Last week we started our Creation To Christ series that will take us to the end of the year and I what I wanted to make clear is that it is OK to have questions. As we start a new year and start some new things, including another Disciple Making course, we are starting from the beginning to help local Christians create a good foundation in their faith.

I have slowly been going through the Bible myself, and I say slowly because it feels like every other line that I read raises another question; whether that be about trying to comprehend the context and society at the time, understanding the language of the time (finding the right translation that I just understand was key to this) or trying to wrap my head around Old Testament vs. New Testament God. The list goes on to be honest and unlike other church settings I have been in before, here it is encouraged to have questions, to debate and to go down rabbit holes together. So I want you to know it is OK to have questions about the Bible.

What I would like to do this term as we follow along the readings from Creation to Christ, is gather any questions people have and see if we can find the answer to them. I don’t proclaim to know everything by any means, but I have found it interesting researching certain topics, getting the theological perspective from Sam & Anna and listening to what others in our church family have to say to form my own opinions with the guidance (I hope) of the Holy Spirit.

Over the years I have had many a question, which was always welcomed in my household. However, the church has a reputation for expecting parishioners to take their sermon as is, and having faith means taking what was preached at face value and not to ask questions. On this journey as disciples, it is natural and therefore OK to have questions. The 12 disciples always asked their questions, but they had the luxury of asking Jesus Himself. Therefore with us, so far removed from Him in the physical form, it is only natural for us have questions and want clarity on certain things.

What I intend to do, is as we start from the beginning of the Bible, I want all of us, both new and seasoned Christians to feel comfortable having questions. Not only that, but know that within the Church At Barking Riverside family, we have a safe space to bring any questions and know they will be answered, looked into and/or discussed.

Even better than finding answers, what I love about having an open forum is hearing questions from others that I had never even thought of. For example in a chat I had this morning, Hayley shared she was looking into the fact that in Genesis 1:26-31, God creates humans and tells them to go forth and multiply, but we don’t learn about Adam, Eve and the Garden of Eden until Genesis 2, so is Adam really the first man? I’m not going to lie, that blew my mind as I had never really thought about it like that; I was always told Adam and Eve were the first man and woman and therefore that’s what I always assumed, even when I had decided to read the Bible from the beginning. But it is now something I have noted down to come back to at a later date.

And if anyone longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and he will give it! He won’t see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures but he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace.

James 1:5 (TPT)

So as we go through each week, if you do have questions, especially ones that are a bit bigger that we may need to go away and think about/research etc, please ask us on Sunday/DM us/email, whatever you feel comfortable doing and we will get through as many as we can through our blogs this term. They can either be questions about the specific verses we look at each week (which I have listed below) or wider ones:

1. Creation – Genesis 1:1-31 ✅
2. Fall – Genesis 3:1-24
3. God’s promise to Abraham – Genesis 12:1-7 / 15:1-6
4. God’s Call to Moses – Exodus 2:23-3:14
5. Break due to SOCIAL SUNDAY
6. The Passover Sacrifice – Exodus 12:1-3, 21-31, 40-42
7. Ten Commandments and Sacrifice – Exodus 20:1-17; Lev 6:1-7
8. The Suffering Servant – Isaiah 53:1-12
9. The Promised Saviour – Isaiah 9:1-7; Luke 1:26-38
10. The Lord’s Supper – Matthew 26:26-30
11. Break due to CHRISTMAS CAROLS
12. Jesus Crucified – Luke 23:32-56
13. CHRISTMAS EVE

As we looked at creation last week, one of the most popular questions I hear about creation is; doesn’t it contradict science? So that is a question I look forward to exploring further. I also look forward to hearing any other questions that arise this term so I can geek out a bit!