No room at the inn? I doubt it!
Most Bible translations state that after Jesus was born, He was laid in a manger “because there was no room for them in the inn”. This sounds as if they were rejected by the people of Bethlehem. Was that really the case? There is a trap in traditional language. “No room in the inn” has taken on the meaning of “the inn had a number of rooms and all were occupied” in other words, the “no vacancy sign” was already “switched on” when Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem. But the Greek word does not refer to “a room in an inn” but rather to “space” (topos) as in “there is no room my desk for my new computer”. It is important to keep this correction in mind as we turn to the...
Read MoreHow do we deal with conflict?
The most common criticism against the Christian church in our times is that it is irrelevant to people’s real problems, and does not help people where they live. Many churches of our day are interested only in singing hymns and performing religious ceremonies, or in spouting moral platitudes and reading Scripture, but not really engaging in the current problems of our society. In Chapters 4 and 5 of Ephesians, we see that the Apostle Paul comes to grips with our constant urge to lie, to steal, to gossip, to be hateful and bitter with one another. He deals at length, frankly and forthrightly, and every way, he brings Christian truth right down into life, and shows us how to live in a sick society, dealing with such matters as climbing divorce rates,...
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Kersfees- en Oujaars- dienstye
24 Desember om 19:00 – Kersdiens 31 Desember om 19:00 – Oujaarsdiens
Read MoreDo you know your Bible?
We have a reputation for knowing and teaching the Bible, but I am afraid there is still much biblical illiteracy among us. There are people who do not know anything about the Bible at all. I want to ask you to measure yourself by three tests which are given in Hebrews 5, by which you can check yourself as to how much you know of Scripture. I am not going to ask you how far it is from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, and I do not care how many kings there were in Israel, or how many in Judah. Those are not the important questions. But here are the three things that will test you. First, can you tell the difference between right and wrong, especially when right looks wrong, and wrong looks right? Have you learned how to use Scripture so as to tell the difference? Second,...
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