Leaving the Christadelphians

Growing up as a Christadelphian can feel normal enough. We may have been seen as a bit "different" at school or university, but going to church is still generally respected and people rarely ask too many questions about it. That, too, is kind of still normal enough. It was sometimes difficult coming up with interesting answers to, "So what did you do on the weekend?", but we survived. The camps were fun (well, the free time was anyway). We had large organised events for young people, and regular opportunities to meet new people and have a good chat over supper.

For the most part, this was our life. But there was something else. Life as a Christadelphian was really all about one thing, and one thing only. Getting into the kingdom. That's all that mattered, and the Christadelphian community had created a framework and ecosystem spanning almost every part of life, all geared towards that goal. From Sunday School, to youth group events, to baptism instruction, to ecclesial duties, to outings, to teaching, to getting married, to preaching, and even to funerals, they had it all covered. Everything we needed in order to keep us on the straight and narrow path was catered for, complete with both positive and negative feedback mechanisms to encourage and enforce certain patterns of behaviour. There was also sometimes that positive community spirit of helping each other along the often difficult path, that "narrow way that leads to life". We were the lucky ones to have been born into the one true religion. Christadelphian life wasn't easy, but God would surely reward our struggles by granting us eternal life when Jesus returned.

And it almost made sense. Almost.

Was Jesus perfect?

There is a danger in elevating a single person or book above all others. We become blinded to the flaws, and become persuaded through our bias. We can all recognise this danger when it comes to almost every other area of life (and especially other religions), and yet the Bible is still often held as a book never to be questioned. The irony screams pretty loud here.

The Ontological Argument

The various arguments for the existence of God were not often employed by Christadelphians back when I was a member. I'm not sure if it's because they were not aware of them, or because the arguments were made by non-Christadelphians, or some other reason.

Nevertheless, the arguments do surface occasionally, and in this article I thought it would be interesting to look at the Ontological Argument for the existence of God.

The Christadelphian Story

In the beginning, there was a super intelligent being, called God. Except there was no beginning, because God had always existed. Forever.

One day, God decided to create a universe, as you do. He made it full of about 2 trillion galaxies, each containing about 100 billion stars, and around many of the stars he created several planets.

Then he picked just one planet, and created all living things on it.

The Return Of Israel

Perhaps the biggest piece of evidence Christians (and especially Christadelphians) point to is the re-establishment of the nation of Israel and the return of the Jews to the land.

It is claimed that the events in the middle of the 20th century are direct fulfilments of prophecies made in both the Old and New Testaments in the Bible. These are bold claims, and worthy of some scrutiny.

The Resurrection Of Jesus

It is sometimes claimed by apologists that the resurrection of Jesus is the most parsimonious explanation for various "facts" from first century Palestine. That is, they claim Jesus's resurrection is the best explanation for the fact that Jesus died by crucifixion, was buried, and later the tomb was found empty by his followers, who became convinced he rose from the dead, and went on to boldly devote their life to promoting his teachings and proclaiming that he had risen from the dead.

If you're a believer, it sounds enticing, because you have all of these details that have supposedly been confirmed as historically accurate, and you have a single explanation that ties them all together.

But reality is never this simple. Let's have a closer look at these "facts"...

The Big Picture

Something that occasionally crosses my mind is the thought that perhaps there is some detail I overlooked during my deconversion and that maybe the Bible is all true and I've been horribly mistaken. I'm sure such thoughts are common to all of us at some point, but it's actually a good opportunity to explore the kinds of things that might indicate that I'm mistaken, or the kinds of evidence we should expect to find if the Bible is in fact true.

Another Failed Prophecy: The scattering of Egypt?

I recently came across this passage in Ezekiel 30:

"Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, the strong arm and the broken one, and I will make the sword drop from his hand. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among foreign countries."

Ezekiel 30:22-23 NET (Emphasis mine)

So...when did that happen?

What is the evidence for evolution, and why do people believe it?

In this article I want to list some of the reasons why so many people, including the vast majority of scientists, believe in evolution.

Even if you are a creationist, it's important to understand not only what other people believe, but also why they find it compelling. If you cannot fathom how any sane, rational person could believe in evolution, then maybe what you call 'evolution' is not actually what people believe. Maybe they believe something else, instead.

So let's take a look at some lines of evidence...

Why did I start believing in evolution?

"Why are so many scientists, and especially biologists, convinced that evolution is true?"

This was a question I actually pondered occasionally back when I was a Christadelphian.

For the most part, I found myself satisfied with very dismissive and glib answers, such as that scientists just didn't want to accept God, or that they had all been deceived through the spread of cunning, humanistic ideas. At no point did I consider that scientists might have had a much deeper understanding of the natural world than I did, and might have been convinced by virtue of a wealth of evidence. I think perhaps one reason why I did not consider these possibilities is because in my mind, the Bible said God created everything, and since I believed it was absolutely the word of God, the idea that any human could somehow "know" something contrary to that just seemed impossible. Therefore evolution "must" have been false, because creation "must" have been true. I wonder if other believers still think this way.

Evolutionary Creationism and the Christadelphians

Evolutionary Creationism is the idea that the Bible and science need not be in conflict with regard to our origins. Also known as Theistic Evolution, it attempts to reconcile the vast and compelling evidence for evolution with views about God and creation, and often those found in the Bible specifically.

I came to understand Theistic Evolution around the same time that I was grappling with various other questions about the Bible, from both a scientific and textual perspective. Understanding how to reconcile Genesis with science allowed me to review the scientific evidence anew without the fear that it would destroy my faith. For a while I accepted it, and it all made sense. Well, almost all of it. But I was sure that any remaining issues with the theory could be resolved in due course.

Divine Santa

I don't know if a god exists. I don't think anyone really knows. For one, the concept of God (or gods) is often poorly defined. And when you push people for definitions, either the definitions are so vague as to not be descriptive at all, or you start to find differences between the types of gods people believe in.

There is not just one single concept of God.

That might be a surprise to some people. Surely everyone knows who God is? Well, not exactly. What you mean by "God" is almost certainly different to what other people mean by "God", and because people are getting their views about God from different sources, and via different interpretations of those sources, and sometimes inferring things about God from their own experiences, there are inevitably many differences between those views.

So I want to discuss some different views about God...

Good without God?

Religions often claim to be the custodians of morality. Some claim that morality can only come from God, and that to be truly moral means to follow the various laws or tenets of the religion, or to follow God's ways.

But when we actually examine what religions claim is moral behaviour, it all-too-often boils down to some version of carrot and stick. Do this, and you'll be rewarded. Don't do that, or you'll be punished.

Is that morality? I beg to differ. 

Inerrancy? Jesus didn't say that.

Many people believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, written via divine inspiration so that every word is accurate and intended by God, except where copying errors have crept in. One wonders why a god who could dictate his words verbatim to his human scribes decided not to preserve those words, but that's a separate topic.

In this article I want to demonstrate very simply that the New Testament contains a conversation involving Jesus that Jesus almost certainly didn't have.

The Faith Trap

It's considered an essential virtue in many religions, without which salvation cannot be attained. Believers often talk about wanting more of it, strengthening it, trying not to lose it, and even criticise others for not having enough of it.

But what is faith? And what does it mean to have more or less of it?

Let's take a closer look...

Why are you a Christadelphian?

Perhaps you've thought long and hard about it. Or perhaps you've taken it for granted and never really considered it. Either way, it's a vital question and I'm going to step you through it right now.

Let's have a little chat about who you are, and what it means to you.

Has God ever answered your prayer?

Christadelphians often talk about the "power of prayer". For many it is an essential tool when going through difficult times. They say it provides comfort, and reassurance. It is said that prayer is how we talk to God, and that God talks to us through the Bible. Some Christadelphians believe that God talks to us through events in our lives, or even by putting words in our head. Others interpret things they experience as little "messages" from God, perhaps in answer to a recent prayer.

Amazing prophecy fulfilments

Many Christadelphians believe that the contents of the Bible originated from God. One of the primary reasons they believe this is Bible Prophecy. Essentially, they believe there are prophecies in the Bible that were accurately fulfilled, something they claim a mere human could not have produced.

That is a claim this article will explore a bit further, but perhaps in a surprising way. Rather than argue that most, if not all, of the prophecies in the Bible were not actually accurately fulfilled, as I have done in previous articles, I want to look at human predictions made outside the Bible.

Things the Bible says about God

Christadelphians, like all Christians, believe that the Bible was authored (via humans writing under inspiration) by a perfect being, who they call God.

If that is true, then we can therefore assume that any descriptions of God contained in the Bible must also be accurate.

Agreed? Good. This should prove rather interesting...

Why prophecy fails to convince people

I think that of all the reasons why Christadelphians believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, prophecy is always near the top. It makes sense. No human could accurately predict the future (except that they often do), so if we had a book that did just that, we'd have something on our hands that demanded an explanation.

In the case of the Bible, the book itself claims that a god revealed these things to a prophet, and that is how the future could be foretold so accurately. Apparently this god had knowledge of the future, or otherwise had the means to make a prediction and then ensure that it came to pass.

But let's rewind a bit.