RECENT ARTICLES
Here are a collection of articles we have written on various Biblical topics:
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There is a HOPE for this world - Explore the Bible
Why is the Bible so Important?
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There is a HOPE for this world - Explore the Bible
Hope. The earnest expectation and longing for something that will come.
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What do we hope for? World peace, equity of treatment for all, the ridding of violent crime, poverty, corruption and injustice, the reversal of environmental damage that restores the natural beauty of the earth? There are so many things that are wrong in the world that no government or society can find a solution to or are simply powerless to affect. Does this mean that our hope for a better future is just a dream? That it only belongs in fantasy or some Utopian world that will never exist? No. All that humanity hopes for are not just promised but guaranteed by God. The Bible clearly outlines our hope and “How” it will be realised in the earth.
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What is the hope for us? Salvation by God! Salvation is being saved from our current circumstances of sin and suffering. Considering our sins or our consistent failures, how many times has grief and pain been caused by our own selfishness and stupidity? Who has not wished that they could be a better parent, husband or wife, son or daughter, or friend? It is by our failing to follow God’s guidance (sin) that the world is in the state its in. Yet the promise of God is that we will be changed in the day that Jesus Christ returns to this earth (1 Corinthians 15:52-53). We will inherit God’s own nature (2 Peter 1:4), be transformed to be like the angels (Luke 20:35), who always obey God’s commandments. We will be like God’s only beloved son the Lord Jesus Christ, without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Considering our sufferings, the struggles with illness, the loss of loved ones, poverty, injustice, tragedies brought on by natural disasters. It sometimes appears our lot in life is suffering. Yet, the glorious vision that God has in store for us is when joy and gladness will be our constant and God will wipe away the tears of all people (Isaiah 25:6-9). That there will be no more death and sorrow, crying and pain will be gone (Revelation 21:4). This hope is then not just an individual one, but for all the world. The Apostle Paul says that all creation (the whole world) groans together, waiting for the time when those who believe in God receive salvation (Romans 8:22-23). At that time all the hope of peace, justice, equity, restoration will be in the earth, when Jesus returns once more (Psalm 72, Isaiah 2, Micah 4).
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This hope is offered to every single person on the planet. God wants everyone to believe in His promise, to believe in Him and have salvation (2 Peter 3:9, John 3:16). What do we have to do? Believe and repent! God has made the message of the Bible simple. If we recognise and accept that our failings contribute to the problems in this world, and that God has promised a better future, then God wants us to respond to that knowledge. The response is to change our lives, to follow God’s guidance, to follow the example of His son Jesus (1 Peter 2:21).
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The wonders of God’s promise, for all who will listen is found in the Bible. Explore its pages. Know the love of God. Be changed by the power of its words. Find peace and hope.
WHY IS BAPTISM SO IMPORTANT?
As Christadelphians we place a lot of emphasis on reading and understanding our Bibles. To this end we have a daily reading plan which takes us through the Old Testament once a year and the New Testament twice a year. If you would like a copy of this reading plan please let us know and we can send one to you.
Our New Testament readings are taking us through the book of Acts. This book outlines the preaching of the truth of the gospel from Jerusalem throughout parts of the Greek and Roman world.
One of the things that strikes us as we read this record is the consistent response of those who heard the gospel.
The Jews in Jerusalem who heard Peter’s preaching responded like this: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).
The Samaritans: “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women” (Acts 8:12).
The Ethiopian eunuch: “And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him” (Acts 8:38).
Saul at his conversion: “And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized” (Acts 9:18).
Cornelius, the first true Gentile: “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:47-48).
The list keeps on going and we have to ask ourselves why is baptism so important?
Let the apostle Paul explain the significance of baptism. In Romans 6:3-14 he gives us a detailed explanation of the importance of baptism. He tells us that
It is a symbol identifying ourselves with the death of Jesus Christ (v2-3). As a person is immersed beneath the water they symbolically die.
As they rise up out of the water, they are identifying themselves with the resurrection of Jesus Christ (v3-5).
Our ‘death’ in baptism is a symbol of dying to the old way of life so that we no longer serve sin (v6-7)
Our ‘resurrection’ in baptism is a symbol of a new life in service to God (v8-11)
In summary baptism is an indication that we have made a commitment to turn from wickedness and sin to serve God in righteousness (v12-14)
This is why Jesus Christ underscores the importance of baptism when he commanded his disciples to “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16).
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WHY WE TRUST THE BIBLE
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As Christadelphians we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, that is, God is its author. The apostle Peter put it this way: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). What he is saying is that God spoke through prophets by His power. They were moved to do so by Him.
You may be aware that the Old Testament was written mainly in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek. There are a number of tools that can be used to check back and see what the original words meant. This is invaluable because it means that we don’t necessarily have to take things on face value. If you would like to know about these tools please ask us and we can point you in the right direction.
If we check out the word “moved” we find that the Greek word means to be carried, to be borne along (with the suggestion of force and speed). Interestingly the word is used in the book of Acts when the Roman ship Paul was on was ‘driven’ by the hurricane on to the shore (Acts 27:15, 17). This gives us a picture of God’s power working in the life of prophets irresistibly driving them along to deliver His message.
Because God’s word originates from God is must be right, hence Jesus Christ said this about God’s words - “Thy word is truth’ (John 17:17).
This declaration allows us to have full confidence in the Bible. It is the expression of God’s mind to mankind. In an age where people are not prepared to acknowledge what is truth and what is not, the Bible’s message is clear - it is true.
This means that we can read it with full confidence knowing that whatever is recorded in the Bible is for our benefit. Paul put it like this in some of his final words to the young man Timothy: “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim 3:14-17).
There is a wealth of information in this quotation. It is telling us that the Bible (or the Scriptures as Paul calls it) is more than just a book. It is able to make men and women wise and can provide the way of salvation through belief of that Word. The reason why it can save is because the message is given by inspiration, that is, God is the source of that word and therefore it can be taken as genuine and true.
What a wonderful motivation this quote provides. It is encouraging us to read and understand the Bible, knowing that it can make us wise unto salvation.
WHY IS THE BIBLE SO IMPORTANT?
The Bible is incredibly important to anyone who would seek to know about God and His ways.
You can go nowhere else to find out about:
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Who God is
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What God wants
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How God’s ways can impact your life
An understanding of the Bible is essential to know what is right, correct, and true. Reading the Bible is intended for all mankind, not just the “theologically educated”. The Bible is written so that all humankind can come to a knowledge of what is the truth about our existence here.
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Yes, there are other Holy Books such as the Qu’ran in Islam, the Book of Mormon in Mormonism, the Vedas of Hinduism, Pali Canon of Buddhism, Guru Granth Sahib of Sikhism. While many ideas might be similar to the Bible, there are also a number of key differences.
The Oldest books of the Bible were written before any of these other ‘holy’ books around 1400 BC, whereas they are mostly AD, or some 500-1000 BC. The Bible came first. This can potentially explain why other books contain similar ideas to the Bible. It is also of note that for much of the Bible, it was written by eye-witnesses. These people are speaking about events that they saw. In comparison, the Qu’ran was written by Muhammad of things that were revealed to him, but not that he saw; the same with Joseph Smith and the book of Mormon.
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Important?
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We say that the Bible is important, because that’s what it claims. And it’s more than just important, it claims to be the Word of God, the direct revelation of God to the inhabitants of the earth.
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“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”
(2 Timothy 3:16)
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What does all that mean? Our English word ‘Inspiration’ in that verse comes from the original Greek and the word “theopneustos”. This word literally means “God breathed”. You may recognise the “pneumo” element speaking about air in words that we have such as pneumatic, pneumonia. It means the Bible literally came out of His mouth, directly from God. He used different people to write, but they were writing His words.
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And God breathed His Word out with purpose. As the verse says, there is a reason why the Bible was given to us.
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Doctrine = learning, teaching, information
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Reproof = evidence, conviction
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Correction = straightening up someone’s crooked ways
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Instruction in righteousness = training in the right ways of God
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How might we say that is other terms? The Bible teaches us:
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Who is God and what He wants
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Why we can have evidence that God exists and keeps His promises
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How we can stop wrongdoings
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How we can replace wrongdoings with better things before God
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Here are some other Bible passages that tell us about God being the author of the Bible:
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“Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the holy spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”
(2 Corinthians 3:13)
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“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets”
(Hebrews 1:1)
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“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit.”
(2 Peter 1:21)
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“The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.”
(2 Samuel 23:2)
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Powerful?
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The Bible is so incredibly important for us to read and believe in.
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“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
(2 Timothy 3:15)
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Only in this book are we able to have the hope of salvation. Salvation is just about being saved, and from what? From our natural tendencies to do the wrong thing and from death! The Bible offers a hope beyond the grave. And this hope is through having faith in the things of Jesus Christ.
What is faith? It is a belief, a strong conviction, that Jesus Christ came into the world and that all the things spoken about him are true.
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Errors?
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Some people may talk about the Bible having errors and so being fallible and not the work of God. Every Bible passage must be taken in its context and carefully considered. Remember, as it is the word of the God who is far above us in His thinking, we can be limited in our understanding. We are the limit, not God.
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Where errors may have crept into the Bible would be through transliteration (copying) or translation. The Bible was originally written mainly in Hebrew and Greek and so errors have been occasionally made through these processes. Anomalies and contradictions are not in the Original text. The answer to a discrepancy could be in the original languages.
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Everything?
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Is the Bible really everything? Is it just an old book? No, it is the ONLY source about God, His plan and purpose with the earth and with us. It is WHOLLY given by God. It is WITHOUT error, and the only errors are due to the fact that humans made errors when copying it or translating it.
That is why we as Christadelphians, base EVERYTHING we believe on the Bible. Bible reading and understanding is so important.
The Bible is all we need.
That is why if you’d like a FREE Bible, we are more than happy to send you one!! Read it carefully, slowly, and you are more than welcome to ask us questions.
CAN THERE REALLY BE A GOD?
With the rise of atheism (not believing in a God) and agnosticism (thinking that the existence of God cannot be known), so many people question the existence of God or dogmatically proclaim that there is not a God. When we come to the Bible, we find that God is at the very core. From the very beginning it speaks of God, the God who created all things around us.
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“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
(Genesis 1:1)
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God is also there at the very end of the Bible in Revelation 22:19-20.
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The Bible is the book that tells us about God. It tells us who He is, what He is like, what He asks of us, what He is offering us.
But yet the question still exists: Can there really be a God?
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No Proof?
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The modern society today wants us to believe that there is no proof for a God, because science has the proof for observable reasons behind what we see in the world around us. And yes, science has helped us to understand many things on this earth, but it changes over time with the latest research. Sometimes old ideas are debunked by more recent understanding. Sometimes papers are retracted because the experiment was done in a way that biased the results or made some large assumptions.
The point is science is changing all the time. Not only that, but science involves making conclusions from observable evidence. This conclusion is then tested multiple times to see if other studies agree, often through rigorous peer-reviewing. Yet, sometimes, we cannot see what happened. We can only see the results, or the before and after. The step in the middle is missing. This is the point where the scientist interprets what they have before them and suggests what might be going on – they do not know.
This is the same with us, as humans, and the earth that we live on. We know that we have not always existed and also know that we are here now. How did we get here? This is the step that cannot be studied because we cannot see new earths with new human life forming in some distant galaxy. Where some people interpret this missing step and say that it was a random process of natural selection, other people (like us) look at the evidence and say that it is the work of God.
Yet, we can ignore the “how” question, about “how we got here”, and focus on “why”. Science cannot reveal that to us. Only the existence of a God reveals that to us, and only in the Bible.
Evidence?
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But can we prove the existence of a God? Again, we can provide evidence and draw our conclusions from that.
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In the Bible we have records of prophecies. These are events that are described well before they actually come to pass. The New Testament even refers to these prophecies by the incorporation of citations from the Old Testament. The details that were spoken about 1000s of years before are fulfilled to the letter.
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For example, Psalm 22 written by King David who lived around 1000 years before Jesus Christ.
“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.” (v14)
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“I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.” (v17)
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“They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” (v18)
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What do we find in the New Testament, but the fulfilment of these quotes when Jesus Christ was crucified? V14 applies to the crucifixion process, a method of execution that gained popularity in Roman times, well after King David. As for the other two verse mentioned, they have their fulfilment highlighted by the Gospel writers:
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“For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.”
(John 19:36)
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“And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.”
(Matthew 27:35)
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The people who were fulfilling these things were Roman soldiers, ignorant of the prophecies of the Hebrew Old Testament. They were acting based on what they wanted to do, not acting to make sure they fulfilled what had been written. They did not break any of his bones, and though John 19:36 is directly quoting Psalm 34:20, another prophecy, it applies equally to Psalm 22:17. And Matt 27:35 is directly quoting Psalm 22:18, showing that it was a fulfilment.
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Prophecy is one example of evidence for God. Others could be that secular history and archaeology verify the Bible. The same people and places are spoken of; the same dates are used; even some of the same terms are used, showing that the writers knew the terms of the day, and were writing at the time they said they were. Another witness to the existence of a God is Intelligent Design in the world around us, the complexity on the microscopic and macroscopic levels.
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Suffering Exists
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Another key question related to God is: can God really exist if suffering exists? People ask, “how can a God of love let people die from war or famine?”
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Firstly, we find in the Bible that the reason that people die was not because of God but because of humans. In particular, this human was Adam. In the very beginning in Genesis 3 we have Adam and his wife Eve disobeying the commandment of God. As a result, they would become dying creatures.
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“By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return”
(Genesis 3:19)
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And it is so very often that the struggles that we experience day to day are because of the way that other humans are behaving. This could be with inequalities of resources, or obvious greed and self-centredness. The reason for our struggles cannot be blamed on a God, since so often we are responsible.
Secondly, God does not leave anyone without hope. Just because He does not intervene in the moment, does not mean there is no hope. As it says in Romans 8, there is a hope to be set free from the “bondage of corruption”, or in simpler terms, death.
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“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
(Romans 8:20-21, ESV)
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God does offer a hope in His book the Bible - an end of all suffering. That time promised is the Kingdom of God on this earth.
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“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
(Revelation 21:4)
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Finally, there is sometimes a purpose for suffering. While it is unpleasant for us to comprehend, God says that suffering helps shape and mould our characters. If you think about your life, you realise that many of your steepest learning curves were often the toughest moments. God wants us to develop the good characteristics that we read of in the Bible. If we were never in a situation that challenged our patience, we would not develop that characteristic. We develop the “fruit of righteousness” (the right ways described by God) through suffering.
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“Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”
(James 1:3)
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“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness”
(Hebrew 12:11)
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Therefore, the presence of suffering in the world does not preclude the existence of a God. Instead, it provides opportunity for us to gain a better perspective on our mortal, weak nature, and how we are prone to doing wrong and causing suffering to ourselves and others, and instead look to a God. We look to a God for an end to suffering, but also to learn the characteristics that help us through trials.
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Element of Faith
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Can there really be a God? Yes, there really can be! But even so, there still needs an element of belief. We can see the evidence, and can we believe that the interpretation of the evidence points to the existence of a God.
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“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
(Hebrew 11:6)
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We must have faith (belief) that God exists if we want to please Him. Yet, on top of that, to open the Bible and read it, we need to believe that God will reward those who diligently seek Him.
These are people who want to know who God is, what He is like, and what He asks of us.