Biblical Creation and Evangelism

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen On this distinctly American holiday where people traditionally celebrate family, friends, and what we have, we need to remember the greater blessings. Many of us have things we take for granted. We have electronic devices that are "essential" to us that didn't even exist ten years ago, and we panic when they're not working. A bit of perspective, people! I can turn on the faucet and get clean water that we put through an attached filter to make it even better, but there are those who have to scrounge for muddy water to drink and hope it doesn't kill them. Even if we're not living in splendor, we need to be thankful for what we have, you savvy? The Thankful Poor ,  Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1894 A thankful spirit is important in the Christian life, and we should focus on giving thanks to God who gave us life, and eternal life. He doesn't have to bless us in so many ways, but he does it out of his love for us — even mockers and bl

Some professing Christians are unaware that the Bible means what it says, all the way back to Genesis. Old Earth believers often claim that biblical creationists are being divisive by insisting on actual solar days of creation instead of treating Genesis as allegorical, mythological, or needing deep time interpretation. Such views are false. In fact, the interlopers are those who add millions of years to Scripture! Image of Flavius Josephus obtained from Wikimedia Commons The church fathers almost universally viewed creation as a recent event, and most accepted literal days of creation. Likewise, the Reformers believed in recent creation . If those sources are insufficient for some owlhoots, how about going way back to a respected Jewish Historian, Flavius Josephus?  Many people who compromise on the plain meaning of Genesis claim that the literal interpretation is a modern invention. Instead, they claim that most commentators in the past took a long-age view. On the contrary

Sometimes it seems that people are intimidated by the word logic. Perhaps they have images of professors making diagrams that resemble algebraic equations and discussing the laws of logic, and that us reg'lar folk cannot relate. While the academic image is real and fine for those who want to study the fine points of logic, you and I use logic on a daily basis. Credit: Pixabay / PIRO4D The auto mechanic who discovers why your vehicle stalls out at a certain point, the baker following a recipe, computer programmers, playing chess and similar games, doing a jigsaw puzzle — these all require the use of logic. When attempting to solve problems or learn the truth, we attempt to gain as much information as we need and then use our reasoning skills to reach answers. We usually do this without thinking about thinking. Logic is actually a part of the mind of God. We are made in his image, and he has given us some knowledge as well as senses and skills to acquire more knowledge so w

We read in Genesis 1:26 that we are created in God's image. That phrase can be a mite confusing, and one angry atheist used it as a "proof" that the Bible is true because we are physical beings, or some such. A photograph or a painting is also an image of something. If I held up a picture and said, "This is my daughter", a rational person would not conclude that she is flat and fits in a wallet. Also, that image would not negate the existence of the real person. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ESA / CXC / STScI (Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents.) The rest of verse 26 says that we're created in God's likeness. That adds a bit of depth, too. He's the creator of the universe, gave us life, is our Redeemer — image and likeness? Kind of hard to lasso the concept, I know. Let's dig a little deeper. This passage shows that man reflects God in some way and represents him.1 The image of God distinguishes mankind from the rest of c

Despite the claims of some old-earth compromisers like Hugh Ross, the church fathers believed , for the most part, in a young earth. For that matter, the Genesis Flood, recent creation, and similar matters were largely undisputed and a defense of the position was generally considered unnecessary. The concept of deep time is the new gelding in the theological stable. Credit: Pixabay / strecosa What about the Reformers? You know, that Protestant Reformation that is considered to have begun back yonder about 500 years ago? Yeah, those guys. Remember, a movement does not usually happen in a moment; there is groundwork and developments until the thing commences to happen. We know that Martin Luther took Genesis seriously , but we may wonder about the other Reformers during that period of years. It's a reasonable question, since liberal theologians and many professing Christians today believe the old earth view — especially since Christians ceded both science and theology to secula

Back on October 22, 1844, followers of William Miller (Millerites) expected Jesus to return. This was called the "Great Disappointment" for obvious reasons. People kept going with it, modifying views and such, eventually spawning outfits like the Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses . I guess you could say they evolved from a common ancestor. Those of us who have a few decades under our belts have experienced several "end of the world" prophesied events. Nothing happened. In 2016, some of us endured the "Super Shemitah" and blood moons business — and it was a business for people like Jim Bakker and others. But, as usual, those sidewinders kept on a-selling to their gullible followers. At this writing, the latest big thing was supposed to have happened on September 23, 2017. People were interpreting the signs in the heavens, earthquakes, storms, wars and rumors of wars, and so on as indications that the time of Christ's return

It is October, 2017, the month of the Reformatin's 500th anniversary. The Reformation is considered to have begun when Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the Wittenburg church door — a kind of social media of the time, and not an act of vandalism. He wanted debate, or serious discussion, on some matters that had been troubling him about the Roman Catholic Church, faith, the Bible, and more. A movement does not typically happen in an instant, and Luther was a priest and a monk who had been pondering some things for a long time, including his own salvation. He learned some things from Scripture that brought problems into focus, and his writings caused him a heap of trouble, and he was investigated for heresies at the Diet of Worms in 1521. We've heard and read about it a great deal lately. It sounds like a California fad eating style, but actually a diet  back then was a formal assembly, and this was conducted in the city of Worms. Now the term makes sense, doesn't it? It&#