Thursday, September 15, 2005

"There has got to be something more!"

I recently met up with an old Christadelphian friend and had a long chat over coffee. Although we've moved in quite different Christadelphian circles for many years we had made very similar observations about the condition of the brotherhood. One thing in particular struck me as being very significant: we both very frequently meet Christadelphians who say to us "there has got to be something more than this!" These people know "the Truth" as Christadelphians understand it. They attend meetings regularly. They are often heavily involved in ecclesial activities. They are not "fringe" Christadelphians, but very definitely are in the Christadelphian mainstream. Yet time and time again they admit to having deep feelings of dissatisfaction about their faith. Very often these people say they have difficulty praying. They long for a closer relationship with God, but haven't found it through doing daily Bible readings or attending meetings. They may prefer traditional forms of worship, with hymn singing and a predictable programme, but they don't find the worship helps them to connect with God.

Sometimes I feel that this confession of their dissatisfaction is really a cry for help. They realise that many Christians have a close, personal relationship with God and enjoy intimacy with their Creator, and they expect that of all Christians Christadelphians should have everything God has on offer because, after all, "we have the Truth". Yet they realise that something is missing.

This experience is so common amongst many Christadelphian ecclesias that it has become "standard teaching" in some circles to say that a personal relationship with God is not possible. I even had one young man tell me that "having a personal relationship with God is just Evangelical jargon - it's not possible".

But it is possible, and there are many Christadelphians, former Christadelphians and Christians of other persuasions who will tell you from their own experiences how it came about for them. If you are one of those people who know that there has got to be something more and you are thirsting for closer intimacy with God; if you long for a deep personal relationship with God but don't know how to have it, then you are not alone and there are people who can help.

I urge you to make contact with people who discovered that there is something more, and it is within reach. Feel free to email me privately at christadelphian.blogger@hotmail.com and I'd be more than happy to share my own experience with you and to help you find that "something more" for yourself.

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