COVID-19 and Natural Evil

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen

Since the Coronavirus has several names and there are several corona viruses, I think the best thing to do is stay with COVID-19 in this context. People refer to COVID-19 as evil, but more specifically it is a natural evil as opposed to moral evil. Bible-believing Christians know that natural evils are the result of the fall of man way back in Eden.

Credit: Freeimages / Marie Jeanne Iliescu

Although this virus is not like the Bubonic Plague that killed a large part of Europe's population in Medieval times which was pneumonic (airborne), people act like COVID-19 is that severe. On the other hand, it could be rightly considered evil when people have cavalier attitudes about spreading it — or using it for monetary gain. To rightly understand evil, we need to go to the Bible.

Evolutionists are using the pandemic to further their agenda, and theistic evolutionists seem to be joining right in. Theistic evolution is a fifth column to undermine the foundations of Christianity found in the first book of the Bible. These clouds without water (Jude 1:12-13) urge Christians to saddle up and ride for the "science" brand — that is, long ages and Darwinism. They tell us that the Bible doesn't mean what it says, and add a great deal to Scripture in order to gain the respect of enemies of God (Gal. 1:10). 

Interestingly, many compromisers believe that hominids existed before Adam and Eve, and that for some reason, God put the Garden of Eden among them and chose someone to be Adam. Genesis 1:18-23 shows us that Adam was unique, separate from other creatures, so God made the woman. Why not simply use one of the other hominids? Because they did not exist, old son.

When God made everything, he declared it to be very good (Gen 1:31). There was no death, pain, or corruption. We know that death entered the world through sin, and the world was cursed at the Fall. This was the beginning of genetic degradation. A TE working for the misnamed Christianity Today elevates the ever-changing whims of man-made science philosophies above the eternal, inerrant Word of God (Isaiah 40:8, 2Tim. 3:16). He says that God created some viruses to be harmful, and they are not the result of sin and the Fall. This sidewinder impugns the Creator's integrity and skill; essentially, he is calling God a liar. Death is an enemy (1 Cor. 15:26), not a part of God's creative process. I wonder what kind of restoration will happen in the final consummation in Revelation? Guess we can be sick and die. No, this guy is dead wrong and deceitful.

This article was inspired by a podcast by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, who has some excellent commentary on this and related material. I recommend the entire thing, but especially the second and third parts. You can listen online, download, or read the transcript by clicking on The Briefing for Monday, March 23, 2020. Something else to consider: Where is God in all this? An article on death, suffering, and God's plan by Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell (whose husband, Dr. Tommy Mitchell, died a few months previously) is definitely worth considering. Please read "COVID-19 and God".

When the World Ends

A drawback to our instant information age is exposure to fake news and bad news, and often a combination of both. There is anthropogenic climate change, fears that the Apophis asteroid will destroy the world in 2029, exaggerated reports of an asteroid that missed us by a long shot, the Wuhan Coronavirus, earthquakes, and more. Guess we don't need to worry about global warming.

Credit: Pixabay / Gerd Altmann

People have wondered many times if the world was ending. I lived through the Cold War, and to listen to many songs, they were about fear of nuclear annihilation. 

In addition to concerns about nature, add the way people are acting: atheists are becoming increasingly obstreperous,

people using political leverage to seize power, the rise in the murder of unborn children, random acts of violence, fanatical evolutionism — it is no surprise that people are wondering if the world is coming to an end very soon. Especially Bible-believing Christians. 

Yes, the world will end. Despite feral environmentalists, we are not our own saviors because the Creator has a plan. (Once again, don't get me wrong, I am not saying we can trash the planet; we are God's stewards and must treat it with care.) One good thing about doomsday scares and the wickedness of others is that it prompts us to not only look at end times prophecy, but to see if we are ready for the Lord's return. (Never mind those date-setting grifters.) More than that, to make certain we are ready to meet him face-to-face, because it will happen one way or another. As for the end of the world, I agree with the advice to plan for the long haul, but also be ready for his return to happen at any moment.

A global pandemic, natural disasters, global warming, immorality, persecution – what is happening to Planet Earth?

Any event that knocks society off its equilibrium is bound to raise the anxiety level of people. Some Christians are especially prone to wonder if the words of Jesus about the end times are starting to be fulfilled:

I hope you will read the rest by clicking on "Should We Be Worrying About the End Times?"

Drops in the Ocean?

A common way of insulting God is to attack his work (including dysteleology, the idea that things like the human eye were poorly created), and to attack created things. Attacking Christians and creationists is like catnip to atheists and anti-creationists, who deny that we are created in God's image. One mystical belief involves the water drop concept.

Credit: Pexels / Sourav Mishra

Similar to the self-refuting Omega Point philosophy, this modified Eastern idea is that drops of water converge and lose their identities in the ocean. It came from Hinduism, which uses evolutionary concepts. However, we know from the Creator God's Written Word that he not only calls each star by name (Psalm 147:4), and he knows his people (John 10:28). Even drops of water have individual characteristics, and we are worth far more than drops; the Creator of the universe took the form of a man, was crucified, died, buried, and bodily arose. For you and for me.

When skeptics criticize biblical teachings, they often attack God’s character. One tactic is to malign the Creator by devaluing the people He created. When someone denies the precious worth of human life, that denial clashes with the Bible’s teachings about how God made and cares for humans.

For example, an astrophysics professor who advocates New Age mysticism once used Hinduism’s drop-of-water analogy to imply that an individual’s unique value is an illusion, or ephemeral at best. This portrays our earthly journeys as emptying into a common “one size fits all” dead-end. What weird and pessimistic theory was he promoting?

You can finish reading by clicking on "Water Drops and Human Value".

Atheists, Psychology, and the Meaning of Life

In an earlier post, we saw that people try to find meaning in life through many ways, but these all fail in the end. Although atheists suppress the truth of God, they know deep down that God does exist. Some reject the bleak arbitrary assertions by people like C. Richard Dawkins. One atheistic psychologist attempts to make sense of life while still denying the truth.

Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net / Ambro

Secular psychology is essentially based on Darwinism, so it is no surprise that people cannot find true meaning through it. They deny that we were made by and for God. Naturalists are self refuting by attempting to use logic and science, but those are impossible without God; if God did not exist, neither would logic. An atheist (especially a secular psychologist) is left with an incoherent worldview based on speculations, arbitrary assertions, faulty reasoning, and so on. Only the biblical worldview has the necessary preconditions of human experience, and it begins in Genesis.

An atheist serves up a way to get meaning out of the dark oblivion of materialism. This should be interesting.

One obvious advantage of religion is an answer to the meaning of life. Many religions make one up that is unworthy of trust, but at least they can offer one. What’s an atheist to do? Psychologist Steve Taylor of Leeds University is painfully aware of the vanity in Darwinism. He opens his article on The Conversation with this line:

You can find out the rest by clicking on "Can Atheists Answer the Meaning of Life?" No, the music video below is by someone else with the same name as the atheist psychologist.

Responding to Biblical Authority

There is something I think I need to say, but it may seem like self-praise. When I write posts and articles, I pray for several things, including that they glorify God, edify the saints, and encourage them to stand on the authority of God's Word. The authority of the Bible is overlooked or waved off far too often.

Credit: Unsplash / Ben White

The Bible is the foundation for the Christian's life and thinking in every area. It is unchanging. Cultural whims, governments, trends, opinions, and more come and go. Sometimes these change quite rapidly. Atheists have no consistent standard for logic and morality, but God's Word is our ultimate source for those things. If you study on it a mite, you'll see that Genesis is the source of all major Christian doctrines, and that is what secularists are attacking the most — beginning with creation. It is imperative that we respond properly to biblical authority.

The linked article is written in an interview format where the author responds to several written questions on the subject. I hope you'll take the time to read it (my estimate is about six minutes) or download the audio. For your edification, kindly click on "The Battle for Biblical Authority".

Frequent Mistakes about Creation

Anti-creationists frequently misrepresent what we teach and believe as a matter of course, but there are simple errors that can be corrected with a little bit of investigation. Unfortunately, some of it is our own fault because professing creationists have wrong notions that they pass around.

Credit: RGBStock / Colin Bamford

It is a great time to be a biblical creationists. We have the inerrant Word of God and the scientific evidence to verify recent creation. There are numerous sites and ministries that supply us with theological and scientific information, so there is no real excuse for being uninformed on basic things. It's not difficult, and can be interesting as well as fun. Here are some basic corrections to errors.

Have you ever heard that men have fewer ribs than women? Or that it never rained before the flood? What about the increasingly popular argument that the earth is flat? These and many other common misconceptions are often based on inaccurate historical data, unsupported scientific models, misinterpretation of Scripture, or mere speculation.

As Christians, we must be careful to discern sound ideas from falsehoods so that we may honor Christ and proclaim the truth of his Word—starting in Genesis. Whether responding to a misguided fellow believer or a hostile skeptic, we must address these misconceptions by using good judgment and appealing to reason, to observable science, and ultimately to God’s Word.

You can finish reading the article or download the excerpt at "Common Misconceptions About Creation".

Effective Use of Social Media and Technology

We are closing in on Question Evolution Day, and even though the information in the article linked below applies to that event, it is important for any other time. Technology has many important benefits, but it also has a dark side by its very nature. We must have the right priorities and balance.

Background image credit: Pixabay / Iván Tamás

We are receiving all sorts of information pretty much constantly. Unfortunately, it is dominated by harmful messages and untruthful material about anthropogenic climate change, evolution, adulterous relationships. false views of the Bible, and more. However, we also have a voice and opportunities to make an impact. Smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and other computers connect us to the world. I have people I care about that I've never met and an online creation science ministry. Much of my preparation comes from technology, including podcasts, sermons (I don't want to get "tunnel vision" and not learn other areas of the Christian life), sending articles to my ebook reader, converting articles to MP3s by using text-to-speech, and the ubiquitous email. Technology is there, we can use it effectively.

We have the tools, often literally in our hands. We can use them to take a stand for Question Evolution Day (even at the most basic level, sharing and posting items on social media with a #questionevolutionday hashtag) and we can empower ourselves with good information. There are several biblical creation science sites to help you learn about how evolution is incompatible with the gospel message, the proper use of theology, sciences that refute biological and other kinds of evolution, and more.

In this digital age, one of the quickest, cheapest and most effective ways to reach people is through social media. In order to make sure that we fulfil our mandate to “always be ready to give an answer” (1 Peter 3:15) and to “destroy arguments … raised against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5) we must see to it that the millions of people who form their opinions with information from the digital world have at least some exposure to content that will affirm and uphold a biblical worldview. In many ways, reaching a culture that inhabits the digital world, by providing biblical creation resources through this world, is a front-line battleground for passing on the knowledge of God to the next generation. We take the message to where the people who need it are found.

To read the article in its entirety, click on "Smart faith in a digital age".