Old Testament and. New Testament

How many people open a book and start reading halfway through? Generally speaking, it doesn’t happen very often, with one notable exception.

In this week’s video lesson by Ray Vander Laan, he spoke about the importance of the Old Testament. People today often hear ‘Old’ Testament and think that the first half of the Bible is outdated and tend to ignore the ‘God of the Old Testament’ for the ‘God of the New Testament’. The Bible is one book with one story, though, and if yo

Context - Allusion

In this week’s lesson by Ray Vander Laan, we continued the discussion on context. He spoke about allusion – a figure of speech that references a famous person, place, event, or literary work. They are either implied or direct. In literary works, this helps the reader feel transported to the time of the writers, because there is a proper understanding context in which the text was written.

Ray had the class write one sentence about a picture of a lamb on a rock. Most of the

Why Context Matters

The Importance of Context

This week, the professor whose videos we are watching spoke on the importance of studying the Bible within its context and how it allows the reader a deeper understanding of God’s truth and grace He weaves into the pages of Scripture. He took a very simple sentence, “I’m mad about my flat," and showed how depending on where the person lives and their linguistics, this could mean two different things.

This could mean someone is upset about their fla

Eastern Vs Western Ways of Thought

This week’s adult Sunday school lesson was on the way the Bible is written in story and how eastern ways of thinking influenced the way they are written. There are two patterns of thinking – the eastern way and the western way. In order to more fully grasp Scripture, it is important for believers to understand.

The west has been influenced by the Greek philosophers. Greeks are abstract thinkers. They search for truth by pulling things out of their place to study them separ

The Shema

Shema - The Lord is God alone.

The Shema (which means "to hear" or "to obey") is a well-known prayer in Judaism. It is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."  The Christian version adds, "And love your neighbor as yourself" from Leviticus 19:18, "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the son of your own people, but y