I was watching Quantum Communication, by David Sereda, and it reminded me of a verse I think about often, which is the verse that many people try out, and abandon Christianity over, because their experiment failed, and didn’t get what they wanted. I call it the “if you have enough faith verse”:
I tell you the truth: if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. – Matthew 17:20
A similar verse is:
If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. – Luke 17:6
I wrongly interpreted these verses (no thanks to those false Christians, Arminian Pentecostals and the inventors and preachers of the Self-Esteem and Self-Affirmation junk, who are also New Agers and Buddhists, like David Sereda and the Dali Lama), to mean that if you have enough faith that you can do something, that you can do that thing. But that’s what Jesus meant as I explain below.
Many atheists are former Christians, who believe that they had enough faith when they prayed for something they wanted, but didn’t get it. And many Christians will unjustly accuse other Christians or former Christians of having not had enough faith, which was why the Christians and former ones they accuse didn’t get what they wanted. I have been trying to figure out why this verse is not an error for years, trying to make sense of it even though it very strongly seemed to me to be a fatal error in the Bible, as close to a mistake, or contradiction in the Bible as I could find, besides a few others. And once again, I thought about context, how a verse will make sense from the immediate or larger context. By immediate context I mean a verse or verses before or after a certain verse and by larger context I mean a verse or verses that doesn’t come right after or before a certain verse, but can still help you to understand that certain verse.
I realized while watching that video, thanks to God opening my eyes (because I desired to know the truth in order to better please Him and that desire was also thanks to Him), that God didn’t simply mean that having faith that you can do something will allow you to do it (otherwise people who are deluded into believing they can do things that aren’t possible would be able to do them, and figuratively speaking insane people wouldn’t be insane, because their faith would make their beliefs true and give them supernatural abilities). When Jesus said “if you have [even a small amount] of faith [you can do what is usually impossible and what is miraculous]”, he meant it in the context of the other things God had taught, which was that the more you are obedient to God, the more likely he will fulfill your desires (so long as they are in keeping with God’s laws, and your will will be in tune with His), but evil intent and desires and disobedience will, at some points in time determined by God, prevent you from accomplishing what you desire, and some point, you will get almost nothing you desire, and end up in Hell for your choice to continually obey God.
Verses that prove this are:
The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable—how much more so when brought with evil intent! – Proverbs 21:27
Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek out your decrees. – Psalm 119:155
Yahweh is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous. – Proverbs 15:29
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. – James 4:3
And all the verses in which God goes against the desires of those who disobey Him, which are a very large amount.
And really, this is common sense, and I should have realized it: Would God really allow a person to accomplish whatever they wanted to do, like cause all the lakes in the world to become poisonous for a month, or turn the moon purple, or cause 1/3 of all the babies in the world to die, and because they convinced themselves that they could at that time, and yet had intense hatred directly for Him? Did Jesus really mean, “If you want to kill millions of people out of hatred for them not pleasing you or God, and so say to America, ‘All American citizens and those who have joined with them there, fall dead, and they will all fall dead, if you have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed”? The more logical interpretation, being that Jesus only preached obedience to God, was that he meant if you have a request that is in keeping with God’s laws, especially his stated will, that you will accomplish your desire. Moses was a good example of this, who because of his faith, and his desire to do God’s will, was able to accomplish the great miracles God set him out to do.
Of course, this will anger those who pray to have some luxury item, or to marry the most beautiful woman or man in the world, and so on, who don’t want to obey God at all, and want to live life how they want to, but that is how it is: God is far from those who hate Him, but close to those who love him.
How to Get to Heaven 