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Introduction
One day I began to question. I looked past all the opinions and teachings I had simply absorbed, and began to search for the truth. I started to learn instead of just accepting what I was told and I discovered that underneath all we see and have experienced is a mystery to be understood, and a message so important and powerful it defines our very existence and future. (more)
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Time is freedom. Freedom to think, experience and feel. Working life does not always afford this luxury, and as a result this lead me to consider a deeper meaning to life, to seek my freedom again. How many other people feel the same way? We work, we drink, we party, and we try to forget. Does this really fulfil our lives? For some yes and for a minority of people the answer clearly is no. (more)
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 Chapter 2 |
The decline of the Christian Faith has been caused by more than the emergence and progression of science. The established church has generated its own problems in terms of its historical conduct. In modern times it is quite understandable that the church as an organisation receives increasing disapproval from a younger generation. The churches history of control, manipulation, and slaughter prevents many people from considering if God exists or even to learn His teachings. (more)
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Chapter 3 |
Our mind, personality, and beliefs can be shaped by our experiences. We constantly absorb information and opinions from people, places, and forms of media. Some of these are not always the most helpful or informative. One of the most influential factors, which had previously shaped my own thought process was the opinions of my peers. (more)
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Chapter 4 |
The Bible states that God created the Earth and the Universe. This is difficult to perceive, as our traditional comprehension of God seems a little narrow minded. Most people would conjure images of a large bearded face and the universe being formed by giant hands. After all, this is the exact example, which is portrayed to us by television. This imagery creates a sense of falseness when we consider the true complexity and beauty of this world and the universe. (more)
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Chapter 5 |
Who would withhold the truth? What would be their purpose for doing so? If there was something to be gained or something fundamentally important why and how could this be hidden from us? Unfortunately the truth can even be hidden within a church environment. This may sound a little strange but when we consider the actual knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith by the general population we find that it is lacking in many areas. (more)
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Chapter 6 |
In the face of all of the scientific arguments which force-feed atheism to us, even the established church has stopped promoting the Christian Faith as truth. Instead they concentrate on the promotion of politically correct morals, and fulfilment of rituals to cater for their audiences, their customers, those who value the institution of church over the teachings of the Bible. Unfortunately in some churches the biblical teachings have been largely disregarded in order to appeal to the uninformed and unchallenging opinions of the masses. (more)
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Chapter 7 |
The notion of the existence of God has been placed on trial, and the primary witness has not been called to take the stand. Without examining the words within the Bible this is a biased debate. This is your challenge. Dare to read the Bible, to discover its secrets, and to form your own opinions and beliefs through knowledge and understanding rather than ignorance and hearsay. If God is on trial let the defendant speak for Himself. (more)
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Chapter 8 |
The Bible contains many books, which are appropriately named. Each individual book contains many chapters and each chapter contains many verses. A verse is a small division within each chapter, quite similar to numbering each paragraph of a sentence. For example, the first book of the bible is called Genesis. It contains 50 chapters and the first chapter contains 31 verses. Therefore a bible quotation could guide you to the first verse in Genesis Chapter 1. This would be written as follows: (more)
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Chapter 9 |
In your Bible turn to Genesis 1 and read the first chapter. This is a simplistic account of how God created the Universe and the Earth. However it is worth noting some interesting points about this chapter. Although it appears to be simplistic when compared to a scientific explanation, as we have previously discussed, a more complex scientific analysis does not prove the creation account to be false. More interestingly when you look closer at these verses they hint at the reality that the creation of the Universe by God is more complex than it has been explained within this chapter of Genesis. (more)
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Chapter 10 |
When
God made his covenant with Abraham He also gave him this prophecy.
This was a part of His plan, which was executed through Joseph.
This was accomplished through the power that was given to him and
the famine, which God sent to the
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Chapter 11 |
Sin is an act, thought, or behaviour that defies the teachings and instruction of God. It is a direct disobedience of the laws, which He gave. Our lack of faith in God’s fulfilment of His promises in our lives is the main cause and root of sin. Also our faithlessness extends beyond our disbelief in the fulfilment of God’s promises, and extends to our disbelief in the promise of judgement for the sins that we commit. Faithlessness affects our behaviour and influences our choices. If we believe that God will not help, accept, teach, and guide us then we begin to disregard His teachings and search for our own solutions and ideas. (more)
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Chapter 12 |
Almighty God. The Creator of the universe, and the one who establishes the laws by which we must live, ultimately knew that mankind would consistently fail to keep His commandments. He taught us His laws and by His convictions executed judgement. The commandments given to Moses were much the same as a contractual agreement. Once a person has broken one of these laws the contract invokes the penalty of punishment and eternal judgement. However the Creator also has compassion on us and through His love provided mechanisms for us to seek His forgiveness. (more)
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Chapter 13 |
Contained within most of the books of the Old Testament a promise of
inheritance was given solely to the children of
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Chapter 14 |
The purpose of John’s ministry was to prepare the way for Jesus. The baptism of water as mentioned by him in verse 16 demonstrates repentance of sin but the baptism that Jesus provides, will be of the Holy Spirit. Therefore John informs the people that Jesus will cause those who believe to effectively die to their old sinful life and be reborn to a new life, being saved from the consequences of their sin by the power of God through the Holy Spirit. (more)
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Chapter 15 |
Jesus existed with God, and is a part of God since before the time of creation. He is the physical manifestation of God, our very life force, and embodiment of all that is good. All things were created through Him, and as a result of believing in Him we are accepted into God’s family as His children. Jesus was sent to earth as a man who is God’s only son being born of a woman (Mary) but conceived by God Himself through His manifestation of The Holy Spirit as we learned in Luke’s Gospel. (more)
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Chapter 16 |
Now we will study Matthew 5-7. In these chapters Jesus preaches a sermon to a large multitude of people. The commandments that are given by Him detail exactly what God desires from us regarding our behaviour, faith, and attitude towards Him and each other. These teachings are core to the Christian Faith and can sometimes be misunderstood; therefore we must study them carefully. Each part of these chapters is covered under different subheadings. We will consider each commandment that is given to us and summarise what we have learned at the end of each subsection. (more)
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Chapter 17 |
John the Baptist also described Jesus as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. The purpose and mission of Jesus was revealed to him. If we reconsider what we learned about animal sacrifice in Leviticus 4:32-35 the lamb was one of the atonement sacrifices provided by the people to the priests as a demonstration of seeking forgiveness for their sins. Therefore John the Baptist revealed that Jesus is the Lamb of God. That He will be God’s sacrifice to atone for our sins. (more)
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Chapter 18 |
The Mystery of the Faith is now revealed to us. Despite all we see and all the opinions and knowledge we have assimilated during our lives the mystery has always been close to us. Contained within the scriptures, waiting for us to discover it. It was not found in schools or in the understanding of religious practice, but in the Word of God. Through opening our minds to the possibility of the existence of God we became open to studying the scriptures, and through perseverance gained the knowledge of the truth. (more)
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Bibliography |
Bibliography
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Copyright ©
2007 Jonathan Teague
Permission granted to partially reproduce for educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring, lending and distribution via digital media, email, or file sharing is prohibited.
This work
is registered with the UK Copyright Service.
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