Finding Hope Through Discovery in Bible Study

  The Creation   April 2, 2022 Larry R Evans   Introduction   Aristotle (384-322  B.C ), the man who made significant contributions to many areas of human knowledge once said,  “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”  Aristotle’s work revolves around the idea that wisdom is practical and not theoretical. He stressed that man is a rational animal, and that virtue comes with the proper exercise of reason.  Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) later picked up Aristotle’s worldview and placed revelation and human reason on an equal footing and with it, humanism began to enter more directly into the Church.  Humanists believe that man’s starting point is himself and from that, every problem could be solved.    This quarter we will be studying the book of Genesis. The worldview set forth in this foundational book of the Bible couldn’t be more different than Aristotle’s.  It only takes four words two separate the diffe...

The Opened Veil and  the Promised Experience with God    March 5, 2022 Larry R Evans   Introduction The Prayer of Moses If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” The LORD replied, “ My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” . . . Now show me your glory. … And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. (Ex. 33:13-16,18, 19, ) What Moses was to learn was that seeing God meant more than he could grasp at the moment. God’s glory is bound up with his nature or character.  For mortal m...

  The Great Awakening (Jesus as Our Sinless Mediator)   February 19 Larry R Evans   Introduction   Perhaps you recently read of a priest in Phoenix, Arizona who resigned because he had made a priestly mistake!  The mistake?  He incorrectly performed thousands of baptisms over several decades.  He had changed one word in the baptismal pronouncement.  When baptizing the infant he said, “We baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  Did you catch what he said wrong?  He reports that he said, “ ‘I’  baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.”   As a “priest” he implied by using “ We ” that it was the community that baptizes a person, rather than Christ. It is believed it is Christ, in the person of the human priest, who presides at all sacraments – not the community and not even the priest.  The Arizona priest was horrified when ...

February 5, 2022 Larry R Evans   Introduction   In October 1969, Samuel Beckett, an Irish novelist and philosopher, wrote a short play called “Breath.”  It is an understatement to say it was short. From the time the curtains opened to the time they closed was 35 seconds.  It could be said that the play has three acts.  (1) It opens with darkness and then the cry of a baby is heard. Next (2), as the lighting begins and gradually intensifies the sound of inhaling is heard.  What is seen now is trash, nothing but trash. (3) Then as the light begins to fade the sound of exhaling or a death gurgle is heard and then total darkness.  In 35 seconds Beckett summarized his view of life which is nothing more than trash. Such a view of life leaves nothing to imagine except despair and emptiness and many questions that such a perspective does not answer.   Two years ago, I invited Dr. Richard Rice of Loma Linda University to speak for ...