We have so far looked at the relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ; man’s relationship with fellow man and how to deal with others, together with reviewing relationships within the human family. In this Q&A, we are going to look at our vitally important personal relationship which we must have with God.

Our personal relationship with God.

So many today feel that they have a relationship with God while still trampling over His laws. But Christ tells us that we worship God in vain if we lay aside the commandments of God in order to teach and follow the commandments of men (Mark 7:6-8).

In addition, “once saved, always saved” is a false doctrine that we have covered at length previously, and we have to be obedient to the Way that God has called His people to live, that of obedience to His law—not walking all over it, thinking that it doesn’t matter. It does.

Continue reading "How important are relationships with God and with each other? – Part 5"

One of the most famous passages where the word “meek” is used is found in the Beatitudes in the book of Matthew. In this section of Scripture, His so-called Sermon on the Mount, Christ is starting to define what it means to be a Christian, and even, in part, what it will be like when we are in the Kingdom of God.

Christ’s sermon describes qualities to give us a picture of the character of the true people of God—those who are and will be a part of His Family and have the full blessings of the Kingdom to look forward to.

We are told in the Beatitudes that meekness is a requirement. In Matthew. 5:5 we read: “Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.”  It refers to those who will be in the Kingdom of God, ruling this earth. But what exactly does the Bible mean by meekness?

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In the previous Q&A, we reviewed some Scriptures that show how we are to deal with others in our relationship with them. In this Q&A, we are going to look at relationships within the conventional family.

Relationships within the human family.

Family is a place where strong relationships are built and provides a sense of meaning and belonging, although it has been undermined and demeaned in recent years by those who have an agenda to eliminate the family as we know it.

In our booklet “The Keys to Happy Families and Marriages!,” we read the following on page 18 under the heading of “The Christian Family”:

“As the Bible gives clear instructions as to the individual roles and functions of husbands and wives, it also explains the duties and responsibilities of fathers and mothers toward their children, and of the children toward their parents.

Continue reading "How important are relationships with God and with each other? – Part 4"

In the second part of this series, we started to look at an outline of biblical information to show just how important inter-personal relationships are with other human beings.

In this third part, we will review some Scriptures that show how we are to deal with others in our relationship with them.

How we are to deal with others in our relationship with them.

One of the most obvious places to start is in Exodus 20 where God gave Israel the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments are instructions about how humans should relate to God and the other six are about how people should treat and relate to each other. If these were taken seriously, all relationships would be unrecognisable to what we experience today where selfishness and self-serving predominate.

Continue reading "How important are relationships with God and with each other? – Part 3"

In the first part of this series, we looked at the relationship between God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.   In the second part, we will give an outline of biblical information to show just how important inter-personal relationships are with other human beings, and how bad relationships can be disastrous for everyone involved.

Relationships – Man’s interpersonal relationships with fellow man.

In Genesis 1:26, we read that God spoke about creating man who was to be made in His image with God’s end goal of reproducing Himself through man. As God is a Family, He wanted man to become part of His Family—to ultimately join Him in His Family as born-again immortal God beings. In Genesis 2:21-25, we read that a woman was made and that husband and wife, as well as their children, were to be a human family (compare Genesis 1:28). This was to be a physical pattern of the ultimate purpose of enlarging the God Family. However, Adam and Eve failed to obey God, and so there were conversations in chapter 3 where God spoke to Adam and his wife after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit and where, as a consequence, God expelled them from the Garden of Eden, thereby preventing them to eat from the Tree of Life and obtain God’s Holy Spirit and finally eternal life.

Continue reading "How important are relationships with God and with each other? – Part 2"

One of the great themes in the Bible is that of relationships – between God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, God and man, and between human beings themselves.  Pretty much everyone has relationships with other people unless they live on their own on a desert island, and so it should come as no surprise to anyone that it is a major theme running right through the Bible.   Unless we get these relationships right, we will have a miserable life, but much more importantly, the spiritual application is of paramount importance, as we get close to God, and stay close to Him, which will give us eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

This series of Q&As is but a brief overview on this subject, and we hope that it will prove helpful to all who read this information, and to those who decide to delve further into this matter.   There is so much more in the Bible than that which we will cover in this series.

Continue reading "How important are relationships with God and with each other? – Part 1"

Have you ever wondered what God thinks about taxes; when man’s tax system was instituted and why; whether we ought to pay taxes today; and whether there will be taxes in the Millennium?

To be clear, we need to distinguish between tithe contributions—money which belongs to God—and taxes—money which belongs to Caesar. As we explain in our booklet on tithing, titled, “Tithing-Today?” the first time tithing is mentioned specifically is when Abraham gave the tithe from everything to Melchizedek (Jesus Christ manifesting Himself as a human being). We can see from the context that tithing was in force already prior to this event, and that Abraham followed a practice with which he was familiar. Later, we find that Jacob spoke about giving a tithe to God.

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Some Scriptures appear to indicate that God can forget at times.

We read passages like Exodus 2:24-25: “So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.”  At first thought, it looks like God had, for a time, forgotten the children of Israel and finally realised that they needed help, but is this so?

First of all, what was the covenant that God remembered? A covenant with Abraham or Abram was first mentioned in Genesis 15:18, where we read: “On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.”

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1 Timothy 4:8 is rendered, as follows, in the New King James Bible:

“For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

The Authorized Version says: “For bodily exercise profiteth little.”

Commentaries are divided as to the exact meaning of this verse, as is also reflected in the way it is being translated. For example, the Greek states, as explained by some: “… profiteth to (but) a small extent.”

The New American Standard Bible states: “for bodily training is just slightly beneficial.” Weymouth New Testament reads: “Train yourself in godliness. Exercise for the body is not useless, but godliness is useful in every respect.”

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These words are quoted from Philippians 2:3, in the Authorized Version, but we must read the entire context to understand what Paul is saying.

The entire passage, beginning with verse 2 and ending with verse 8, reads in the Authorized Version:

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

Continue reading "What does it mean to “esteem others better than himself”?"