In the first step of our journey learning about holiness, we see that spiritual knowledge is vital. But do we mean by knowledge? How does spiritual knowledge differ from worldly knowledge? And how do we get it?

This is the first part of a new course called "A practical guide to holiness". We think about what holiness is, why we should be interested in it, and the dangers of ignoring holiness.

Hi Phil and anyone else reading.

The church my brother attends had a meeting yesterday, and on the agenda was the issue of permitting actively gay clergy. To my mind this shouldn’t even need discussing. Fortunately I was trying a new and more Bible based church a little further afield.

One question that apparently came up in the meeting: should practicing gay couples be allowed to attend church? My own chain of thought went like this:
No. Christians struggling with sin are one thing, but unrepentant sinners are another. They should be approached in love, and shown what the Bible says on the subject, and given a period to reflect and offered prayer. But, it shouldn’t be allowed to continue. As Paul tells us, sin is like yeast and will spread unless stopped. How you would implement this without lawsuits and hiring bouncers, I have no idea. What do you think? How woud YOU deal with this?

In the final session of the Firm Foundations course, we are looking at the next life: what will things be like at the resurrection? Do we "go to heaven" when we die? What will the new creation be like?

What happens when we die, according to the Bible? Death is one of the biggest mysteries of life - we don't know what lies beyond the grave. The Bible teaches us that, although there are some things we don't know, there are things we can be sure about.

How should Christians think about death? Death is a taboo subject these days - we pretend that it doesn't exist. But the Bible teaches us that we shouldn't fear death, and even in some sense welcome it. What does the Bible teach us about death and how we should think about it?

Post your comments down below! 

Firstly, thanks, Phill, for setting this up. I remember forums with a great deal of affection.


I was brought up going to Sunday School and church; my dad was a sidesman, a church warden and eventually a non-stipendiary minister. I rebelled as a teenager and continued heading in the wrong direction until I travelled the road to Damascus (well, Stoke Mandeville). Since then my walk with Christ has varied in pace and intensity, but, thankfully, it IS a walk with Christ.


I have assorted hobbies that I’m not very good at, an old Dalmatian and a desire to find any church that is Bible-based and non-woke. I’m a young(ish) 58 and my pronouns are . . .

As I'm encouraging everyone to introduce themselves, I thought I'd better get the ball rolling.

I'm Phill, the creator of Understand the Bible. I've been a Christian for almost as long as I can remember - I made a decision when I was five years old, and haven't looked back since.

I was ordained in the Church of England, but I left the CofE in 2023 and am now independent. 

Before training for ordination I was a software developer, so Understand the Bible is a good mix of my interests - computing and the Bible! I used to be involved with various forums when I started getting into the internet, so I know how helpful they can be to build community.

I live on the Essex coast (Clacton-on-Sea), and would love to connect with anyone who is in this area.

That's probably enough about me to be going on with, I'm sure there will be more in due course...

Welcome to the Understand the Bible forums!

I have been participating in internet forums for almost as long as I've been using the internet. Although they may seem a little old-fashioned these days, I think forums are still one of the best ways of connecting people on the internet. (In my opinion, they are WAY better than Facebook groups).

Do feel free to introduce yourself - leave a post in this forum and tell us about yourself.

One of the things I'm most keen on is to connect people with others who use Church with UTB, so there is a whole forum just for that. If you're looking for other people to meet with in your area, do post in that forum.

Otherwise, please remember to be polite, and please stick to the topic (i.e. try not to derail threads). If you see any bad behaviour please report it to the moderators, and please abide by their decision.

In general, we welcome polite discussion and engagement, even where there is disagreement. We hope that you enjoy using the forums!

~ Phill (creator of Understand the Bible)