bad Fruits

How often do you eat fruit in a week? Do you have a favorite? As we all know, fruits are healthy and provide important nutrition for our bodies. When you go grocery shopping, I’m sure you take your time when selecting which fruits you’re going to purchase. You look for the ones that are ripe (or soon to be ripe), but stay away from ones that are beginning to spot or are a little too squishy. But sometimes grabbing a rotten fruit is unavoidable and you take it home. 

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What is Sin? Sin and the Purpose of God’s Law

sin, God's law, the law, Bible

“Sin” brings up all kinds of different ideas and images to different people. Everyone has their own questions and ideas about what sin is and what it isn’t. “Is this a sin?”, “Is that a sin?”, I’m sure we could go on and on about this to no end. When we get bogged down and only focus on determining what counts as a sin, or even which sins are greater than others, we lose sight of the bigger picture. In order to get a clear answer to this question, we should always look to God’s Word for the answer instead of relying on our own thoughts and understanding since God is the one who originally defined sin in the first place.

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Which Parts of the Bible Apply to Me?

Bible, God's plan, God's word, which parts of the Bible apply to me

Have you ever picked up the Bible and wondered, “Where do I even begin? Which parts of the Bible apply to me?” I was once told that the New Testament was all that us Christians need to read. They even went as far as saying that the Old Testament was just history. Just references and laws of the past that have nothing to do with our future. The instruction was to start reading from the Gospels to Jude, neglecting the Old Testament and Revelation. Have you ever heard anything similar? It seemed odd that I was only being told to read parts of the Bible, with the assumption that the Old Testament didn’t apply to me. 

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One Sin to Rule Them All

If you’ve read the “Lord of the Rings” books or have seen the movies, then you probably know about the “One Ring,” right? 

“One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them.

One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them!”

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

This ring was made by the dark lord, Sauron, to rule and dominate all life on Middle Earth. Through the use of the ring, his influence spread, and all kinds of races – elves, men, dwarves – began to fight with and distrust one another. A result of the evil that was now all over the world. The evil power of that ring allowed Sauron to control others with his will. Anyone who carried that ring began to look more and more like it’s owner – dark, evil, greedy and selfish. It caused wars between kingdoms and peoples. While the Lord of the Rings is just a story, if you look at the world today, don’t you feel the similarities? In our own world, are people more united or more divided? What is the cause of the division and fighting? 

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