Biblical Creation and Evangelism

In these formerly United States, the Thanksgiving holiday is upon us. People hitch the horses to the prairie schooners and travel to meet up with friends and family for a grand feast, often to watch The Big Game and a parade on television. These have been traditions for many years. Some folks do not have friends and family that they can visit, none will not be coming over. Their traditions may not involve turkey and all those things. (Personally, I think you can make your own traditions and feast on algae soup if you want.) There is one thing that young or old, rich or poor should know. Thanksgiving turkey, cropped, Pexels / Monstera Think for a moment. Think about the word thanksgiving . The giving of thanks. To whom do you give it? Christians know right full well that we are giving thanks to our Creator and Redeemer, but secularists have tried to deny or redefine what this holiday is about. Don't let those sidewinders bushwhack the truth. Indeed, make a point of giving thanks and

When reading the beginning of the Bible, people who actually believe it reach Genesis 2:7 and see where God made Adam from the dust of the ground. Okay, that is interesting, another miracle during the week that was full of them. Then they move on without further thought. Same with me. There are some owlhoots  that claim to believe the Bible but somehow reject what it plainly says. These types generally take a liberal view of Scripture, and that most likely includes evolution — which is taught in seminaries. Some views merging Adam and evolution are...truly bizarre. Hands with dirt, Unsplash / Gabriel Jimenez (cropped) Sometimes Adam and Eve are relegated to mythology or symbolism, but there are people who don't want to so blatantly dismiss parts of the Bible, though they still reject its authority. These will force in something resembling magic where Adam was some evolving creature, then God made it fully human. Well, if someone truly believes the Bible, the wording in the account

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

For Bible-believing Christians, there are times when we become keenly aware of the blessings of God and a sense of awe overtakes us. We can respond in praise and thanksgiving for what we have, and for the majesty of creation. If you study on it, we could even thank God for the laws of nature that allow us to appreciate things. (In my view, the universe has been damaged by the Fall of Man and the Flood, but God made it so that even after all that, we perceive amazing beauty.) Romans 8:20-21 tells us that all creation has been subjected to futility. Unsplash / Joshua Earle Psalmists poetically say that all creation praises God and sings. Such language is probably based on the coming release from futility after the return of Jesus at the consummation of all things at the end. Animals generally don't express a sense of awe. Our alleged evolutionary cousins just go about their ape business. No, awe is unique to humans and helps us relate to our Father. Materialists may have a sense of a

Anti-Christians have said that there is a war between science and religion, but these types of people are not exactly skilled at deep thinking. Science and religion are on good terms but secularists pretend that they are at odds. Logic, science, and more have been (and still are) used by Christians to advance science. We see origins, a historical science , at odds with biblical Christianity. It is not because one side has better facts. Instead, it is a question of people interpreting facts according to their worldviews. One side honors God the Creator and Redeemer, the other side is essentially pagan. Skye, Unsplash / Robert Lukeman Paganism is not a single religion, and has many facets. A pagan can be a witch in a coven, a New Age crystal enthusiast, or someone who has a vague "spirituality." I reckon many people are pagans and don't even realize it. Professing atheists claim that they do not have a religion because they do not worship a deity. Such a claim helps reveal

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

Something very important and practical in many areas of life that biblical creationists encourage people to do is use discernment and critical thinking. We cannot accept someone's say-so because we like them, they profess to be authorities, are creationists, are Christians, or other reasons. While the leadership in the secular science industry has an atheistic agenda, what about Christians and creationists? There are indeed wolves among us (such as theistic evolutionists who identify as "evolutionary creationists"), sometimes mistakes are made. We have to watch for deceit as well as errors. Feathered dinosaur, Flickr / Aaron Gustafson ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ), modified at PhotoFunny In many instances, trust has to be earned. Do you trust me? If so, why? It could be that you like my writing style, accept my Statement of Faith , agree with much of the content, approve of linked sources, or whatever. Perhaps you apply those criteria other authors. But you must still use discernment

Dinosaurs and the Bible are subjects frequently cussed and discussed regarding biblical creation science views, but because of secular propaganda, they are usually rejected out of hand by many people. Declarations of how dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years are in all sorts of media. These include science documentaries, children's programming, news reports, science journals (as expected), advertisements and more. Christians are often swayed by evolutionary material and dismiss what God's Word says without thinking. Dinosaur image from RGBstock /  Adrian van Leen Of course, a scoffer might say, "Hey, there was no death in the beginning. What if an Ultrasaurus didn't watch where it was going and stomped on Adam? Haw, haw, haw!" If someone like that is going to use our presuppositions to register a complaint, they should be consistent and use what the Bible actually teaches. Some rational thought would also be helpful. Even so, an honest inquirer may won

Much of our knowledge about the first woman seems to come from tradition, with a little Genesis mixed in. The Bible does not tell us much about Eve, but we can deduce some things from Scripture. We can also learn a bit from science. Things we may have assumed turn out to be incorrect in the light of further examination. Some may not matter at all (such as my unsupportable opinion that both Adam and Eve were both exceptionally attractive). Most of these opinions and traditions are not worth fighting over. Poster of Eve in frame, from James Tissot (ca. 1902), modified at PhotoFunia Tradition has it that the forbidden fruit was an apple, but that has nothing to do with the Bible. Also, she gave it to Adam, who was with her (Gen. 3:6). Was he entertained? When people create artwork, they do so from their own perspectives and cultures. Famous European paintings portray Adam and Eve as white people, so those undoubtedly influenced our opinions years later. But the first parents were not whi

It is a distressing fact that many professing Christians are unaware of  what  and why  they believe, and many mix in opinions and beliefs, getting results that are...truly bizarre. Others have accepted atheistic naturalism science opinions that Earth must  be billions of years old. People will believe whatever they want. For Christians, our ultimate standard of truth and authority is the Word of God. Over at Piltdown Superman , I link to numerous creation science articles that show how the science for deep time is fundamentally flawed. Such resources are shared by many folks online, but there are still professing Christians who try to shoehorn long ages into the Bible so they can have the best of both worlds. It's not just regarding origins and the age of the earth, either. People tamper with what the Bible says in order to justify things that it clearly condemns. They often take pride in that. Biblical creationists uphold the authority and inerrancy of Scripture. We also equip pe

The inerrancy of Scripture in the original autographs (manuscripts) is a doctrine that many professing Christians claim to believe, but we also acknowledge that there a a few copyist and other minor errors that have crept in over the centuries. Also, it is obvious that not all translations agree with each other. There are public statements on doctrine and inerrancy that have been signed by famous Christian people, and one is something that I would sign myself. However, the wording about Genesis and creation is such that theistic evolutionists, old earthers, and biblical creationists find it acceptable. Old Bible with Genesis, RGBStock /  Billy Frank Alexander Something this child has long believed should be an alarm bell is when they say they believe the Bible is without error, then turn around and say that it doesn't mean what it says on the very first page. They also have to reject evidence for recent creation, tap dance around numerous passages of Scripture (especially those th

A basic principle of Christianity is that humanity was created imago Dei , in the image of God. This is contrary to the concept of dust-to-Darwin evolution, where we are the products of time, chance, natural selection, mutations, and luck. For them, we are nothing special. Just another animal. We often do not show that we are created in the image of God, and evolutionists may use our current state to reject the truth of the Bible. Something clearly happened after Genesis 1:27. Night silhouette under stars, Unsplash / Greg Rakozy Adam and Eve were exploring, enjoying, and doing other newly-created beings stuff. Then in Genesis 3:1-17, that sidewinder Satan decided to foul things up. After all, we are God's masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10), and he hates that. The Christian worldview holds that people are image-bearers of God, worthy of dignity and respect. This is one reason abortion is abhorrent . Eve took the fruit, gave to Adam who was with her , and all have sinned (Romans 3:23) and

So many of our timekeeping systems are based on traditions, such as the number sixty for our minutes that supposedly came from the Sumerians, twelves were used by the Egyptians, and so on. Others are straightforward astronomically, such as year, month and day. But a week? Someone wrote that a week is a quarter of a lunar phase, but that does not set well because one can see the phases progressing night to night. Sometimes folks changed number of days in a week, but people seem hardwired to keeping the seven days. Made at Big Huge Labs There are also claims that the seven-day week originated with the Babylonians, but there are indications that it was used in the Bible long before then. Secularists reject the truth of the Bible and bristle when the six days of creation and the one day of rest are mentioned. (Exodus 20:11 reaffirms this.) God rested, but he is God and would not get tired. For that matter, he did not need to take six days. What's going on? People were specially created

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  When reading some of the battles in the Bible between Israel and the pagan nations, we see that the pagans had gods for practically everything. They were also territorial, and thought Yahweh was like their false gods. You may recall in 1 Kings 20:23, Syria thought Israel had gods of the hills, so they could do better fighting in the plains. It did not go well. Many times in Scripture, God declared that he is above the false gods of their imaginations, and that he is the Creator. A similar pagan theme was used in the unremarkable 1978 movie The Manitou . Native American mythology was used, combining animism and pantheism. (The Great Spirit is called the Gitchi Manitou in Algonquin. Manitowoc in Wisconsin supposedly has its name based on this.) Everything has a manitou, or spirit, even inanimate objects. In the movie and book, one particular manitou was being reincarnated, and it was both powerful and extremely angry. It had to be stopped. The medicine man Singing

There are some professing Christians that believe God used evolution for his method of creation, but that view is fundamentally flawed. If you study on it, one simple problem with that idea is how we react to suffering and death. While we know that everyone eventually dies, we are not passive about it. Credit: Freeimages /  V Fouche From the standpoint of atheistic naturalism, there is no hope. As I have stated before, my oldest brother had Down Syndrome. He lived much longer than expected, finally passing away at age 64. My father had dementia, Alzheimer's, and (I think) Parkinson's, and didn't know who I was — or who he was — at the end. Not too long after he died, my mother was taken by a malignant glioma. There are many other people I could mention who have lost loved ones and even suffer under conditions right now. However, we have that hope based on promises in the Bible for a grand reunion when everyone will be whole again. According to Scripture, death is an enemy

Something that this child learned several years ago is the importance of worldviews, including how they are made and the way they impact our lives. I bring these things up every once in a while because they are crucial, especially for Christians. Many professing Christians do not know what and why  they believe things, and are essentially heretics. They are riding to perdition in a handcar. We must not only make sure of our salvation , but have a proper worldview and submit to the authority of God's Word. Spectacles by kkiser at FreeImages Everyone has a worldview. It's how we interpret reality and respond to life. People may not know that word, and I doubt that they have analyzed the components and developed their own. Worldviews are mostly built on our presuppositions — those things we take as basic truths, though they are not tested or proven true. For more about this, see " What’s Your Worldview? " Unfortunately, many Christians are into tribalism, a kind of &quo

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 not others. So

Ask around, and people have many definitions for courage. Some folks have the mistaken notion that courage  includes doing something reckless. "Yep, took lots of courage to try to jump that active volcano with a bicycle." No, that is stupidity.  Bravery  is often used synonymously with courage, but  there are differences . A person can be courageous and scared silly, but doing what is right is more important than giving in to fear.  Christians need to cowboy up and show courage, standing up for the truth. Pixabay / Bruce Courage is an act of will. There are people who are vainglorious, but the truth is revealed when danger falls from a tree, they turn their backs and bravely flee. Other times, some people are surprising when they show courage in the face of danger. What dangers do biblical creationists face? In Western countries, it is mostly fear of ridicule from unbelievers. They should ask themselves if enemies of God are people from whom they want admiration. I almost joi

Christians are confronted with unbelievers of various stripes, including atheists, the apathetic, moral relativists, cultists, evolutionists, false teachers, and many others. Biblical creationists uphold not only essentials of the faith, but the authority of God's Word as well. Genesis is foundational to the faith. Things get more difficult when a well-heeled fifth column undermines not only the truth of Genesis, but trust in the Bible itself. The owlhoots at the Templeton Foundation are using their money to finance compromise among Christians. Mostly made at PhotoFunia For a Christian, humility means that we are entirely dependent on the work of Christ for our salvation, and our works cannot earn or keep it. In addition, good works are a result  of our salvation. We give glory to Jesus. John Templeton, however, redefined humility  as uncertainty about the truth, and it definitely  does not come from sacred texts. The ever-changing whims of manmade science philosophies, though —