The Bible For Beginners

Exploring the Bible

Best seller for centuries, translated into 698 languages, the Bible has been a publishing phenomenon since the printing press was invented.

Learn its history, who wrote it, and why, and discover great stories, fascinating characters, and its grand message for people and the planet. There’ll be answers to people’s questions about the Bible: where did it come from? isn’t it out of date? Isn’t it hard to understand? Why does it matter?

Want to know more? Contact us at secretarypkecclesia@gmail.com and we can help you on your journey to greater understanding. 

This seminar continues our journey of discovery about the life of Jesus Christ. What was his purpose in life? How did he communicate that message? What happened after he was baptized? Are those horrifying crucifixion pictures really what happened? Why?

The Bible makes the astonishing claim that after his crucifixion Jesus Christ was brought back to life by God and now enjoys unending life. He was pronounced dead by civil authorities and people have tried to explain the matter away. But his body has never been found, and millions of people have believed since then. Thousands have been persecuted and murdered because of their belief in him.

This online seminar will offer reasons to believe that Jesus’ resurrection is not a hoax, not farfetched in God’s scheme of things. Rather, that God, the giver of all life, did restore His son’s life and provide witness to His offer of unending life to everyone.

The well known African American spiritual is based on an Old Testament vision sent to the prophet Ezekiel. In the vision, a valley full of dry bones comes to life step by step and eventually stands on its feet, an army! God says the vision is intended to persuade the restored ‘bones’ that God is who he says he is.

This seminar will explore the background to the vision, the target people in the vision, and its amazing enactment in our time in world history. It will provide yet another reason to believe that the Bible is the word of God, as relevant now as it was when it was written thousands of years ago.

Centuries ago, the nation of Israel was a kingdom with a family of kings that the Old Testament reveals were, as promised by God, from the family of Abraham. However, the kingdom was destroyed by enemies and there’s been no observable king or kingdom for about two and a half millennia.

This seminar will explore God’s promise to both restore the kingdom and appoint a new king in the line of Abraham. The king’s identity is discoverable through promises and predictions in both Old and New Testaments. His work as God’s appointed king will be investigated, together with God’s great promise of future peace to the entire world.

People search online for information about anything, including faith, religion and the Bible. Some people don’t have access to the web, some prefer to hold a ‘real’ book; some are challenged by differing interpretations and teachings, by language barriers and by being unaware of underlying Bible culture and history. Are there solutions to ‘contradictions’?

Is there any way through this maze? This seminar will introduce and explain various Bible study resources and reference material, and provide examples of how they are used.

The King of Babylon had a troubling dream that he couldn’t remember. It was brought to light and its meaning explained by a messenger from God. The future history of the King’s Empire and, ultimately, human governments, were given in advance in the explanation. It is made clear that God is actively involved in world politics and human governments, advancing His purpose in the world. 

The statue dream offers Bible readers an opportunity to check out whether what was predicted actually happened, and therefore to test whether the Bible is God’s words, or merely human invention. This seminar explores the King’s reaction to the dream and also the meaning and realization of the predictions in the dream.

For every person who has ever been born, life is limited. Death is inevitable, and holds people as slaves. Life is ultimately a deathtrap.

But, wait, there’s more! The Bible, the story of God and his work with humans, reveals God’s plan to save us from death, to be Saviour of the world. God’s passion is life; He is the source, the ‘fountain’ of life, and His promise is that when His plan is complete, there will be no more death on Earth.

This seminar is about the introduction of human life to Earth, and the free choice given to people: heed God, or our own, contrary, inner voice - that inner voice that in the beginning led to the introduction of death to the world. Come and learn about the ‘escape from death’ promise God has given from the start.

Be imitators of God; put off the old self; put to death the old nature – counsel given to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let the battle begin. But, before too long this ‘law’ appears: when a believer wants to do good, evil is right there, waging war against the desire to be an imitator of God.

Yet another of God’s wonderful ‘rescue packages’ kicks in: believers are ‘seen’ by God as they desire to be seen, forgiven, given strength to defeat the inner enemy, and offered rescue from the inner rebel that leads only to sin and its wages, death. This seminar explores the words of Jesus Christ and the writings of the great first century teacher, Paul, uncovering the drug-free solution to this ‘split personality’ disorder.

The Day of Judgment and Armageddon are themes for the entertainment industry in our times. But many people of different faiths live in fear and apprehension of that day. Accountability to God, the Creator, is a Bible theme. Should we be afraid? The great first century teacher, Paul, said: “He [God] has set a day when he will judge the world fairly. He has appointed a man to be its judge.”

Who is that? Just what does the Bible say about accountability? For rebels? For dropouts? For faithful followers of Jesus Christ? Does sin stand in the way of acceptance at the Day of Judgment? How afraid should people be? When will it happen anyway? This study uncovers the Bible answers to these questions.

If a world leader was to be chosen, would it be a diplomat, a politician, a religious person, the head of the United Nations, a monarch? What would be the job description? What personal characteristics would be sought for? Would the choice be controversial, or would consensus be easily obtained?

God, the Creator of Everything except evil, has already appointed His son Jesus Christ to be king of the world, to create peace, restore the environment, set up corruption-free worship, and take out death. Perhaps these are radical ideas, or prompt a yeah, right response? This online study presents Bible testimony that these certainly are God’s plans for the earth.

Promises! These are things God promised that have put His reputation on the line. This study puts those promises under the microscope to test whether there's any evidence of their honesty. 

Blessings, fame, kids, kings, land and privilege. These are things promised to an individual by God that have put His reputation on the line and provide opportunity for review. This study puts those promises under the microscope to test whether there's any evidence of their honesty and if they are relevant to anyone today.

God sent a promise, a prediction message, in the Old Testament that one day the earth would be ‘saturated’ with His ‘glory’ - just as the sea is saturated with water. Study 23 was about two elements of that glory – God’s awesome character and His power over natural elements.

Jesus Christ – God’s mirror image - put God’s glory on view to people. This study explores that, and how God is working to transform people into His mirror image. Together, Jesus Christ and those other ‘mirrors’ will change everything on earth soon, when God’s glory saturates the earth as promised. 

Global warming, environmental disasters, plastic waste, extinction of species; injustice in all its forms - from racism to ‘have-nots’ - war, food insecurity, widespread anxiety, illness and pandemics. Is this all there is? Is a ‘no future’ outcome pending for the world and its people?

The Bible lays out a wonderful restoration plan - God, who is the Creator and Owner of everything, promises to restore the planet and people to the delightful conditions He provided at the start of things.

Sound too good to be true? Listen to this exploration of the promises about ‘paradise regained’ that God has given in the Bible. They may not be well known, but they are there to be discovered, and are good to go! 

This journey exploring the Bible has followed three different routes – ‘about the Bible’ info, reasons to enable belief it is true, and its core message.

This last study in the series brings together discoveries from the journey. The phenomenon which is the Bible comes together, ending with a reminder outline of God’s wonderful message of hope and love for humanity.