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Showing posts from 2015

The Unpardonable Sin

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Sadly, there are some people who are afraid that they have committed the unpardonable sin and are beyond redemption for eternity. While it is good to be concerned, the unpardonable sin is not something that can be committed casually. Think about it. God is not capricious and willing to condemn someone for such a serious sin committed in ignorance or by something said in haste. ESV Bible text added to Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees by James Tissot / Public Domain There are several views on this sin. One is that it cannot be committed today, it was a "game over" for the Pharisees who had been condemning him and had finally crossed the line because of the constant hardening of their hearts. Another view is that this sin is the rejection of salvation, where someone dies without Christ. (In the latter case, the end result is the same.) Even some Christians are afraid that they fouled up somehow, and take the unbiblical view of losing their sa

Bible References and Mobile Devices

The other day, I happened to visit one of my sites that uses numerous Scripture references with my cell phone. (Some of the articles here can be chock full o' references.) People with mobile devices will see something like Luke 6:22 as plain text, and may be asking, "What does expect us to do, go and look up all of those references?" No, not really. It takes a passel of time for me to give links to many references in, say, Bible Gateway or something. And that's after looking things up myself in the first place. ( This article I did for Genesis Week has a passel of Bible verses embedded in the text, and putting those in took almost as long as writing the article itself.) I have something installed called Reftagger  that works with computers that use mouse pointers — just hover over the link, and the verse pops up, as well as a link to read more if it's a long passage. Unfortunately, mobile devices are left out of it. They have to be — no pointers to hover with

Clarifications on Calvinism

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This is a clarification of some remarks I've made about Calvinism and Reformed theology. Some of those may prompt people to think that I'm an enemy of Calvinism. Not hardly! So, if you're an angry Arm i nian (read closely, I'm not talking about Arm e nians ), don't be looking to recruit me in a crusade against Calvinism — I get good teachings from both camps. There are Calvinists who are arrogant, and meaner than a sack full of rattlesnakes, acting like Mormons who are trying to convert Christians from Arminianism or something else to the "doctrines of grace". I don't cotton to being told I'm an immature Christian ("Once you grow in the faith, you'll understand") or even that I'm unsaved because I don't accept all of their views. Someone who acts like that is full of pride, despite the false modesty of saying that "the elect were chosen by God before the foundations of the world". For hav

Dealing with Important Things

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen For quite a long spell, it's been interesting to me how things come together, and I think I see a divine hand in it. Maybe I'll read articles and hear podcasts on the same topic in a short space of time without planning on it. There have been times when I've been writing an article and a podcast comes along with valuable material that parallels what I'm in the process of doing. It happened again. A very important truth that I've learned is balance.  Ever hear the expression, "Truth out of balance"? That's when truth becomes excessive and harmful because it's misused. (I reckon that we all get a bit unbalanced when we get too agitated about something we've learned, so we study up on it, then maybe talk a mite too much about the subject.) People need to get a proper perspective on the importance and priority of some things. Seriously. I've been going on about how some Christians get judgmental with each other,

What If I Told You...?

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This is a kind of bridge article for " Christians, Heroes, and Hurt " and another that was previously unwritten, " Dealing with Important Things ". In the previous article, I was discussing how some Christians get the bit in their teeth when people they look up to have a downfall. Sometimes, we find out that our heroes are crooks, and other times, we find out that people have other failings. In either case, we find out that people are human after all. Sure, we know in our minds that everyone has failings, but it seems that we tend to get a mite upset anyway when they show their frailties. The idea for this one came to me because I had a headache when I was writing the last one. What if I told you (or word got around): I took an extended break and used the work computer for personal research, and got in trouble Some of my girlfriends are jealous of my wife I was harsh with an atheist attacker I get spells of anxiety and de

Christians, Heroes, and Hurt

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Edited 11-22-2015 Despite what many unbelievers seem to think, when people become Christians, they don't have to surrender their humanity. Yes, we make mistakes and have occasional sins in our lives (Heb 12:1, 1 John 1:9), and do many things that everyone else does. That is, we have needs, desires, jobs, eat, drink, breathe, sleep, do some mattress dancing with our spouses, have hobbies, hang around with friends, and so on. We also have people we look up to. Image credit: Pixabay / Unsplash Who are the Heroes? Anyone can be elevated to hero status among Christians, just like our counterparts in the world. W hen it someone of "our own kind", people tend to get excited about someone of their own ethnic, religio n , sex, age, country, political views, and so on. Some people that Christians elevate include: A sports star is very public about his or her faith Musicians that mention Jesus favorably, or even make claims to be Christians Tha

"God Told Me": Why Unbelievers Hate Christians Part 3

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen For those who want the background on this unintended series, I discussed the origins of "Why Unbelievers Hate Christians" in " Making Money From End of the World Fears ", the reading of which is optional but helpful. You may want to see " Crooks: Why Unbelievers Hate Christians Part 2 " as well. Once again, I was listening to a podcast at work and chomping at the bit to gallop home and write an article on it.  Christians have enough problems dealing with critics and mockers without some of us giving them reasons to do so. I could write articles on nutty people who profess the name of Christ as a career (as well as false teachers), but there are others who do it far better than I do. Unpopular Opinion Puffin's opinion is unpopular among some people. Still, this one bothers me, and I hope it can be an object lesson. Opal Covey is running for mayor of Toledo, Ohio. She's run four times before, and lost every time.

Crooks: Why Unbelievers Hate Christians Part 2

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Edited October 26,2015 I discussed the origins of "Why Unbelievers Hate Christians" in " Making Money From End of the World Fears ", the reading of which is optional but helpful. The essence of this unintended series is that Christians are hated from the get-go because we are followers of Jesus, and because the cross of Christ is offensive itself. Problem is, there are professing Christians who stupidly give the world reasons to ridicule us. Yes, we have crooks in our midst. Not only are there false teachers giving a feel good message without repentance and without the blood of Christ, but there are con men and women who are using the gospel for money (1 Peter 5:2, Titus 1:11). Jimmy Swaggart was caught with a prostitute (was disciplined by the Assemblies of God, rejected it, and went independent ), televangelist Jim Bakker was nailed for fraud  and a sex scandal ( now he's back , people don't seem to learn), various preacher

The Dirt on Theistic Evolution 2: Mabbul

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen In the original article, " The Dirt on Theistic Evolution ", which I recommend reading before continuing with this one, I took theistic evolutionists to task for their inconsistencies on their claims to believe the Bible and their magisterial views of science. The creation account was the primary emphasis in that article. This time, I'm focusing on the Genesis Flood account. The Deluge / John Martin, 1834 Old-Earth creationists, theistic evolutionists, Hugh Ross, and other owlhoots who want to compromise on what Scripture plainly says for the sake of "science" need to find some way to ignore the account of the Genesis Flood. They must wedge long ages into the Word of God so it appears to agree with current atheistic interpretations of scientific evidence. Biblical creationists uphold the authority of Scripture, and tend to be skeptical of old Earth science — especially when such science is full of bad logic and atheistic presu

You're Bad, So I Can Do What I Want!

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen In the beginning was blamestorming. After eating the forbidden fruit, Eve some to Adam, and he blamed both Eve and God for his choice (Gen. 1:12). When confronted, Eve blamed Satan for her choice, and made the excuse that she was deceived (Gen. 3:13). Seems to be human nature to blame others for our own bad decisions, and to seek other ways of justifying our actions. This can be seen throughout history through today. "Unpopular Opinion Puffin" has an unpopular opinion. Atheists will use an argument from outrage, including cherry-picking things in the Bible that they don't like to justify denying God's existence and authority. Likewise, they will use Bible texts that they don't understand to make excuses for rebelling against God, such as "How can a loving God..." Well, how can an honest person not bother to do some homework on the questions? One way I've seen the "logic" of unbelievers seems to work this wa

The Dirt on Theistic Evolution

By Cowboy Bob Sorensen A group of scientists got together and decided that man had come a long way and no longer needed God. They elected one scientist to go and tell God that he was now irrelevant. The scientist walked up to God the Son and said, “God, we've decided that we no longer need you. We’re can clone people and do many other things that seem miraculous, so why don’t you just go on and leave us alone?” God listened patiently and then said, “All right, how about if we have a man-making contest?” The scientist said, “Okay, we can do that!” “But,” God added, “we’re going to do this just like I did when I made Adam.” The scientist said, “You got it”, and bent down and grabbed a handful of dirt. Jesus (Col. 1:16) looked at him and said, “Not so fast. Go get your own dirt.” morgueFile / Slartibartfast Aside from the arrogance of man thinking that God is not needed because we've evolved beyond the need for him (or that he does not exist at all, Rom. 1:18