Bible study in an ongoing process, which means that you generally start out thinking that you know more than you do, and that you end up thinking that you know less than you do.

  Many of the basic concepts in the Bible are unfamiliar to people, and thus come under the category of `sacred secret'.

  In the Bible, man falls from grace by Adam's wilful sin. What this means is that originally man was created perfect and had no sin, no tendency to fall short of God's standards. Since he was perfect to start with, no sin could affect him without a deliberate decision on his part to disobey God. After man sinned, he became imperfect, and all subsequent generations of his offspring inherited that imperfection.

  Thus it is easy to see how the concept of the fall of man differs radically from evolutionary theory, the former being the one necessary to an understanding of the concepts contained in the Bible.

  It follows that no serious study of the Bible can take place without first shedding any residual belief in the so-called `scientific' theory of evolution. Of course, if you choose to, you may return to any belief system which suits you. In the interest of science, then, let us consider for the time being that our minds are open. Why should we believe the Bible?

  Or why, for that matter, should we consider any theory of how man came to be on the earth? Is it not because humans are naturally inquisitive, turning to their heritage as a basis for future endeavour? Or what building is there that is built to last without first laying a firm foundation? True, this is a very important thing indeed. Where did we come from?

  Clearly, evolutionists, or proponents of evolutionary theory, have asked the very same question as those who study the Bible, namely: ``What is the purpose of life?'' In undertaking to answer this question, the question of our origin seems implicit.

  Here is the challenge. A book exists, which claims to be the very Word of God, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, and which further claims to explain what was created, giving the sequence of creative events, and even further purports to give a record of the history of man from the first man all the way to Jesus Christ, after which we are told that Jesus preached, was executed by men, was resurrected by God, and will come again in the last days of our world to gather his faithful ones and to restore the earth to a paradise-like state.

  Wait a minute, you say, ``I don't believe in God.''

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