Christadelphians

The Christadelphians are a Christian denomination that developed in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 19th century. Other names for them include Brothers of Christ and Christ's Brethren. They were in effect founded by John Thomas, but do not consider him greater than any other teacher. Today, there are about 55,000-60,000 Christadelphians. Many of them live in Britain, Australia, Africa and the United States.

Their ideas are close to other Restorationist movements such as the Anabaptist movement. They say that when Christianity came in contact with the Hellenic world, it was spoiled. Therefore, they only accept teachings that can be found in the Bible. They think that the Bible was inspired by God and they accept no other texts.

• God - They reject the idea of the Trinity.
• Jesus - They also believe that Jesus did not exist before his birth, and that he is literally "Son of Man" by Mary and the "Son of God" by the holy spirit by the virgin birth. They believe that Jesus was literally dead for three days between his death on the cross and the day when God raised Jesus from the dead. They believe that Jesus is now with his Father, and that he will come again to be king on earth.
• They believe that men and women know nothing when they are dead. They do not believe that dead people go to heaven or hell. They say that the two words for "hell" mean (1) the grave, and (2) a valley near Jerusalem.
• They also believe that the devil in the Bible is a synonym for sin, which are present in the people on earth. Sin is what keeps people from being reunited with God. Christadelphians practise baptism as adults, by total immersion in water.

Today almost all Christadelphians belong to the main "Central" fellowship. But, following some disagreements, there have been different groups of Christadelphians. Among those still in existence today are Unamended Fellowship which has 1,800 members in North America, the Dawn Fellowship, and the Berean Fellowship.

They do not have priests or pastors, instead each local church has a group of elders who are chosen by the members each year. Most male members take turns to speak each week.

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