When you are interested to become a member of Christadelphia, you should really have to understand the importance of becoming a true follower of Christ.

The people gathered in Christadelphia are Christadelphians or Brothers and Sisters in Christ who commit their lives in the name of Christ to share the love of God and to share with others the message of Christ Jesus about the coming Kingdom of God.

As a lay community patterned after first century Christianity, Christadelphians take the words of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene Jew, to the heart and want to serve him, with the knowledge that he is not only our saviour but also the cornerstone of our society.

When you would love to become a Christadelphian your aim should be like theirs, to get as close as possible to the faith and practice of the early Christian church and doing your utmost best to live according to the Law of Christ and the Law of God, i.e. living with respect and in accordance to the Mosaic and Jeshuaic Law.

From those who want to become a member we expect that they agree that there is Only One True God and that they love His Word and take it as the most important Word and Guidance in their life.

For those wanting to become part of Christadelphia, there is required to “have the Truth” and for that there is the challenge to the newcomer to search it out from Scripture, in which according to the Christadelphians all answers can be found.

Willing to become a Christadelphian the candidate has to prove to believe in the Only One true God and His only begotten beloved son and to have some knowledge of what God wants from him and the world.

Believing that each individual is personally responsible for the choices he or she makes, we do hope and require from a candidate to choose for the Only One True God, willing to repent for faults done in the past and to have the will to avoid doing faults in the future. Demanding you to be as an individual totally independent minded and willing to take the full responsibility to live according to writings in the Holy Scriptures.

When you want to become a Christadelphian we would love to see in you a person who is willing to help others to find the Biblical truth, and willing to spread the love and message of Christ. We also want to see you a person who keeps to God's and Christ's commandments and lives in a way nothing negatively can be remarked to it. That includes that there is no case that can shed a shadow on the expected Christian life. As such we do not want to see any connection or co-activities with heathen traditions and rites.

We also want to see the understanding that though having received the free gift of salvation you are willing to do the works of faith, and being a good example to others, worthy of a brother in Christ and of a child of God.

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Read also:

1. From thoughts to actions and destiny

2. Prayer to protect those who have nowhere else to lay their heads

3. Problems to prune

4. The gift of joy

5. What citizenship do you want to have

6. Not able to see Jesus working wonders

7. Not daring to show a connection

8. Concerning prayer and thought for the day

9. Forming a Christian bond

10. Offering words of hope

11. Church indeed critical in faith development

12. Built upon a Rock - Distinctive beliefs and practices of the Christadelphians

13. How to become a Christadelphian

14. How I became a Christadelphian – Mark Guyatt

Generally speaking it is well known that most children accept the family religion. That way in most countries in the world we can find communities which have been there for years a strong church. Catholics beget more Catholics, Protestants beget more Protestants, Muslims beget more Muslims and in the same we one could say Christadelphians beget more Christadelphians. But for Christadelphians this is not so evidently because they are a very tiny community and the children most of the time would get to know more other believers than people of their own faith.

There are people who say that:

"The children of Christadelphian parents who follow their parents into the family religion are not displaying "faith", they are obeying the instructions coded into their genes and adopting the mindset and beliefs of their parents."

But we think it is very difficult to be a Christadelphian when there is not a true faith in the Biblical teachings the Christadelphians follow. In Christadelphia there is not so much place for childhood conditioning as in many other Christian denominations. This come because each person in Christadelphia is required to personally investigate the Bible and matters of belief.

The majority of humans are born into their religion. That is how it has been since the beginning of history. Those born in Christadelphia are not with many and are most often bombarded with a lot of influences from outside the community, with signals and attractions from all sorts of denominations with other thoughts than Christadelphianism.

In a lot of religions "childhood conditioning has created a powerful cognitive bias in their minds towards a certain religion that is almost impossible for them to overcome." We wonder if that would be so for children brought up in a Christadelphian family.

Normally in Christadelphianism every person, young and old, is asked to read the Bible and to think about it, analysing it and coming to insight by the words of those books in that Bestseller of all times. We never demand people to take a book of our brothers or sisters as a “bible” every one should follow and has to believe everything what that brother or sister writes presents only some thoughts or ideas of a human being and should be considered as such.

It is not such writings of one or another brother or sister that should be strictly followed or obeyed. It is God's Word, given to us in the Bible that we should follow.

The brethren whose duty it is to examine candidates for baptism have a most serious responsibility, for they have in their possession, as it were, the keys of the Church, for with them is the power to admit to the fellowship of the Brotherhood the candidate before them.

There should be, in the mind of the examining brethren, not the slightest doubt of the candidate's belief of "the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts viii. 12); and, also, an undoubted sincerity such as existed in the mind of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts viii. 37).

As a help to examining brethren, we would strongly recommend the "Statement of Faith", such as is adopted by the Ecclesias of Birmingham, London, Nottingham, or Leicester; not as a text book, but as a guide.

F. G. J.

Read "The Good Confession", by R. Roberts.

Candidates for Baptism should be examined upon and possess a thorough knowledge, appreciation and belief of the following items of truth:

• — The Bible. — Divine; wholly Inspired.

• Jehovah God. — Unity; Personality; Attributes; in Heaven.

• Holy Spirit. — The Power of God; not now possessed.

• Man. — Mortal; Living Soul; Spirit or Breath.

• Death state. — Unconscious; Asleep.

• Sin. — Transgression; the devil and satan - adversary of God.

• Jesus Christ. — Son of God; Son of Man; Sin Nature, but Sinless.

• Promises to Abraham. — Palestine; Died in hope.

• Covenant with David. — Fruit of his loins.

• Dispersion and Restoration of Israel. — Details of history.

• Resurrection. — Mortal; all responsible to be raised.

• Judgment. — Light and Responsibility; Good and Bad.

• Establishment of the Kingdom. — The Kings thereof.

• The Millennium. — Nature thereof; All the world happy.

• End of the Millenium. — Nations rebel; Result.

• Second resurrection and judgment. — God all in all.

• Terms of Salvation. — Belief and Baptism and Godly walk.

When a candidate is really "ready", the examination seldom occupies more than an hour. When it takes longer, it is generally through the incompetency of the examining brother, or the backwardness of the candidate.

Unless the candidate has a clear understanding and appreciation, and a hearty belief in each and all of the foregoing, the examining brethren should not hesitate to postpone the baptism of the candidate (Acts viii. 12,37). Far better both for the Truth's sake and the peace of mind of the candidate to delay baptism, than allow personal feeling to precipitate the most important step in one's life.

Novices or inexperienced brethren ought not to act as examining brethren without the presence of an elder.

F. G. J.

Read "Christendom Astray" and "The Declaration", by R.Roberts.

In the "Acts of the Apostles" we find, in brief, all the doctrines essential to make baptism valid.

We there find taught,

• the Unity of the Godhead (xvii. 24-28);

• divinity and humanity of Jesus (iv. 30; ix. 20;viii. 37; ii. 22);

• the Holy Spirit (x. 38; xix. 2);

• Sacrificial death (ii. 23, 24; iii. 18; xvii. 3);

• Miracles (ii. 22;x. 38);

• Resurrection (ii. 24; x. 40);

• Second Coming (i.11; iii. 20, 21);

• The Judgment (x. 42);

• Resurrectional Responsibility (xvii. 30);

• Kingship of Christ (xvii. 31);

• Covenant with Abraham (vii. 5);

• Covenant with David (ii. 30; xiii. 23);

• Restoration of the Jews (i. 6; iii. 21;xxvi. 6, 7);

• Kingdom of God (xxviii, 23, 31);

• Baptism (ii. 38; viii. 12); Things concerning the Name of Jesus Christ (viii. 12; xxviii. 31); Re-immersion where necessary (xix. 5).

The evidence could be multiplied.

F. G. J.

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", is the Lord's formula in Matt, xxviii.19; and this is equivalent to "in the name of the Lord" (Acts x. 48, A.V.), or "in the name of Jesus Christ" (same place R.V.).

There are no "proper words" (as some declare) in the absolute sense; that is to say, the Lord has not commanded the use of any set form of words, and there is not a single instance in the New Testament Scriptures where any baptismal formula is on record.

An American pamphlet has said:

" 'Baptised in the name of Jesus Christ' undoubtedly were the words of salvation spoken by Peter to Cornelius and his house".

But this is quite a mistake. The words are Luke's words of narration, thus: —

"And he (Peter) commanded them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ" (B.F.), "of the Lord" (A.V.).

Thus we do not even know for certain what Luke wrote, let alone what Peter said. In Birmingham the baptiser says to the candidate, just before the act of immersion:

"You are baptised into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit".

The Prayer Book formula, "I baptise thee", is avoided, because the "I" is nothing, and the efficacy of baptism does not depend upon the minister.

C. C. Walker

When the Apostle Paul speaks of leaving First Principles of the doctrine of Christ, and pushing on to perfection, he does not imply that when we have secured a mental grasp of these elements they require no further thought. His complaint was against those who were continually discussing and questioning their foundations, and who, at a time when they ought to have been teachers, had need that one should teach them again what were the first principles of the Oracles of God.

Islip Collyer

Ransom for all

The "charitable" doctrine that all who have ever lived will ultimately be saved, including the Cains, Korahs, Abirams, and Dathans; the Nebuchadnezzars, and Neros; and the Judases, is generally supported by two verses in the 3rd chapter of Luke, which speak of the Gospel being a joy to "all people", and salvation being for "all flesh" (Luke ii. 10; iii. 6); as well as the statement of the sacrifice of Christ being "a ransom for all" (1 Tim. ii. 6).

All flesh & all people

From the following passages, however, the limited sense of the expression "all flesh" is seen: Gen. vi. 12; Isa. Ixvi. 24; Jer. xlv. 5; Ezek. xx.48; xxi. 4; and as to "all people", see Esther iii. 14;Lam. i. 8; 1 Kings viii. 43; Dan. v. 19; Mic. iv. 5.

If everyone is ultimately to be saved, how could Christ have said of Judas:

"It had been good for that man if he had not been born"? (Matt. xxvi. 24).

No doctrine is more plainly taught than that of the final extinction of the wicked (see Mal. iv. 1; Psalm xxxiv. 16; xlix. 14; 2 Pet. ii. 12).

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“ For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” (Mal 4:1 ASV)

“ The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” (Ps 34:16 ASV)

“ They are appointed as a flock for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; And their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume, That there be no habitation for it.” (Ps 49:14 ASV)

“ But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be destroyed,” (2Pe 2:12 ASV)

Being with sound mind

Those who want to become a Christadelphian and as such want to be baptised have to have enough maturity to understand the matters of faith.

There is no value of a baby or child baptism when that person has not been able to think properly about God and Christ and is not old enough to think for himself or herself. Each person coming before God has to have the psychological maturity to either choose for God or to stay a part of this world.

Dying before having made the choice

True, we now and again hear of the death of some-one of whom it has been remarked:.

"He (or she) was n the point of being baptised"; and, in some cases, had even arranged for examination. But, there is no need for any speculation in such a case.

"The Lord of all the Earth" cannot make any mistake. We must not judge by appearances; and, seeing that not only "belief", but "baptism", has been ordered by Jesus as essential to forgiveness of sins, and acceptance at his hands (Mark xvi. 16; John iii. 5; Acts ii. 38; Gal.iii. 27; John xv. 14), it is wrong for us to think the death in question was an accident, or a mistake, in view of what Jesus says as recorded in Matt, xxviii.18. Let any such doubters remember — They do not know all!

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“ And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth.” (Mt 28:18 ASV)

“ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.” (Mr 16:16 ASV)

“ Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God!” (Joh 3:5 ASV)

“ And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Ac 2:38 ASV)

“ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.” (Ga 3:27 ASV)

“ Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you.” (Joh 15:14 ASV)