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How Do You View Genesis?

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen   My regular readers know that I am a biblical creationist. Now, don't panic and run off, hear me out, OK? Some of my past articles ( like this one ) have dealt with the problems associated with compromising with Genesis. I need to clarify something at this point. Many people are overwhelmed with the pressure to compromise because they are told what to think, that evolution is true, the earth is old, the universe is ancient &c. Many do not really think about it at all, but simply go with the flow. Others see the problems that occur when they tamper with a plain reading of Scripture, so they force-fit a gap between the first two verses of Genesis, invoke the "Day-Age Theory", say that the first few chapters of Genesis is allegorical and that those of us who believe that it means what it says are fringe-group nuts. One apologist said something that angered me quite a bit. He said that he does not believe in evolution, and will

Touchy-Feely Jesus 2: The Sequel

Yes, I know. Lousy title. I just wanted you to know that I blundered across something that makes a good follow-up to an article I did on this subject a while ago . It seems that we have made an image of Jesus to fit a "niceness" image that we have created. Why? To make Jesus more palatable? I pointed out that he was not always Mr. Nice Guy. I see I'm not the only one who sees a difference between what has been presented, and the real Jesus. Don't get me wrong! There is truth to the kind, gentle Jesus (Matt.11.28-30). But this truth is out of balance, because he is also the righteous judge that we will face some day. Anyway, this video... About two minutes into it, I perked up because he was saying something similar to what I had said. Hope you like it!

I Don't Wanna Be a Casual Christian!

Just over a year ago, I rededicated my life to Jesus. One of the things that convicted me was getting reacquainted with that Christian music that I knew years ago. Petra, White Heart, Larry Norman, Malcolm and Alwyn, Darrell Mansfield and others. DeGarmo and Key had meant a great deal to me. Somehow, DeGarmo and Key ministered to me the most. I saw them in concert three or four times.  Like the other artists, they gave encouragement as well as admonition . Evangelism should go without saying; the "buy one get one to give away" cassette deal has stuck with me for years. (Dig this blues version of a song they mastered earlier , " Are You Ready? ".) Dana did that thing that several other Christian rock artists have done: He went into the ministry. Not a surprise, because music is a ministry for many of them. I was shocked and very saddened to learn that Dana Key died on June 6, 2010. There are several tributes around (I linked to one in my own

Genesis of Confusion

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ( Jude 1:3 , NKJV) And now for something completely different. Actually, the message itself is not different, but the way I am going about it is quite different for me. First, some background. As my regular readers know, I am a Biblical Creationist ( my Weblog with Creationist messages is here ). No, I am not saying that if you are an old-earth Creationist that you are not a Christian. Nor am I saying that if you use a form of "theistic evolution" that you are not a Christian. But I do say that if you claim to believe the Bible, you end up doing some interesting eisegesis to compromise and force-fit your beliefs into what the Bible says. Evolutionism has taken such a stranglehold on modern society that it causes a great deal of confusion to ne

Saturday Resource: Are We Making Him Known?

As Christians, are we keeping the truth to ourselves? When we meet God on Judgment Day, will we have people say, "Yes, Lord, this one led me to you"? For that matter, are we sure that we are right with God, or are we playing religious games with ourselves? Today's resource is not going to take you all that long (this time). It is about twenty minutes. You can click the link and listen to the audio, or right-click and "save as" so you can listen to it offline. It is by Dr. Charles Stanley, and it is called "Making Him Known". I sincerely hope that you will use this link and give it a listen .

Saturday Resource: Evolutionists' Assumptions

Evolutionists like Dr. Richard Dawkins speak authoritatively as if their not-even-theory were as good as fact. But building a case for naturalistic evolution is like trying to build a house in midair. No matter how solid the construction, the house will collapse without a foundation. Thus, evolutionists must assume biblical grounds to support their worldview. These biblical grounds—such as logic, morality, and uniformity—stem from the nature and power of the Creator God as revealed in the Bible. Yet evolutionists deny the Creator while resting their faulty beliefs on His foundation. By challenging their faulty basic assumptions that the laws of logic, absolute morality, and the uniformity of nature exist apart from the Creator, the Christian can prove that reasoning, absolute moral standards, and science itself must be based on the biblical worldview. Click here for the article .

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