Bridge of Reason

Have you ever asked yourself this question? I spoke about this at our 2023 Reachout Trust Convention. Our 2024 Convention is already planned and booked for September. Why not join us and enjoy a weekend of teaching, equipping, and fellowship? Find out more here.  Meanwhile, I hope this teaching blesses you.  

  Image by  Myriams photos  from  Pixabay Thoughts on faithfulness to take us into the weekend. It was Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, who is said, on his death bed, to have uttered in his native Welsh language, ‘Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd,’ which translated means, ‘do the little things in life.’ I am sure he had in mind the words of Jesus in Luke’s gospel, ‘“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much…’ Luke 16:10 There was a man who was faithful in the little things. He frequented the same place of worship for years, practised the same spiritual exercises, prayed the same liturgy, confessed and worshipped God in the same way. He heard of revivals in different parts, but he didn’t go to see. He was told of prophets proclaiming the imminence of Christ, but he didn’t go to listen. He heard of folk who had gone up a mountain, or into a wilderness to await deliverance, he didn’t join them. He simply frequented the same place of worship for years, pract

  The following is a contribution from Barry Amor, one of our team here at Reachout central: I have spent many hours debating with Jehovah’s Witnesses, online, via email, and face-to-face on the carts or over a table. I t is understand able how easy it can be to become disappointed with the seeming lack of effect of this time spent with them. They promise to go away and research what you have said and get back to you and yet they rarely do. The Scriptures you show them and the arguments you present seem to wash over them with no apparent effect and you go away discouraged. By way of encouragement, though, I think an alternative look at the parable of the sower from Matthew 13: 1-23 has much to help us. There are two ways of looking at the parable in this context: F irstly, the sower seems to accept the fact that some of the seed that he is sowing will have little or no result by way of fruit, yet he keeps sowing. Some seed will undoubtedly be wasted, but there will be a harvest

I wonder would you do something for me? Read through the following brief account of a little adventure I had recently and then answer the two questions at the end. Its a true story, I know because I made it up myself: I recently bought a car because I planned to go on a road trip with a friend and my old jalopy simply wasn’t up to it. It surprised me that, within my budget, I was offered a great little model, much better than my old banger and with an interior so comfortable it was like driving a limo. When I arrived at my friends’ house he took one look and said, “Nice wheels.” “You like my motor?” I replied. “Its a nice Auto,” he said, “and it looks like that model is going to take us places.” With that we got in the vehicle and drove off on our adventure. Q1 . How many times does the word “car” appear in this narrative? Q2 . How many times is a car mentioned in this narrative? We’ll get back to this shortly. It still amazes me how Mormon thinking makes Mormon leaders s

  Jehovah's Witnesses struggle with the idea of one God in three person's. Who doesn’t? How do they resolve this to their own satisfaction? They reason: 'The statement “the Word was with God” indicates that two separate persons are discussed in the verse. It is not possible for the Word to be “with God” and at the same time be God Almighty. The context also confirms that the Word is not Almighty God. John 1:18 states that “no man has seen God at any time.” However, people did see the Word, Jesus, for John 1:14 states that “the Word became flesh and resided among us, and we had a view of his glory.” Is there a difference between 'God' and 'Almighty God,' as they insist? If 'no man has seen God at any time' how is it possible for Jesus to be seen and be God? Revelation 3:14 I ended my last post without addressing the question, ‘Is the NWT accurate and reliable when it translates Revelation 3:14, 'the beginning of the creation by God'?’ I w

  Jehovah's Witnesses insist Jesus is a created being, the first to be created, the one who created 'all other things.' Of the opening verses of John's gospel they write : 'The “beginning” referred to in this verse cannot mean “the beginning” of God, because God had no beginning. Jehovah God is “from everlasting to everlasting.” (Psalm 90:1, 2) However, the Word, Jesus Christ, did have a beginning. He is “the beginning of the creation by God.”—Revelation 3:14.' What is 'the beginning' referring to in John 1:1? Did Jesus Christ have a beginning? Is the NWT accurate and reliable when it translates Revelation 3:14, 'the beginning of the creation by God'? In the beginning was [ εἰμ ί ( eimi) , Gk. ‘to be’] the Word – Genesis is in mind here, Jehovah’s Witnesses say as much when they teach God made Jesus and Jesus made ‘all other things,’ as Colossians 2 doesn’t say, but does in their NWT. Note, Jesus ‘was’ in the beginning; he didn’t begin to be.

  Jehovah's Witnesses are known for denying the Deity of Christ. They explain on their website: 'While many Bible translators render the verse this way, others see the need to render it differently. In the original-language text, the two occurrences of “God” (Greek, the·osʹ) at John 1:1 are grammatically different. In the first occurrence, the word “God” is preceded by the Greek definite article, while the article does not appear before the second occurrence. Many scholars note that the absence of the definite article before the second the·osʹ is significant. For example, The Translator’s New Testament says regarding this absence of the article: “In effect it gives an adjectival quality to the second use of Theos (God) so that the phrase means ‘The Word was divine.’” Other scholars and Bible translations point to this same distinction.—See “ John 1:1 From Additional Translations.” Is Jesus 'a god' with a lower case 'g'? Does translating the Greek as 'divi