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Real Reasons to Care about the Environment

Many of us see and hear about caring for the environment, please recycle, do not litter, watch your water usage, and so on. Nowadays, it seems that most people have a semblance of concern for nature and the environment as a whole, but it wasn't so long ago that stupid and greedy people were forced to stop polluting through legislation and fines. Of course, there are those who have evolutionary and socialist viewpoints upon which they base their interest for the environment. Some are muy loco en la cabeza , seeing humans as a plague on Earth and want to see us killed off ! Credit: Wikimedia Commons / javajoe6 / CC BY-SA 3.0 We can agree with evolutionists that this planet is all we have, and we'd best be taking care of it. But the motivation of Christians is mighty different. We are created in God's image (Genesis 1:27), and Earth was created to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18). Earth was not created for us to act like polecats and trash the place. After all, it was not on

Christians and Big Lies

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This is one of those articles that I do not cotton to writing. Not only is it likely to cost me "followers", friends, and associates, but the whole thing is painful to deal with. Specifically, Christians behaving so badly that I don't want to be named among them. Also, I'm going to leave names out of this, because I'm not calling people out for heresy, such as in 2 Tim. 4:14-15, 3 John 1:9-10, and elsewhere. It may come to that, because demonstrably false claims about brothers in Christ have been made, and sin needs to be exposed. Not sure that my doing so will be helpful, though. Christians who are in certain circles will know who I'm discussing, but I'd rather stick with principles at this point. Besides, when I spend many hours searching for web documentation that may or may not be available tomorrow, people tend to ignore the supporting links anyway. Looks like I need to make up some names so we can keep things clear. Are y

Cancer and Creation

Unfortunately, cancer seems to be increasingly common, and I think it's safe to say that it would be difficult to find someone who has not encountered cancer, whether personally, through friends, or relatives. (It's tremendously ironic that John Wayne's final movie, The Shootist , was about a man dying of cancer made by an actor dying of cancer.) Many people even refer to it as "the C word". Sometimes, people worry that a rash, cough, lump, or something else is becoming cancerous. By all means, get things checked out by your doctor. Cancer cells image credit: Dr. Cecil Fox / National Cancer Institute Things were going mighty fine in Eden. Everything was created very good (Gen. 1:31), then Adam and Eve chose to listen to Satan, and brought sin into the world — and with sin came death (Rom. 5:12) and the curse. Genetic degradation began, and those wonderful repair systems within us are unable to keep up with the demand. For the Christian, we can look forward

Aliens, Evolution, and the Bible

Right from the get-go, I want to make some things clear. I believe in UFOs in the real sense, but reject the concept that they are piloted by beings from space or a parallel universe for both scientific and theological reasons. Also, the belief that extraterrestrials exist does not make someone foolish or an unregenerate heretic. There are Bible-believing Christians who believe that God created aliens; I disagree with them, but it's not a hill to die on, you savvy? Some of us who disbelieve in ETs still like a rollicking science fiction show now and then, too. Note that these discussions ate usually about intelligent life, not about space bugs ot other unintelligent life. Evolutionists would sat that any life forms evolved. Although we're getting ahead of ourselves since no alien life has been found, their evolution would need evidence, not assumptions.   Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net / dan Aliens are a staple of popular culture nowadays, appearing in fiction

Those Who Never Heard the Gospel

A subject of debate has existed for a very long time regarding the salvation of those who never heard the gospel. It's a fair question, and many Christians have wondered about it. Misotheists have also used it for the purposes of ridicule, even though the incoherent atheistic worldview should not allow them to care about the actions of God who they claim does not exist. "Why should there be only one way to your God?" can be replied with, "God did not have to provide any way to sinful humanity, but he gives both justice and mercy". Credit: Pixabay / jclk8888 God's Word tells us to share the gospel, and emphasizes the importance of doing so. We must be read (1 Peter 3:15, Matt. 28:18-20). It's vital to be true to Scripture, and not resort to subjective claims of "God told me such and so", or "I was led by the Spirit". Making things up does not work, either, and we cannot assume that someone will be saved based on...wishful thin

The Sabbath and the Christian

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen There are Christians who feel obligated to "keep the Sabbath", so they go to church and worship on Sunday. Some rigidly avoid unnecessary activity, and even shun things like sporting events and other pursuits that they consider "worldly". There are several problems with this approach. First, it is not scriptural, and more of a cultural belief. Second, the Sabbath was not changed to Sunday, it was established for the seventh day. Third and most important, Christians are not required to keep the Sabbath at all. Don't be disunderstanding me now, I'm not saying it's wrong to be church going. What I am  saying is that we're not under the Law, the Mosaic Covenant. Credit: Pixabay / tpsdave The Sabbath has its origin in Gen. 2:3, where he rested on and sanctified the seventh day. God was the only Sabbath keeper at first. In Ex. 16:29-30, the day of solemn rest was established for Israel. See that? It was for Israel, not a

God's Written Word, Man's Hands

Something that many people have wondered about is how the Bible itself was written (aside from the vacuous "written by illiterate  Bronze Age goat herders remark). After all, it is God's  written Word. Did they take dictation? No, the Bible was not given to us through what is sometimes called mechanical dictation, where the writers were acting like secretaries. Apostle Paul , Rembrandt, 1653 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed (often translated as "inspired"), θεόπνευστος,  theopneustos.  We see that the personalities of the writers is evident, but that God was in control. I'll allow that it's a fair question to ask if errors crept in, since the dictation approach did not happen and they wrote in their own words. God preserved copies of Scripture through the ages, and he is also able to have guided his chosen writers. I reckon that the book we can First Corinthians is not  the first letter Paul sent to them, but only the first one

Importance of the Age of the Earth to Christians

Supporters of long ages are often frustrated at the way biblical creationists defend the young earth, and some even make the false claim that we claim belief in recent creation to be a requirement for salvation. To sidestep those sidewinders, we occasionally need to go on record: believers in an old earth as well as theistic evolutionists are not automatically excluded from the grace of Christ. Further, belief in recent creation is not a salvation issue, nor is acceptance of the Ussher chronology of biblical lineages. You savvy? Credit: Freeimages / Petr Wija There are folks who will call us "science deniers", but there's a problem in that the age of the earth is in no wise a proved scientific fact. For one thing, it is historical in nature, and not something that can be repeated and verified. Also, there are many different age-determining methods that yield different results. These methods rely on certain assumptions which determine the interpretations of the dat

The Gospel and Noah's Ark

People who have little understanding of the Bible or have a low view of the authority of Scripture tend to wave off the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Regular readers have seen how a rejection of creation leads to errors all the way to Revelation, and the same thing happens when denying the Genesis Flood. What about the claim that the Flood was only local? That may seem to be a nice compromise with those who believe in long ages, but that's the opposite of the truth. Credit: Freeimages / Christian Carollo I have pointed out one simple problem with people using the loco local Flood scenario. Peter discussed the global Flood (2 Peter 2:5, 3:6) and compared it to the coming Judgement by fire (2 Peter 3:7). So, if the Genesis Flood was only local, will the Judgement by fire also be just a local event? Not hardly! More than that, the Ark is a type of Christ. When limiting the Flood, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is also being limited. About 1,656 years after the crea

Unmasking the "Holy Ghost" Movie

This post could be subtitled, "Why Unbelievers Hate Christians, Part 4", and is another that will probably cost me some friends. Don't that just take the rag off the bush, standing up for truth and getting professing Christians into a lather? It happened before, and it'll happen again because I seek to please God, not men, which makes me think of Galatians 1:10. Did you know that most Americans who call themselves Christians are actually functional heretics ? While this kind of news is very sad, it is also not surprising. In my experience, especially online, there are many people who profess to be Christians but have a very low view of Scripture, and very little working knowledge of it. Yet, they claim to believe it. When people fall in to deception, disregard for scriptural authority as well as biblical illiteracy are key factors.  I run across all sorts of people while administering The Question Evolution Project . I'll see some who claim to be Christians

The Christian and Greek Mythology

Many people are fascinated by ancient Greek mythology, which can be seen by the numerous volumes about the subject and various works of fantasy fiction that make their way onto the big screen. Although it appears that few if any people still believe in what were called gods and goddesses of Greece, that culture is still represented in today's Western world. Artemis (Roman: Diane) credit: Wikimedia Commons / Marie-Lan Nguyen Some jaspers say that the Bible is just mythology, like the Greeks, Romans, and others had. I wonder if they've ever read the mythologies and seriously read the Bible. When I was younger, I thought maybe they were just representatives of principles, but no, people did worship them. Those tinhorns in mythology were capricious, petty, deceitful, cannibalistic, and just plain unpleasant in many ways. Powerful forces of nature were attributed to them, as were other facts of daily life. We get diluted mythology stories, but if you get into mythology that is

Yes, Genesis is History

Something I keep stressing is that the Bible is God's Word, and true from the very first verse. There are people who, for various reasons, want to compromise and say that the Bible is true, but not the early chapters of Genesis — those have to be interpreted in light of the ever-changing whims of man-made science philosophies. Can't be believing in creation, can we? Yes, yes we can. Sunset over clouds on Lake Superior, credit: Freeimages / Archbob Why would they compromise? If you study on it, there are several possible reasons. One is that they are ashamed of God. Another is because they are more interested in what other people think of them rather than what God thinks. Many learn bad theology from liberal teachers. I reckon the most likely reason is that they have not really thought things through (which may stem from not being grounded in the Word). Capitulating on the opening chapters of Genesis leads to theological horse trading throughout the Bible, and undermines

People after the Genesis Flood

We are not given a great number of details about the post-Flood people in the Bible, but some were so impressive that they warranted special attention, especially the giants. (The writers used giant the way most of us do today, for very large people and not for the impossibly huge people of fantasy stories.)  Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), from Wikimedia Commons I remember a lecture that Ken Ham gave where he reasoned from accounts of people of great size, photographic memories, and other talents that very few people have, Adam would have been a composite of all of them. After all, he was made flawless and sin had not entered the world and begun genetic degradation. Some of those abilities must have lingered through the ages. In fact, Pliny and others have given some interesting historical accounts of people with not only strength, but mental agility, memory, endurance, vision, and more. It has been over 6,000 years since God created Adam and Eve. Because of the Cu