Biblical Creation and Evangelism

In U.S. Supreme Court hearings, Kaiju — I mean, Ketanji — Brown Jackson claimed to be unable to answer "What is a woman" because she is not a biologist. Well, I am not a biologist, medical doctor, or whatever, and I know a woman when I encounter one. But it is becoming more difficult nowadays. While atheists and evolutionists like to call those of us who deny and refute fish-to-fool evolution as "science deniers", those who say that people can have their genders changed are science deniers. They cannot transform chromosomes, skeletal structure, and many other features. Woman on dock, Unsplash / Drew Colins Self-styled "progressives" are blurring the lines, and greedy doctors are going along with them. Such things were unthinkable just a few years ago, and someone who had bodily mutilation surgery and was given hormones in an effort to change sexes made normal people uncomfortable. There was never any need to define man and woman . The world is sliding down...

When people say that something is spiritual, the connotation is of wispy and ghostlike things, or simply the unseen. Since we are spiritual beings that live in bodies, that concept is not quite right. There is also the spiritual realm  that theologians and others have discussed for many years. Where is that? Despite being materialists, secularists know that there is more to people than just being meat machines. They have tried to find the soul and the origin of consciousness , but were doomed to failure from the get-go because of their presuppositions. UFO at night via PxHere People are beginning to realize what some Christians have been saying for a long time: UFOs (well, now the term is Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) are of a spiritual, not physical, nature. Spirit beings such as angels and demons can pop into our realm from the one in which they live and show themselves — or be active and unseen. Some of us contend that UFOs and space aliens are demonic. It has been suggested t...

A fairly common remark that biblical creationists hear is something like, "Creation, evolution, the age of the earth — all those things are side issues. We need to focus on preaching the gospel." I had one of these a spell back, only this one was amazingly sanctimonious. Unfortunately, because so many people misrepresent us, we need to frequently point out that believing in a young earth and rejecting evolution are not salvific (required for salvation) issues. This does not mean that they are unimportant or even irrelevant! Creation Tiles, Unsplash / Alex Shute One simple reason to refute evolution as well as affirm creation and the young earth is that those things have been stumbling blocks to many people. Also, it should make an impression on Christians how the church fathers as well as the way people in the Bible viewed the importance of creation. Irenaeus (c. 130–202 AD), a significant leader in the early Christian Church, wrote Against Heresies to counter wrong ideas in...

Both misotheists and liberal scholars who profess to be Christians saddle up and ride together, attacking the Genesis narrative. (As I have said before, if Christians receive support and applause from enemies of God, that should prompt self-examination about their faith .) In this case, the hard sky. These tinhorns figure that the ancient Hebrews had a view of the universe similar to their pagan neighbors, and it was apparent in the Bible. A many things are implicit in this accusation. It can also be considered  poisoning the well . Early Hebrew Conception of the Universe (misrepresentation, modified), WikiComm / Tom-L ( CC BY 4.0 ) Obviously, materialists reject the inerrancy and authority of the Bible, but so do many liberal Christians. One "error" is the sky vault dome shell thing. If the Hebrews had hairbrained views of cosmology, why should we believe Genesis when it says "windows of heaven?" For that matter, the Lexham English Bible refers to a solid dome . B...

The other day, I was woolgathering about a job I had. We could call the company president by his first name. He was walking by and I called out to him. He stopped and turned toward me, ready to listen. Something similar happened with a person of importance just the other day, too. They condescended to give time and attention to a nobody. Scoffers will challenge Christians, asking that since the universe is so huge, why would God bother with us down here? For centuries, humans have been learning about the vastness of the universe. While scoffers make the big universe a challenge, believers also wonder — for different reasons. Webb’s 1st Deep Field, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI , modified at PhotoFunia (usage does imply endorsement of contents by anyone anywhere One view involves presuppositions of atheistic naturalism. I'll allow that the universe is incomprehensibly large, so scoffers cannot accept that if the Creator exists, we're in a special place. Contrary to this is the biblical...

There are some people who call themselves "Red Letter Christians" because they think that only the words of Jesus in red letters are important. So much for spiritual growth! Such a view is not only silly, but self-refuting simply because Jesus referred to other parts of Scripture. A slightly more reasonable but still erroneous idea is that the Old Testament was fulfilled and we are living under the New Testament (Covenant), so it is not needed. As with the Red Letter view, this one shows ignorance and biblical illiteracy — a problem that too many professing Christians have in some form. Genesis 2:24-25, Pexels / Brett Jordan Related to all this is how some people mythologize and allegorize the first eleven chapters of Genesis. This is often done by people who want to believe in long ages and various compromising positions. If they would actually read the Bible without liberal spectacles to color their perceptions, they might see that these areas are treated as history through...

People have wanted immortality for a very long time and pondered various ways to make it happen. Many believe they will live on in some way through their progeny. Some have tried to use the occult to attain immortality. With the rise of technology, science fiction writers were inspired to write stories of brains being kept alive, consciousness transferring to another person or into a machine — the 1818  Frankenstein  novel certainly inspired many of these ideas as well. Some folks believe c ryonics  (or cryogenics ) has definite possibilities. Cryonics, Pixabay / harmonynotapathy No, despite urban legends, Walt Disney was not frozen. Quite the opposite , in fact. There are many books and movies that involve people being frozen and reanimated at a future date. Some have people standing in chambers, or laying in stasis pods or something similar. There are businesses that will freeze people shortly after they are legally dead in hopes that in the future, whatever killed them...

Although unplanned, this post fits well with " Old-Earth Inerrancy Contradicts Itself ." There are quite a few professing Christians that claim to believe the Bible, but upon further inquiry, we see that they are riding the owlhoot trail — they rejected the authority of Scripture. One way to distort the truth is to blur it by putting secular science views in the magisterial position. Some go as far as to say that Jesus was wrong about creation because he did not have the enlightenment of modern science. It is easy for a Bible-believing Christian to wonder if those folks, who are married up with an old earth view, have bothered to think things through. Such a position cascades throughout all of Scripture. Some say Jesus was wrong, as were Peter, Paul, and others. This negates the Bible's trustworthiness, and also denies the Deity of God the Son, who is the Creator. Salvation become impossible! Recently, I was involved in an exchange with someone whose thinking on the age ...

The idea that the waters above or firmament in Genesis 1:6-8 indicated a canopy was used by biblical creationists a few decades ago, but knowledgeable creationists have mostly abandoned it [ 1 ]. The idea was promoted by Dr. Henry M. Morris, and the Institute for Creation Research still has some hints about it [ 2 ], but they were seeing problems with it in the late 1990s [ 3 ] and have pretty much put it out to pasture today [ 4 ]. I taught that idea myself. Part of its appeal is its explanatory power. RGBStock /  Sias van Schalkwyk One of the challenges of creation science material (and scientific material in generally, if you study on it) is that things change — often quickly. Theories and conjectures are modified and even rejected, but someone may own a book or video from a few years earlier that influenced their thinking. Perhaps an underinformed lecturer is spreading outdated information. So, we have to cowboy up, get informed, and make changes when necessary. Theories come...

Those nice people who come to your door attempting to convert you to the One True Church™ are usually cultists, and the two most likely groups are Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. Some people boast about slamming the door in their faces, but that is a lousy Christian witness. Also, they put most professing Christians to shame because they are actively sharing their false beliefs while so many of us wallow in our complacency. Sadly, both groups are working toward earning their salvation. Desert View Watchtower, Flickr / Grand Canyon National Park  ( CC BY 2.0 ) Jehovah's Witnesses reject evolution, but are also not friendly toward biblical creation. This is most likely due to isolation efforts of this and other cults; your JW coworker will not be attending a social club or (shudder) your church with you. Their rejection of voting, standing for a National Anthem, refusal to participate in Christmas and birthdays, and several other isolating peculiarities are famous. JWs are adama...

Christians and Jews generally affirm that God is independent, the maker of all things, and needs nothing. It should be obvious. Although these facts are made clear throughout Scripture, there is a view known as process theism  that rejects biblical truth in this area. Everything depends on God for its existence (Heb. 1:3), but process theism rejects this. Somehow, God depends on some other entity, and he is evolving with creation. With this comes a rejection of creation out of nothing —  creatio ex nihilo . Dwarf Starburst Galaxy Henize 2-10 credit: NASA , ESA et. al. (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) I'll allow that ex nihilo  creation is not stated explicitly in the Bible, but it is clearly found by reasoning from Scripture. The denial of creatio ex nihilo  is tied in with greater problems in process theism. (Adding to the confusion is that there is no specific creed for process theism, so one may encounter those who believe in certain aspects but...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  This post is likely to offend and enrage people, but I have to tell the truth. Sure, people say that as an excuse for being unkind, but keep reading to discern my motives. It is a sad fact that many professing Christians are effectively non-Christian heretics , accepting things that are contrary to the Bible that they claim to believe. The Word of God is the source of life, but many are unaware of its contents. They will not even read it. Image credit:  pazham  at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Take six minutes and read (or listen to the audio by my favorite reader), " The Scandal of Biblical Illiteracy " and then come back. A bane of social media is when people will simply ignore the content and make uninformed comments, and the linked material often contradicts their opinions. (This is one reason I seldom make my titles into questions such as, "Was Adam the First Man?") I've mentioned before that when I asked someone if they read the article on ...

Many of us engaging in apologetics are confronted with people who say they want to ask questions, but instead, they want to slap leather with us. It seems that they want to play the "Gotcha!" game, and if an apologist is unable to answer a question or objection, they can further justify their rebellion against God. (Embarrassing the apologist is a bonus.) A favored tactic of scoffers is to turn a discussion into a shootout, rapidly firing their statements and not allowing a response.  Cropped from Pixnio / Amanda Mills In the Nye-Ham debate, Bill Nye exploited the debate rules and indulged in a related tactic known as elephant hurling , where Ken Ham was unable to respond in the allotted time. Something I've pointed out many times is that misotheists and other evolutionists often rely on intimidation. While 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to sanctify Christ and be ready to answer, there is no command about getting pummeled. Also, there comes a time when we discern that we're b...

Edited 5 December 2021  To be a Bible-believing Christian (as opposed to a "cultural" or in name only) is not easy. It may seem tempting to put our beliefs out to pasture and embrace the laziness of atheism. We can sit back and say, "I lack belief", and demand proof for everything a Christian says, only to reject anything that does not meet our subjective criteria. Very lazy. Very selfish. But for a Christian, it means denying our very nature — and denying what we know is true. Unknown source image derivative via FotoSketcher and PhotoFunia A Christian is born from above (1 Peter 1:3, John 3:3) and a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). To act in such a way means denying our very nature and rejecting what we know is true. Atheistic philosophies and excuse-making are ongoing. Just watch when a Christian wants to share evidence and have a discussion: atheists keep dodging and changing the subject, as well as attacking God and people. It's also a safe  religion as well as ...

It is common to take a stroll in a wooded area and encounter critters, which often scamper away. Others freeze in place as a defense, or possibly doing threat assessment. They usually want to get away from us. Animals have fear of us and of each other.  Our apartment is on the second floor of three. Lots of trees in the area. Squirrels show no fear in leaping up onto our porch, but when we go outside, they run off.  Wikimedia Commons /  Jineshpanchal  ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) One was on the porch when a big hawk landed on the railing. That's never happened before. The rodent froze in terror and just laid there. The hawk just looked at it, probably not hungry at the moment. If we had gone to the sliding glass door, I lack belief either would have stayed put. Even domestic animals show fear of humans, including pets around strangers. Animals that have gone feral or never knew human contact are in touch with their inner wildness. It takes a mighty long time to make friends with...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  First, a note for anyone who is curious. The usual format: introduction with some of my thoughts plus links for useful information, excerpts of featured articles, then links to keep reading. I put my name on it and call it an article when I have more to say. This one will be different. I will reference older articles, then add some thoughts that I hope will prove helpful. There is more following the excerpt and link. So, does anyone remember Ken Keathley? Medal image manufactured at Custom Medal Maker Several years ago, Ken Keathley renounced young earth creationism to accept an old earth view. Apparently, he was disappointed by people in the young earth community. No kidding? Taking Friendly Fire This is where I'm going to open up and get personal with both of my readers. Ken Keathley is not the only one who has been disappointed, and in addition, I've been deeply hurt by the young earth community. Things I have posted on social(ist) media have been ...

Several months ago, I was in a hair cuttery and we were making conversation. It came up that I write creation science material, and the lady said she had never heard of it. Her nearby co-worker had a modicum of knowledge, but that was it. Living in a culture that is saturated with atheistic materialism, that is not a surprise. Freeimages / Brano Hudak People are in spiritual darkness (John 3:19), are blinded to the light of the truth (2 Cor. 4:4), and cannot understand spiritual matters of any depth (1 Cor. 2:14). While it is not up to us to have brilliant arguments and save the lost (1 Cor. 2:1-5), we are to sanctify Christ as Lord and be ready to present the gospel (1 Peter 3:15). The Holy Spirit does the drawing, convicting, and saving. Evolution is foundational to atheism (which in turn are foundational to naturalistic philosophies, secular humanism, and so on) as well as some other non-Christian religions. Some people, like the barber mentioned above, are ignorant of the truth. Af...

It is easy to find people who claim to be tolerant and open-minded, saying that they defend the rights of others to hold contrary views. It may seem noble, but when the time comes to ante up, it becomes obvious that it was empty bluster.  This is readily apparent when it comes to expressions of biblical truth. Credit: Pixabay /  Angela Yuriko Smith It's interesting to watch a conflict of trends. Charles Darwin was racist and sexist, and his worldview not only permeated his version of evolution, but influenced is followers through the years. Cancel culture is giving him a pass . Obviously, atheistic naturalism trumps outrage at his views. Rational people can examine the details and learn from history instead of trying to erase it. The free expression of our Christian worldview is being reduced at an increasing rate in Western cultures, and there are people (mainly misotheists) who do not even want us to have  our views. Indeed, they dehumanize creationists because we upho...

There are people who promote compromise views against creation and in favor of an old earth. However, the מַבּוּל ( mabbul , the Hebrew word that is used only for the Genesis Flood) was very destructive and caused what is seen in geology today. Secularists and churchian compromisers adhere to uniformitarianism (slow and gradual processes), so they cannot have the global deluge in their paradigms. Credit: Wikimedia Commons /  Cimerondagert  ( CC by-SA 4.0 ) The Bible makes it clear that the earth was created in six literal days, and that the Flood was global, not local. Those who ridicule biblical creationists have problems with biblical authority, and since we know believers by their fruit, they need to examine themselves to see if they are indeed in the faith. That's right, I said it!  Atheists, Deists, and old earthers ride for the same brand. Why is that? Mayhaps they prefer the praise of men over the praise of God. It may come as a shock, but the global Flood had...