Sabbath School Teaching Tip: There is a big difference between a group member who takes the group off topic into a pet ax to grind, and a group that naturally hits into a relevant “vein of gold” and wants to mine it by following it farther. If you notice that a twist on the lesson has led your group into a discussion that animates other group members to share from their lives, and resonates with them, let it play out a bit–even if you do not get to everything you had planned. It is far better to let your group actively discuss 3 questions around a metaphorical campfire that is warming everyone, than to pour cold water on it in the name of getting to all parts of your plan.

1. Our author distinguishes “general revelation” (what all people can know about God through nature and human experience, as described in Romans 1:20) and “special revelation” (truths humans could never discover unless God directly broke into history to reveal them).

1. 1. What are examples of revelation that you might put in each of those categories?
   2. Our author says that without special revelation, human experience is “ambiguous”—we could conclude that a God exists, but not know why the world is full of evil, what it will mean for us, or the character of this God. Agree or disagree? Why?
   3. All of the Scriptures, and the entirety of the actual events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, are considered special revelation. Imagine your life without these. What would it be like?
   4. What is one recorded parable or teaching of Jesus that is particularly precious to you and feels just like it could only have come from God’s decision to break into history and reveal it to us?

2. Some people approach life with a perspective that rules out special revelation, i.e., “I refuse to consider anything outside of the observable natural world.” This is often coupled with the idea that “humanity can defeat the problems in nature by our own progress.”
   1. Is this a new idea? Explain your answer.
   2. What might you say to someone who believes humanity can save itself?

3. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), the rich man implies that God has not spoken clearly enough to humanity; but Abraham disagrees, and, in an obvious reference to Jesus, tells him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
   1. How might you explain to someone our belief that God has provided more than enough for the heart to recognize His voice and choose?
   2. Why doesn’t God just grab each one of us by the collar and speak audibly to us?

4. Give an example of how the Bible is the ultimate proof that “the pen is mightier than the sword.”

5. Our author points out that the process of inspiration of both Biblical and non-Biblical revelation is not “verbal inspiration” but “thought inspiration.” That is, God did not dictate each and every word but rather inspired the author to speak or write accurate Divine messages using their own words. Ellen White said, “It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were inspired…thus the utterances of the man are the word of God.”
   1. Is this paradigm different from your current understanding?
   2. Do you think most Adventists share this understanding of inspiration, or do they have a different one?
   3. How does this union of real human language and Divine inspiration help us to look for the message as a whole, and avoid distortions that can arise from isolating and hyperliteralizing one verse or statement in either Scripture or prophetic writings?

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