Biblical Creation and Evangelism

There are different kinds of soil which are suited to different kinds of plants. A person does not simply dig it up from the yard and expect a plant to flourish, it may be a persnickety plant. Soil has unique compositions that can be detected with special analysis. People who watch detective shows set in modern times have probably seen lab work where certain soil on shoes, tires, carpet, or whatever is found. Forensic science is historical science (so is the study of origins), using what is observed in the present in an effort to reconstruct the past. Planting in the soil, Freeimages / Dieter Joel Jagnow In Mark 4:13, Jesus indicates that the Parable of the Sower is important to understanding all of the parables. It does not matter what kind of seed is sown, nor is the good soil identified. Of the four kinds of soil, one was right for the seed. On a spiritual level, professing Christians may seem enthusiastic and pretend to care about important things related to the Kingdom of God, but...

Something that has puzzled readers of the sixth chapter of Genesis is the use of the term gopher wood. Footnotes often say that the "Hebrew term is uncertain", and Bible translations differ — "I know what that means, Cowboy Bob! Noah commanded his sons, "Shem, you gopher water, Ham can gopher more pitch, and Japheth can gopher wood". No. Anyway, Bible translations differ. Many use the term gopher wood, and using the translations in my copy of theWord Bible Software , Coverdale (1535,) Geneva (1587), and Tyndale (1526) translated it as pine. The NIV translates it as cypress and adds the "uncertain" reference. The KJV, NKJV, NASB, HCSB, ESV, WEB all render the term as gopher wood. Credit: Wikimedia Commons /  Cimerondagert  ( CC by-SA 4.0 ) An excellent possibility is that God was not specifying a particular tree that has disappeared since then, but that Noah was to use hardwood. Getting into the Hebrew language, we see the root word tha...