On the face of things in the 21st century there seems little reason to spend any time debating religion, faith, or 'salvation'. The world is in a mess, both physically - with global warming and a proliferation of catastrophes - and religiously. The core of civilization, the financial markets, are rocking in ways previously unimagined, and whilst mankind is fearful of what might happen next, strangely there is a positive turning away from faith in an all powerful divine being, God.

To paraphrase Paul's letter to Corinth in chapter 1:25 we are told that the 'Foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men...not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called…God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty...that no flesh should glory in His presence…let him that glories, glory in the Lord'

Decline in church attendance in the UK is almost universal. The decline, contrarily, seems to have started with Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution. At the same time, in the mid 19th century, there was also a revival in a search for real Bible Truth. The two do not sit happily together, for, if Darwin's Theory is in fact correct, there seems little place for a Creator, God. Naturalists, and scientists glibly wonder at all the natural world and talk of the perfection of the way creatures are 'designed' but equally abhor the concept that for design to occur there must be a Designer.

We cannot but accept that within species there are mutations which are evidence of real change, such as moths which are white becoming black in polluted atmospheres, but no one seems to have addressed the real challenge that of one species transmuting into another. The nearest that is produced is of the 'ancient' and extinct tiny horse becoming the much larger animal of today, but this is no transformation - both have all the distinctive features of what they are - horses!

The 'missing link' has long been the holy grail of evolution - but to suggest that the find of a 4 million year old skeleton with similar features to a human being is not really showing the scientific mind to best advantage. The skeleton is surely what it nearest appears to be an ape derivation - with nothing to make it an early humanoid.

In the 1850's a Doctor John Thomas decided he would attempt to find what the Bible really taught, and having listened to the various philosophies of a number of religious men and women he took the radical step of proving word for word what it was actually teaching - and came up with some dramatic results.

Basically the Bible teaches that man was created very good, but not perfect. Our first parents had the ability to disobey, and thus 'sin'. Having done so, sin entered into the world and has since been the sad lot of every one of us. 'All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.'(Romans 3:23). God had prepared for this contingency and, to cut a long story short, provided his own, perfect son, Jesus, to cleanse the sins of the world - by dying as a sacrifice for mankind. Having accomplished this in approx AD 30 - he then rose to heaven (Acts 1) and gave, through the angels to the disciples, the promise of His return to establish the Kingdom of God, on earth. (Acts 1).

The Bible knows nothing of immortal souls, heaven going, or the trinity. Sadly with ideas such as these in peoples’ minds it is nigh impossible to convince any who are not searching for The Truth what is, indeed, the real teaching of Scripture.

But, nevertheless, that's why I am a Christadelphian.