http://www.explorethebible.com/ en Copyright 2008 Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:10:29 -0300 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss God's purpose with mankind proved by the wonder of the universe.

Did the limitless heavens, this vast globe we call "earth," and the amazing diversities of life upon it, come merely by chance or caprice? Are the complexities of life a mere whim of fate -- or is there some real purpose behind existence? A vast change has come over the world in the last ninety years. Prior to 1914, the tempo of life was far more leisurely; motor cars were few and inefficient; airplanes were flimsy affairs that inspired little confidence; electricity was still largely in its infancy. And morally, the world was still governed by the standards and conventions of the Victorian Age.]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2007/08/creation_or_chance.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2007/08/creation_or_chance.html Commentary Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:10:29 -0300 The old man stood high on the hillside, the Israelites below him hushed and expectant as they waited for him to continue. These were his people, the flock he had shepherded for over 40 years. Moses' voice rang clear through the desert air: "The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth" (Deuteronomy 7:6).]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2006/08/israel_gods_people_gods_land_1.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2006/08/israel_gods_people_gods_land_1.html Current Events Tue, 08 Aug 2006 14:28:56 -0300 WITH the general decrease in religious belief and as society becomes increasingly secular, there is strong commercial pressure to treat every day of the week equally; shops, bars, places of entertainment are open, and sporting and other events are held now on any day from Sunday to Saturday. These moves are welcomed by some people, who see them as the final sweeping away of hide-bound traditions. But others see the trend as a great threat and an indication of serious moral and religious decline. When there are such strongly held and conflicting views on the subject, how can we determine what response to make? Where can we turn for answers to the problems that are raised?]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2006/06/sunday_and_the_sabbath.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2006/06/sunday_and_the_sabbath.html First Principles Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:22:35 -0300 The Lord Jesus Christ is the central character of the New Testament scriptures. The opening words of the first gospel account, by Matthew, can be applied to the whole of the New Testament: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ" (Matthew 1:1). The four gospels are followed by the account of the preaching of Christ's apostles, and by the letters they wrote to believers in him throughout the Roman world in the first century AD.]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2006/03/christ_in_the_old_testament.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2006/03/christ_in_the_old_testament.html Commentary Sun, 05 Mar 2006 08:30:00 -0300 EVERYONE has heard about protest movements. Some of them, like Greenpeace, are internationally known. Some of them have taken up matters of general concern, but in a particular way -- the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is a well-known case. Others are pressing for human rights of one kind or another, such as feminist movements or the anti-apartheid groups. Slogans and songs become popular and catch the eye or the ear, and the imagination.]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/11/christ_and_protest.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/11/christ_and_protest.html Commentary Thu, 24 Nov 2005 12:04:05 -0300 Who or what is the Holy Spirit? What part does the Holy Spirit occupy in the work of God? These are serious and deep questions. We must conduct our inquiry with reverence because we are searching into the things of God. All of our searching would be useless if God had not encouraged us to find out as much as we can by means of the Bible, which is His authoritative Word. Let us discover what He has told us about His Spirit.]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/11/the_holy_spirit_bible_understa.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/11/the_holy_spirit_bible_understa.html First Principles Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:04:29 -0300 There are over 160 million Arabs living in the Middle East and North Africa. Most of them are Muslims, but some belong to Christian sects. The Arabs are among the most important people in the world today. This is not simply because the price of their oil affects the living standards of all the industrial nations; more important, it is because the Arabs are part of God’s plan for the future of the world. They are “Semetic” peoples (ie. from Shem) and they trace their history from Abraham, alongside the Jews. Their holy book is called the Koran.]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/10/arabs_and_the_bible.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/10/arabs_and_the_bible.html Current Events Tue, 04 Oct 2005 08:34:24 -0300 Nobody who is even faintly religious would deny that prayer Is part of the religious life. People who have had little to do with a church, who have seldom picked up a Bible, who have given scant attention to God, will, faced with a crisis, turn to prayer. Many a helpless individual, faced with the stark reality of death, has gone down on his knees in prayer. It sometimes comes as a surprise to discover that some of the most powerful men in history have been men of prayer.]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/09/does_god_hear_prayer_the_bible.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/09/does_god_hear_prayer_the_bible.html Commentary Sat, 03 Sep 2005 20:52:36 -0300 The Marvellous Message of the Bible Open a newspaper these days, listen to the news on radio or TV, and invariably you get the impression of trouble. Our world is torn by strife -- strife between political parties; strife between ethnic factions; strife between nations. It is beset by problems -- hunger, pollution of land and water, and ever present violence; problems of society, revealed by increasing crime rates and over-crowded prisons; by hospitals filled with patients, many of whom are there because of mental stress; and by an alarming number of victims of drug abuse and alcoholism. Looming over all is the frequent threat of economic crisis, with widespread unemployment and material hardship. The "under-developed nations" are in debt to the world banks (that is, chiefly those of America and Western Europe) to staggering sums running into billions of dollars, with no prospect of ever being able to repay the loans.]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/07/hope_for_a_hopeless_world.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/07/hope_for_a_hopeless_world.html Commentary Sun, 31 Jul 2005 08:57:02 -0300 "This is he, with horns and hoof, The parsons call the devil; They tell us he lives in a sultry place Where ghosts and imps all revel. They say that he wears a great long tail, And carries a three- pronged fork, That he sometimes leaves his sultry home, And through the earth doth walk. They say he can assume with ease The garb of an angel bright, And then, for a change, he takes the form Of a roaring lion at night: That he's power to act and do as he likes, Be in fifty places at once; And that to fulfil his evil designs, Can be wise as a sage, or a dunce."]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/06/do_you_believe_in_a_devil_bibl.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/06/do_you_believe_in_a_devil_bibl.html First Principles Thu, 02 Jun 2005 13:02:51 -0300 Death is Real There is no escaping the reality of death. When it comes suddenly, unexpectedly, as the result of an accident or heart attack, we are shaken. Similarly when someone still “in the prime of life” dies of cancer or kidney failure. Such events are so common that we all experience them. We are overcome by the sense of our own helplessness: we cannot reverse what has happened. All human resources are powerless to restore a dead person to life. The grieving relative is not easily comforted. How do people react to the fact of death? The young frankly do not treat the matter seriously. When they have the occasional shock - a friend is killed in a road accident, for example - it is just “bad luck”. The tragedy is soon forgotten. The middle-aged do not care to contemplate death. It is too far off yet to seem a real danger: “Better face it when it comes.” Older people become more aware that here is a reality they will not escape. Their friends and relations pass off the scene. Failing eyesight and hearing, growing physical ailments remind them that the human frame eventually perishes.]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/05/after_death_what.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/05/after_death_what.html First Principles Sun, 15 May 2005 18:50:30 -0300 The old man stood high on the hillside, the Israelites below him hushed and expectant as they waited for him to continue. These were his people, the flock he had shepherded for over 40 years. Moses' voice rang clear through the desert air: "The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth" (Deuteronomy 7:6).]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/05/israel_gods_people_gods_land.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/05/israel_gods_people_gods_land.html Current Events Wed, 11 May 2005 10:22:51 -0300 Where did it happen? It happened outside the walls of Jerusalem, in a very public place. The Bible says, "This thing was not done in a corner". Jesus Christ of Nazareth was crucified between two thieves. The place is called Golgotha, otherwise the Place of a Skull, or the hill of Calvary. These are places described in the gospel records – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – which are identifiable today. It was a very real place.]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/04/the_crisis_of_the_cross_of_chr.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/04/the_crisis_of_the_cross_of_chr.html First Principles Wed, 13 Apr 2005 10:00:33 -0300 We talk about hope in everyday conversation. We say "I hope you feel better soon", or "We hope to go abroad this year" or "I hope the strike will be over by next week". We mean there is something in the future we should very much like to happen, and we feel cautiously optimistic that it will. Life without hope would be very grim. Even in the worst of circumstances, people like to look on the bright side. A poet wrote: "Hope springs eternal in the human breast." Hope can give men extraordinary tenacity of spirit-miners trapped by a roof fall, or sailors drifting on a raft, will often fight death for days, convinced that their friends will come to the rescue before it is too late. Sadly, of course, they are sometimes disappointed. It can happen that the rock fall is too deep to tunnel through, or no one knows the ship has foundered. In this case the chance to which they cling does not exist, and their hope is an illusion. http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/04/your_share_in_gods_promises.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/04/your_share_in_gods_promises.html First Principles Sun, 03 Apr 2005 18:23:51 -0300 It was once fashionable in religious circles to say that Jesus Christ would never return to the earth. There are still plenty of professing Christians who believe that. But there are now many others who have come to believe that the Second Coming is a very important event. Christadelphians have always taught that the Return of Jesus Christ to the earth is vital to the fulfillment of the purpose of God. This article reviews Bible teaching about the Second Coming, both the events that will lead up to that miracle and the reason for the Lord’s Return.]]> http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/03/christ_is_coming.html http://www.explorethebible.com/2005/03/christ_is_coming.html Commentary Sat, 05 Mar 2005 08:11:40 -0300