The Heidelberg Catechism originated in the ancient Electoral Palatinate of which Heidelberg in Germany was the capital. It was the result of several years of slow reformation in the Palatinate under Frederick II and the Count Palatine Otto Heinrich.

This confession is the first of our three confessional documents. It was written in Doornik, a town in present day Belgium, in AD 1561 by Guido de Bres. It was sent to King Philip II of Spain to present to him what the Bible taught and to show that the Reformed Churches were no rebels.

There are two main ways of understanding the unity of Scripture among evangelical churches today: dispensational and covenantal.

According to the former, God’s dealings with this world are divided, generally, into seven consecutive historical dispensations: innocence, conscience, human government, promise, law, grace, and kingdom. The main dispute with dispensationalists lies with the rigid separation of Israel and the church. They insist that all promises made to national Israel must be literally fulfilled.

Euthanasia is in the news a lot lately and is presented as a humane alternative to a suffering life. The word means a good death, but is simply another word for assisted suicide. I don’t want to look at the questions of the potential misuse and abuse of it but I would like to examine the fundamental claim it is based on, the right of a person over their own life.

A disagreement among Christians centres on the day of worship. Should we worship on the Sabbath (Saturday) or the Lord’s Day (Sunday). Those who worship on Saturday say it is a creation ordinance. Others say it is no longer in force and we should worship on the Lord’s Day. Another minor controversy is whether we can call the Lord’s Day the Sabbath. In this article I will try to address these issues.

There has always been debate among Christians about the end times. Today the dominant beliefs are called Premillennialism and Amillennialism. The difference is important for they are based on different ways of reading of the Bible. Millennialism refers to the 1000-year period mentioned in Rev 20:1-10. Premillennialism teaches that we are living in the period before the millennium. Amillennialism teaches that we are living in the millennium from Christ’s ascension to just before His return.

Why do I need to go to church? I can be a believer in my own home can’t I? This is a question I often hear and it is often justified by the accusation that many Christians who go to church are hypocrites anyway. This is by someone who is also a hypocrite, for all people are hypocrites sometimes and in some ways. This then does not justify separating oneself from the church.

Creation is a hotly disputed topic in Christianity where many have adopted a theory called theistic evolution, even among those who claim to be Evangelicals. That name originally implied an acceptance of God’s word as literally true and without error because it was inspired by God. Looked at from that perspective those who endorse theistic evolution can hardly claim to be evangelical, for they do not believe in the literal sense of Scripture.

The reason is that those who believe in paedobaptism read the Bible differently than those who don't. They see a far greater degree of continuity between the various covenants God has established between Himself and man since the beginning.

This continuity sees only one people of God since the beginning governed by Him through various covenants.

Marriage is a relationship designed by God. He created mankind male and female and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and blessed them so that this could happen. Initially, when God created man he was alone and God said that was not good. He allowed man to discover his lack by bringing all the animals to him, but no counterpart for man was found. So God created woman from man and brought her to Him as a help fit for him. This relationship should be one of love. In it he is head, but at the same time they are one and this unity is physically expressed and realised in sexual intercourse. In this beautiful way mankind could be fruitful and multiply

Race is part of the good and beautiful creation of God. When God created Adam and Eve all the genes for the different races were in them. These genes were passed on through Noah and his family after the flood. From Adam God created every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation. These words from Acts 17:26 compress Biblical history a bit, because they encompass the scattering and separation of the nations after the tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9), but they stress the continued unity of mankind.

Marriage is the permanent union of two sinful people, a man and a woman, in love. Consequently, despite the love, problems are going to arise within that marriage. The couple will have to work out how to live together in love, peace and harmony and that can be difficult. How can we achieve that?

We confess that God is one, yet triune. We confess that from eternity God the Father begot God the Son in His image and that God the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from them both. He is both the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. He indwells them both as their Spirit and is at the same time the third Person of the Trinity. This unity is not only of nature, but also of love. There is one God, yet three Persons.

There is always a lot of noise in the Christian camp when disasters strike the world we live in and we are witnessing that again. There are those who want to absolve God of any blame and attribute all evil to Satan. There are those who blame God and reject Him because of it. Others confess that God is sovereign over all things and look for the reason in God's judgement on a sinful world and so on. What does the Bible teach about this?

There is a big disagreement between Christians whether there is such a thing as a second blessing called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Those who say that there is also maintain that the gifts of tongues, prophecy and healing are also still current. They base their claim largely on the book of Acts. Is that correct and is there even a second blessing called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit? What does God's word really say about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and what is the present status of these particular gifts?