{"id":16763,"date":"2008-11-04T20:18:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-05T02:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=16763"},"modified":"2019-12-13T20:20:20","modified_gmt":"2019-12-14T02:20:20","slug":"does-the-bible-teach-that-you-dont-have-to-congregate-to-go-to-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-bible-teach-that-you-dont-have-to-congregate-to-go-to-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Bible teach that you don&#8217;t have to congregate to go to heaven?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>A good friend and fellow sister in Christ called last night to tell me about a conversation she&#8217;d had with a few co-workers. One guy said that, although he didn&#8217;t know where, he knew the Bible said you &#8216;don&#8217;t have to congregate to go to heaven.&#8217; A woman said someone had once told her the same thing. My friend knew that was exactly the opposite of what the Bible says about forsaking the assembly, but we&#8217;re both wondering if there is a passage that they are misinterpreting? I don&#8217;t recall &#8216;congregate&#8217; being in the Bible anywhere, and they were both sure about the wording of the passage, she said. We both decided that it was more likely they were repeating what they&#8217;d been told just because they liked the way it sounded and it reinforced their lack of interest in going to church. Do you know of this passage?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>The word &#8220;congregate&#8221; doesn&#8217;t appear in the Bible; though you can find the word &#8220;congregation.&#8221; I checked web sites for those who make such claims and none reference the Bible, just their personal feelings.<\/p>\n<p>You are quite correct that the Bible teaches the opposite of this statement in Hebrews 10:24-25, &#8220;<em>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.<\/em>&#8220;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: A good friend and fellow sister in Christ called last night to tell me about a conversation she&#8217;d had with a few co-workers. One guy said that, although he didn&#8217;t know where, he knew the Bible said you &#8216;don&#8217;t have to congregate to go to heaven.&#8217; A woman said someone had once told her&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[356,544],"class_list":["post-16763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-attendance","tag-membership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":79698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-only-suspect-that-my-ex-husband-committed-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":16763,"position":0},"title":"I only suspect that my ex-husband committed adultery","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I married this guy 5 years ago. We both came from Christian homes, but neither of us had a real relationship with God. At first, I didn't want to marry him. We just started dating, and we already had intimacy, but he told me that it was illegal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24508,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-got-sick-of-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":16763,"position":1},"title":"I Got Sick of the World","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gerry Sandusky \u201cYou were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ\u201d (I Peter 1:18-19). My religious background could be summed up by saying there was almost none. My Baptist grandmother\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/drugs-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27409,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-baptize-if-there-is-no-man-available\/","url_meta":{"origin":16763,"position":2},"title":"Can a woman baptize if there is no man available?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I need to ask you about what a person should be baptized for. I was baptized. My reasons were: for the washing of sins, to confirm my faith in Jesus, because it was a commanded, and because it's necessary for salvation. And the pastor baptized me in the name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23263,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/demanding-a-sign\/","url_meta":{"origin":16763,"position":3},"title":"Demanding a Sign","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford Matthew 16:1-4 is one of the more off-putting passages in the gospels. Some Pharisees and Sadducees come to Jesus asking for a sign. A reasonable request, right? Don\u2019t you have the right to ask a self-proclaimed prophet to show that he\u2019s really from God before you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/demanding.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":67007,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-we-reach-heaven-if-some-commands-are-broken\/","url_meta":{"origin":16763,"position":4},"title":"Will we reach heaven if some commands are broken?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day,I have a rather important question that's been bothering me. In James 2:10, it is stated that all sins are equal. Breaking one means breaking all. It is trying to get the idea across that we shouldn't excuse sins because that might lead us to accept some sins\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26513,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-there-truly-be-no-more-sickness\/","url_meta":{"origin":16763,"position":5},"title":"Will there truly be no more sickness?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi minister, Please I would like to ask about Isaiah 33:24. Is it truly saying that there will be sickness no more as the Jehovah's Witnesses claim? Answer: Both the nations of Israel and Judah have become involved in rampant sin. They had gotten complacent (Isaiah 32:9-11). They were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}