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Striking a Balance

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ( Rom. 10:14-17 , NKJV) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” ( Matt. 28:18-20 , NKJV) It is interesting to me to see the different ways that I receive inspi

Getting Too Excited

"We have to answer the current scientific attitude toward Christianity, not the attitude scientists adopted one hundred years ago. Science is in continual change and we must try to keep abreast of it. We may mention such things; but we must mention them lightly and without claiming that they are more than 'interesting.' Sentences beginning “Science has now proved” should be avoided. If we try to base our apologetic on some recent development in science, we shall usually find that just as we have put the finishing touches to our argument science has changed its mind and quietly withdrawn the theory we have been using as our foundation stone." — C.S. Lewis, "Christian Apologetics", 1945 The above quote ties in nicely with some things I have said in the past. Sometimes, Christians want to be convincing, so we resort to assuming that impressive (or sensationalistic) reports are true without verifying them. I have received the old "atheis

I Like Bibles Part 3: Saturday Resource

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Trevor's Stack of Bibles Although I risk stricter judgment by presuming to teach (James 3.1), this installment is significantly less objective than other things that I have done. But I still hope that you can get something out of it. In our previous adventures, I told you a bit of my personal history , and then some of the history of English language Bibles . That last one was a great deal of work, but very rewarding. I left off somewhere around 1611, when the King James Version had been released. Since then, not only has the KJV had several revisions, but other Bible revisions and translations have cropped up. I believe that is a good thing to some extent (I am most definitely not a "King James Only" advocate), but there are also drawbacks. One drawback that I will briefly mention is that Bibles have been rewritten by and for cultists like Joseph Smith , Johannes Greber and the Jehovah's Witnesses . I urge Christians to rem

I Like Bibles Part 2: Some History

In the bigynnyng was the word, and the word was at God, and God was the word. This was in the bigynnyng at God. Alle thingis weren maad bi hym, and withouten hym was maad no thing, that thing that was maad. In hym was lijf, and the lijf was the liyt of men; and the liyt schyneth in derknessis, and derknessis comprehendiden not it.  (John 1:1-5, Wycliffe, 1394 A.D.) In our last episode, I told you a bit of my history, and that I have a fondness for Bibles . This time, I would like to go a few hundred years before my own history. No, not all the way back to "how we got the Bible in the first place", that is more than I am willing to take on (but you can check this out if you want more of that information , as well as this source ). Instead, I am going to do an overview of English language Bible history. The first Bible that was translated into English was done through John Wycliffe (or Wyclife). He trained teachers who translated the Bible from the Latin Vulgate in the 1380s.

I Like Bibles!

It has been almost a year since I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ. Before that, I had been away from my faith for about fifteen years. During a difficult cleanout session, I had to discard several Bibles that I had owned for many years because they were starting to mildew because of being in storage. It was painful. Yes, mine looks just like this. I began to replace them. But I was not going to get carried away, needing to own over a dozen versions like I had done in the past! In an online forum, someone had recommended the English Standard Version. I had never heard of it, so I read up on it and then bought one. (It is almost funny, I was starting to get teary-eyed in the Barnes and Noble store as Malcolm and Alwyn's wonderful song was playing in my head.."Got myself some wisdom from a leather-backed book...") It felt...strange. Strange, and yet very good, to be reading a Bible again after so many years. Then I looked for the little green Gideon New Testament I had b

Saturday Resource: Battle for the Beginning

With a resource like the one I am going to give you today, I am very glad that I posted that information last week about getting more information in less time . Because this week, I am all keyed up to offer you John MacArthur's "The Battle for the Beginning". Regular readers know that I am a Biblical Creationist and that I reject evolution. (In case you're curious, I reject it on its lack of science as well as believing what the Bible says.) I have stated on occasion how compromising the Word of God with man-made scientific philosophies causes all sorts of problems with other parts of Scripture that cause a need further compromise; a theological "domino effect". John MacArthur covers this, and more. He mentions some of the scientific errors in evolution. (Unfortunately, he touches on some items that I wish he had left alone, but I think they were hot items when this series was delivered in 1999.) My main concern is the authority of the Bible. Are you going

Turning the Other Cheek

But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. — Matt. 5.39 KJV by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This is a topic where some people will have an opinion (and express it), without serious consideration of the subject. Reaching back centuries into the dusty corridors of my memory... Was it a Dennis the Menace cartoon drawing? Anyway, someone is asking the pastor after a church service, "But what if he punches you in the nose?" Or something like that. Good question. I have to admit that I was reluctant to use this verse because it is so horribly misused by believers and unbelievers alike. It has been ripped out of its textual, historical and cultural contexts and used to mean that Christians should simply be doormats. Image before editing, "The Sermon on the Mount" by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1877 Here is a bit of a conversation in a Facebook post: Although bad, We are commanded to