Bridge of Reason

  People are looking for answers. One of the key attractions of a cult is certainty, the claim they have all the answers, a plan that is God’s plan. When someone leaves a cult this is one of the hardest things to deal with, letting go of the plan. There is an apparent uncertainty as the plan is taken away and replaced with simple trust in Jesus in a Western Church that often seems to fail in offering focus and direction. Something I have warned about over the years is the danger of being an ‘ex,’ allowing your past to define you. Let’s be frank here, the fault lies with the church that fails to have that focus, making some fall back on an identity defined by their past. Focus and direction are there in the Bible but churches can get so caught up in putting on programmes, events that attract unbelievers, serving the wider community, it can forget it’s primary purpose – making disciples. Are your surprised this is the church’s primary purpose? Perhaps you have been told the primary...

  la conversion den san Pablo - Murillo When Jesus said ‘go into all the world and preach the good news’ (Mark.16:15) lets be honest, perhaps he didn’t know some of the people we would encounter. Let’s face it, there are some we are simply reluctant to speak to for fear, sometimes, of mortal peril. Then there are those we would rather not be associated with because of their reputation. Given a choice, which of us would eagerly witness to the woman of Samaria (John 4), or to Saul the persecutor (Acts 9)? Jesus witnessed to both in a surprising way and with amazing results. When we consider these two conversations we see lessons for us in the way God works. The first lesson is that God is no respecter of persons and doesn’t judge things as we do. Who would have gone to that much trouble to speak to a Samaritan woman, someone who denies the authority of Jerusalem, believes only the Pentateuch, and rejects the temple of the Jews down south? Effectively, she is a member of a Jewish...

  I have never been a fan of pictures of Jesus. Several years ago, my, not yet Christian, sister bought me a picture of Jesus. She obviously thought it would be something I would enjoy and very much appreciate. Bless her, they say it’s the thought that counts. Though I received it gracefully, it was something I would never have bought in a million years. It was one of those pictures of an effeminate looking Jesus hugging a smiling lamb. You know the sort I mean; you may even have one hanging on your wall at home (apologies if you do) – but it was not ‘my cup of tea’ and the picture never saw the light of day. In fact, I have no idea what happened to it. Now don’t get me wrong, it is not that I believe the bible explicitly prohibits pictures of Jesus, though it does warn against the making and worshipping of graven images. [1] Indeed a picture of Jesus may prompt us to remember He is with us or maybe encourage us to be thankful and to pray. As I do not believe there is anything...

  In  an article on jw.org   addressing how we enter God’s rest the Watch Tower emphasise the importance of following ‘scriptural counsel’ from leaders and ‘keeping pace with Jehovah’s organisation.’ This has always been awkward given the history of failed prophecy and changed teachings for which the Watch Tower is known. The Society tries to excuse its past failures, saying,   'It is not easy to accept counsel from an imperfect human,' while trying to keep an iron hold on authority. Historically, they have leaned heavily on the idea of doctrines being refined, counsel being changed because of new light ‘improving’ our understanding. The article explains: 'Many of us can quote Proverbs 4:18 from memory: “The path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.” That means that our conduct and our understanding of God’s purposes will improve over time... 'In modern times, there have been r...

  The young woman was having a crisis of faith. She sounded so confused as she asked, ‘If all this is true why aren’t we having continuous mountaintop experiences?’ The short answer, of course, is because the work is in the valley. I hope I helped her as I unpacked the answer and tried to get her to understand, ‘in the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33) Refusing Reality An awful lot of Christians today are being sold the idea struggles and suffering shouldn’t be the everyday experience of the believer. I heard one Christian leader declare confidently that he was protected from disease because of his faith and status in Christ . He could walk without fear or apprehension through a world struck by pandemic. Another, even while friends and loved ones are suffering around him, refuses to acknowledge sickness and suffering in a world where grace has been poured out. If we can just muster enough faith we can create our own heal...

   In  part 1  I suggested two reasons why individuals may leave a church to join a cult. It could be that they were never truly born again believers or perhaps they had never been taught or understood biblical truth. Here I offer a further reason that may cause a person to get involved with a cultic group.  3)  The Fellowship The church is a fellowship of believers. The Greek word translated fellowship is koinonia ( κοινωνία ) which literally means contributory help, participation, sharing in. In Acts 2 we read these wonderful words spoken about the fellowship of believers: And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  43  And awe [ d ]  came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  44  And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  45  And they were s...

  On the jw.org website the Watch Tower confidently affirms You Can Strip off the Old Personality . They quote, in part, Col.3:9, ‘Strip off the old personality with its practices.’ The complete thought here, in context, reads: ‘ Do not lie to one another. Strip off the old personality, with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it…’ (Col.3:9/10, NWT 2013) I f you look up this text in a reliable translation you will read: ‘ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self , which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.’ (ESV) Other translations carry the same thought, for example ‘ since you have taken off your old self,’ (NIV) . The difference here is staggering, the implications far-reaching . In the NWT putting off the old self is something we are to strive to do...

I sat in a church meeting in which people were encouraged to ‘share.’ There was no shortage of candidates to walk up to the front and tell what they ‘felt God was saying to me.’ Some of it was encouraging and to the point, but some ranged from puzzling to outright wacky. One stood out for me as instructional in all the ways the speaker probably hadn’t intended. What was said was sufficiently couched in Christian lingo as to sound broadly biblical but ultimately so vague as to be as applicable as the words of a fairground fortune-teller; almost anyone could have identified with them. What was striking was the failed attempt to bring biblical content into ‘what God is saying to me.’ This was because the speaker’s knowledge of the Bible was patently and woefully inadequate to the task. It is troubling when people who don’t know the Bible, God’s written Word, nevertheless feel God can and does speak through them, that they can be God’s immanent word. You hear these things where someon...