Opening THE Book with Rev John K-S November 2023

Rev John Kinchin-Smith
Assistant Minister, St Andrew’s Church, Gorleston

The first “Opening the Book” article appeared in June 2018 and I hope you have found these articles helpful and informative. After five years, perhaps it is time to recap something of what we have learned. As I wrote in the first article, I believe that the Bible is the most true and trustworthy book in the world and that it answers the most important questions in life, questions like: “Why am I here? What’s the purpose of life? Why is there evil in the world? Is there a God? Is there life after death? Why do innocent people so often suffer? Is there right and wrong?” The Bible is not like any other book because it gives us the answer to these and many other questions about the meaning and purpose of life
 
The Bible says of itself that every part of it has been inspired by God himself so that, when we read the Bible, it is God himself speaking to us through the people who wrote its pages (second letter to Timothy 3:16). It is also vital that you get hold of the Bible in a modern English translation. There are often spare copies in your local church that can be lent, or you can borrow one from the Public Library

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the Bible is that you can actually come to know God through its pages. This has happened to countless people in countless countries over the centuries. David Suchet (Hercule Poirot), for example, came to know God through reading the Bible he found in a hotel bedroom. The Bible also teaches that God longs to have a relationship with his children as intimate and personal as any human relationship, and that if you really wish to know him, you only have to ask. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened...how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 7 verses 7-11)
 

courtesy of the Gorleston Community Magazine

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