Finding Hope Through Discovery in Bible Study

  January 19, 2013 Larry R Evans Sabbath School Study Introduction Have you ever picked up a book and read the last chapter first?   Sometimes the anticipation is a bit overwhelming so we rush to the end.   While doing so has some advantages, there are also some real disadvantages. We can miss some critical insights if we only focus on the outcome. Likewise there are also some pitfalls if we take the same approach when reading the biblical account of the Creation Week. The end has greater significance when we understand how we got there in the first place! In Genesis 1:4, for example, we discover that God saw that the light was good and throughout the week He pronounces other creations as “good” and “very good.”   While in our rush to get to the description of the creation of man and/or the creation of the Sabbath experience, we must not conclude that God is only interested in the “spiritual realities.”   H. Ross Cole points out that “The Black Death wipe

January 19, 2013 Larry R Evans Sabbath School Study Introduction Have you ever picked up a book and read the last chapter first?   Sometimes the anticipation is a bit overwhelming so we rush to the end.   While doing so has some advantages, there are also some real disadvantages. We can miss some critical insights if we only focus on the outcome. So there are some pitfalls if we take the same approach when reading the biblical account of the Creation Week. The end has greater significance when we understand how we got there in the first place! In Genesis 1:4, for example, we discover that God saw that the light was good and throughout the week He pronounces other creations as “good” and “very good.”   While in our rush to get to the description of the creation of man and/or the creation of the Sabbath experience, we must not conclude that God is only interested in the “spiritual realities.”   H. Ross Cole points out that “The Black Death wiped out up to half th

  Creation: Forming the World January 12, 2012 Sabbath School Study Larry Evans Introduction Few Bible sentences have created more intense controversy and discussion than Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.“   Opinions abound!    I have found that the first three chapters of Genesis have a much more complete meaning and purpose when I see them in the context of the whole book of Genesis.   Our scientific culture tends to put issues under a microscope and see parts apart from the whole. This idea is somewhat reflected in the article I wrote for the Adventist Review   and published sometime ago. ( http://www.adventistreview.org/?issue=2008-1535 ) While I certainly do not deny   the importance of current discussions regarding evolution/creation nor the literal creation of the earth in 7 24-hour days we must not stop there with our reading.   By first seeing the “forest” rather than just the “trees” of Genesis, I find multiple me