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How Should We Interpret Genesis?

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen The first eleven chapters of Genesis are the most attacked section of the Bible (and with increasing intensity nowadays), and were understood to be actual history by most Christians throughout church history , until Christians began ceding science to secularists about 150 years ago . There's a good reason for understanding Genesis as written , since Jesus, Peter, Paul, and others referred to Genesis as literal history as well. Still, riders on the Old Earth Owlhoot Trail want to force in millions of years by way of the latest trends in man-made science philosophies, and tell God what he said and meant instead of taking the natural reading of Genesis. Naturally, atheists support them. The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise , Benjamin West , 1791 One area of compromise came from Scottish preacher Thomas Chalmers in 1814, who proposed a gap of long ages between the first two verses of Genesis, but the "Gap Theory" simply does not work

Renunciation by Association

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This article is another appeal to clear thinking and discernment among Christians. I get to doing that on occasion, you see. There's a fallacy of guilt by association where a person receives condemnation because of who they run with or what they believe in. Sometimes it results in a witch hunt mentality , possibly utilizing the ancient proverb, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". (Although attributed to Arabs, it's actually traced back to Hindu writings of Arthashastra.) Such a concept can be very detrimental for Christians. It's bothersome enough to upset someone you love because you give a warning about false doctrine or other dangerous territory in spiritual subjects. On a related matter, it hurts when someone will get a burr under his saddle against some teacher or writer, and then get irritated at you because you like a person that they dislike. Now, hold off on drawing that shootin' iron and let me explain. There are

Get Your Armor On!

There are many people who claim the name of Christ, fill their minds with garbage from enemies of God (that is, the world, James 4:4), then wonder why their Christian life is a shambles. I've seen social media profiles of people who call themselves Christians, and mayhaps have a religious movie or two in their profiles, say they like the Bible, and have a passel of entertainment sources listed that proclaim things in direct opposition to God's Word! Scripturally illiterate Christians have weak or nonexistent spiritual walks, and are actually a hindrance in proclaiming the gospel and defending the faith. Roman soldier image credit: openclipart What people don't realize is that we're in the middle of a war. You're either God's property or Satan's property, there's no middle ground.  1 Peter 5:8-9 tells us that Satan is on the prowl. People who are compromisers, don't know their doctrines, are unwilling to take a stand for the truth — they'r

Literacy in Bible Times Confirmed

Hand me a pottery shard, I have to leave a note for my wife...much obliged. If someone gets a notion to slap leather with a Christian about evidence for the Bible, he'd better not be grabbing archaeology to use as his shootin' iron . Archaeology has been supportive of the Bible. (Why not? It's God's Word, after all.) Some tinhorns will use arguments from silence using archaeology (something mentioned 4,000 years ago hasn't been found, so the Bible is false), but that shows desperation as well as ignorance of logic. Dead Sea image credit: Freeimages / phunphoto It has been claimed that people in the Bible could not have written because they were not literate. How do they know that? They don't. It's an assumption based on presuppositions, and those ultimately come from evolutionary assumptions. That is, ancient humans were stupid and hadn't evolved enough yet, and we're the most intelekshul specimens of humanity, us today being them. Wrong.

The Creator in the Psalms

Some people try to pass off Genesis as some sort of poetic imagery or allegory of creation, but if you study on it a spell, you'll see that such a claim doesn't hold water . For one thing, take a look at what Jesus believed about Genesis , as well as the other writers through the Bible who referred to Genesis as history. King David Playing the Harp, Gerrit van Honthorst, 1611 However, we do find poetry about creation outside of the early chapters of Genesis, and they have some mighty powerful and interesting messages for us. Here is a series of three articles by Lita Cosner of Creation Ministries International: David the Young Earth Creationist Praising the Creator in the Psalms The Creator’s relationship with Israel and the Church Also, Dr. Ben Scripture has been doing an intermittent series of "Scripture on the Creator". These are about fifteen minutes each. To listen, click on this link , and then the "Launch Sermon Player" link so you can

Strength in Suffering

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen In another article, I discussed how some people will turn their backs on God because of disappointment in their lives, whether trivial, expecting God to be a cosmic wish-granting genie, bringing problems upon themselves and then blaming God, or from serious hardships. Some find excuses to suppress the truth of God, preferring their own sin and pride to submission to their Creator. There are others who seek God in the midst of their hardships and remain faithful. See " Pain, Disappointment, and Apostasy ". Image credit: Pixabay / jill111 Paul the apostle had hardships (for example, see 2 Cor. 11:16-33, Acts 4:19-20), and you'd think that if he was relying on his own strength, he'd be quite willing to say, "Too much! I'm taking the next stage outta Dodge!" In Second Corinthians, he wrote, "By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, there was given to me a thorn in

The Season of the Witch Hunt?

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Way back yonder in my school days, kids would get together based on hate. They didn't really understand hate, but they were upset with someone and disliked him or her. Then they'd recruit others to join them in their persecution efforts. You see that kind of thing today with the advent of the Internet, which became a useful tool for cyberstalking. Cyberstalking is a crime (not that people care about the law until they're actually captured). In some cases, cyberstalking and vicious bullying have driven people to suicide — and worse, such as in the case where it led to the deaths of three people . While it's fine to fellowship with people who agree with you on things (Christians are exhorted to do so throughout the New Testament, for example), recruiting people to join in a witch hunt is petty, childish, and harmful. Part of that is based on an inner need for acceptance and to feel important (some people want to save the world from the "e