I love the "know them by their fruits" refrences/passages. They were actually one of the keys to me realizing that there is a lot of metaphor used in the texts. When Jesus recognizes Nathaniel by the shade of the tree under which he sits, it is a reference to "know them by their fruit." When Jesus "kills the fig tree" I think he is actually just predicting that Israel (the fig tree) is falling into economic & political corruption.

When I point out that we are finite beings with a limited amount of time, resources, & even mental space, which makes it literally impossible to love everyone the way you love a sibling or friend. Churchers will then tell me that there are many different Greek words that we translate all to just "love," which is basically proof that we have translation problems. But somehow they isolate that fact from everything else they already believe about the Bible.

I know a lot of Churchers who have done nothing but drive people away from the church because instead of trying to actually understand a complicated text, & deal with honest questions, they insist on a flat interpretation that allows them to judge & condemn the people around them. More often than not they tell people they will pray for them as a way to imply they need help. They tell people to "repent & ask for forgiveness" as though they are the ones who judge & determine who needs to be better. If we judge people by their fruits there are a lot of Churchers who are not good Christians IMO. It is those unthinking types who I wanted nothing to do with that made me an atheist for as long as I was.

I said the Corinthians passage you referenced before "cuts both ways" because I think it's the self righteous Churchers who condemn others based on their own flat "letter of the law" vs "spirit of the law" interpretations who are actually caught up in just how wise they are.

The rest of the passages you reference here all hinge on what it means to believe in Jesus. I don't think your version of belief is in any way more valid than mine.