Christians have both many reasons and an obligation to give thanks to God. All nations are called upon to acknowledge and be thankful to God, for He is the ultimate source of every blessing, but genuine Christians especially should “Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations” (Psalm 100:4-5).
What does Scripture tell us about thanksgiving as it relates to us as Christians?
There are certain fundamental things that most anyone who is familiar with the Bible, and especially anyone familiar with the teachings of God’s Church, knows — or should know. All of us know, or should know, the great commandments: Love the eternal God with all your heart, mind, being. Love your neighbor as yourself. We know the ten commandments which explain how to apply these great principles in practical terms: Worship only the true God, make no idols, don’t use God’s name in vain, keep the Sabbath day, honor your father and mother, don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, lie nor covet your neighbor’s possessions. You know, or should know, how the prophets and apostles, and Jesus Christ himself, further magnified these commandments, emphasizing the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.
But do we understand fully what God expects of us given the knowledge we have? Do we understand that we are accountable to God based on what we know? This includes every one of us. Parent and child. Baptized or unbaptized.
Rod Reynolds explores why it is that so many people do not understand the Bible. Also vital keys in unlocking God’s Word so you can understand it better. The Bible is the most widely circulated book in the world. Well over 2 billion copies of the Bible have been printed and distributed worldwide. Almost every household in much of the western world has at least one Bible, and yet it is a book that is little understood.
The Gospel, sometimes called a mystery, contains the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. In this article we will survey some of the mysteries of the Bible. Each of these could take a full article of itself, or perhaps even a book, to thoroughly explain. But for the purpose of this article some of them are covered in a summary fashion, along with a discussion about why the Bible itself is a mystery to most people.
The gospel, God’s word, the Bible, is indeed a mystery. Though the most widely distributed book in history according to guinnessworldrecords.com, its teachings are properly understood by, relatively speaking, only a handful of people. Many specific truths are revealed in the Bible, that are themselves mysteries, even though, ironically, they are explained clearly in the Bible.
Why is the most widely published Book in the world a mystery? Why are its teachings mysteries? To help us understand, let’s look at the word mystery itself, as used in the Bible, and discuss its meaning.